724. Stories to Fill the Hope Gap: The Fight to Hold Big Tech Accountable - Imran Ahmed, Center for Countering Digital Hate

A 52-year-old man who'd spent too long online reading conspiracy theories walked up to Imran Ahmed's colleague — a member of parliament and mother of two — and killed her, screaming internet slogans as he did it. That was the moment Imran realized the online world and the offline world had quietly become the same world.

Imran Ahmed is the founder and CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a US–UK nonprofit that produces the hard evidence lawmakers, advertisers, and parents use to hold social media and AI companies accountable. 🧠

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why the algorithms rewarding hate and lies aren't broken — they're working exactly as designed, and what that means for your mission's message
• What CCDH found when they opened a TikTok account as a 13-year-old girl (the numbers are worse than you think)
• Why social media is the one industry in America you essentially can't sue — and how that single gap created what Imran calls "technology tyranny"
• The STAR framework — Safety, Transparency, Accountability, Responsibility — that's giving lawmakers a simple, values-based way to regulate platforms
• Why copying the outrage playbook will never work for the good guys, and what a four-star general taught Imran about winning an information war instead

You'll walk away understanding the information environment your organization actually operates in — and why Imran still believes, without a shred of naivety, that the good guys win. 🩵

Episode Highlights:

• Growing up in Manchester and the road into politics (2:27)
• What the Center for Countering Digital Hate does (7:41)
• Deadly by Design: what TikTok feeds a 13-year-old girl (8:51)
• The one industry you can't sue — and "technology tyranny" (12:43)
• The information environment every nonprofit operates in (18:15)
• Fighting an information war: a lesson from a four-star general (18:15)
• Moving people with data and story (21:11)
• A story of generosity: Mr. Haydens and Humpty Dumpty (23:10)
• One Good Thing (24:53)

Episode Show Notes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/724

Series Hub: https://www.weareforgood.com/hopegap

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