The trailblazing tech leader and international policy expert will be working with the Project Liberty Institute to shape ethical governance models that help give people more control over their digital lives
The Project Liberty Institute announced today that Audrey Tang, one of the world’s most respected civic technologists, will serve as a Senior Fellow. Tang, who has received global recognition for her work as Taiwan’s inaugural Minister of Digital Affairs, will focus on the organization’s efforts to develop more ethical governance frameworks for digital platforms and new forms of digital civic infrastructure. The Institute, a 501(c)(3) with an international partner network that includes Georgetown University, Stanford University, Sciences Po, and other leading academic institutions and civic organizations, is a critical part of Project Liberty’s mission to help people take back control of their digital lives by giving them a voice, choice, and stake in a better internet.
“We must design digital civic infrastructure that prioritizes transparency, collaborative learning, and the human experience to create a more democratic digital landscape,” Tang said. “The work that the Project Liberty Institute is doing to build and support open platforms is key to driving civic engagement and adoption. I look forward to collaborating with Project Liberty’s extensive alliance of policy experts, technologists, and civil society leaders to overcome challenges of a broken digital status quo and free the future — together.”
Tang joins a group of leading academics, social entrepreneurs, technologists, researchers and social impact leaders who collaborate on a diverse range of projects through Project Liberty’s platform. Project Liberty Institute Fellows also include Jonathan Haidt, social psychologist and author of “The Anxious Generation,” Frances Haugen, Facebook’s first whistleblower and Founder of Beyond the Screen, and Latanya Sweeney, Daniel Paul Professor of the Practice of Government and Technology at Harvard Kennedy School.
Tang began her career as an open-source software developer, revitalizing the Haskell and Perl programming languages, and served as Taiwan’s first-ever digital minister. She is a prominent contributor to g0v, a decentralized civic tech movement that promotes transparency in government information sharing, and helped develop vTaiwan, a participatory democracy platform.
Tang is also the co-author of “Plurality: Technology for Collaborative Diversity and Democracy,” with political economist E. Glen Weyl, published on May 20, 2024. The book focuses on the ways society can use collaborative technology to support democracy and foster deeper levels of recognition and respect across social and cultural divides as we look towards our collective future. “Plurality” has received broad praise, including from His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV of Tibet and President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan.
“Audrey Tang is one of the world’s most respected civic technologists. We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with her in advancing the work of the Project Liberty Institute,” said Tomicah Tillemann, CEO of the Project Liberty Institute. “It is inspiring to see how her work has bolstered transparency and democracy in Taiwan. Her expertise and guidance will be invaluable as we lead the movement to give people back control of their lives in the digital age.”
Tang’s fellowship with the Project Liberty Institute builds on its efforts to reimagine and redesign digital platforms to give people agency over their data and digital rights. Tang will join the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP) Advisory Council, helping update the open protocol as new technologies emerge. DSNP is stewarded by the Project Liberty Institute, which has made it available as a public utility to serve as a cornerstone of a more people-centric web.
“Audrey Tang was the master architect behind Taiwan’s digital transformation and is an expert on how we can preserve democracy amid the spread of misinformation and distrust,” said Frank McCourt, founder of Project Liberty. “When used correctly, we know that the internet can support healthier communities and societies. Audrey has made that possible in Taiwan, and we hope the Project Liberty Institute can help advance that work at global scale.”
ABOUT PROJECT LIBERTY
Project Liberty is leading the movement to give people back control of their lives in the digital age by ensuring they have a voice, choice, and stake in a better internet. Privately supported in 2019 and publicly launched in 2021 by civic entrepreneur Frank McCourt and supported by a $500-million commitment, Project Liberty encompasses the work of the Project Liberty Institute—a 501(c)(3) with an international partner network that includes Georgetown University, Stanford University, Sciences Po, and other leading academic institutions and civic organizations—and a technological team that is focused on developing the next generation of digital infrastructure. Project Liberty’s activities include the release of the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), which is stewarded by the Institute and available as a public utility to serve as the bedrock of a more equitable web and support a new era of innovation that empowers people over platforms and serves the common good.