How do digital platforms amplify emotional messaging and influence behaviour and decision-making?
For the second conversation in the series, artist and human rights researcher Caroline Sinders will be joined by psychiatrist and clinical research fellow Dr Romy Gad el Rab and independent advisor and strategist Tanya O’Carroll to explore technologies' impact on political behaviours, attitudes and democracy.
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tlxy.io
The Last X Years
Between 2021-2024, artist Jay Bernard travelled around the UK interviewing people of all ages and backgrounds, asking what they remember about the 2016 EU referendum. Participants shared a range of perspectives and reflected on how they and the country changed during this turbulent time. The resulting artwork can be accessed online at tlxy.io. Find out more about the artwork here.
Since 2015, internet usage has been rising rapidly and from 2020 stood at 92% of the UK voting age population. In tandem, British elections since 2015 have seen the largest numbers of voters switching their political standing.
The Cambridge Analytica Scandal exposed the ease and opportunities for behavioural engineering within the online landscape, but to what extent are voters susceptible to such manipulation.
Gad el Rab’s research focuses on the effects of technology on our mental health. O’Carroll is a senior fellow at Foxglove, a non-profit organisation fighting to build a fair tech future, where she has recently successfully sued Facebook to challenge its harmful model of surveillance advertising.
The panel will discuss how political messages are crafted to appeal to our emotions, and the consequences of this on public discourse and democratic processes.
Dr Romy Gad el Rab is a Psychiatrist, researcher, and artist exploring our intimate entanglements with technology. Working in the NHS’s first centre for Internet Gaming Disorders, she combines clinical insight with interactive installation and performance to question digital addiction and the power structures behind networked systems. Her work has featured in programming at Tate Britain, Somerset House, and Delfina Foundation, where she was a UK Associate for their 2025 thematic season, science_technology_society. A published academic and curator, she creates spaces where science, technology, and art meet through conversation, research, and making.
Tanya is an independent advisor, strategist and leader focused on tech accountability, human rights and social justice. She is a Senior Fellow at Foxglove, where she recently successfully sued Facebook to challenge its harmful model of surveillance advertising.
Tanya works as a consultant for a wide range of NGOs and philanthropic organisations. She is a Strategic Advisor to the Meliore Foundation, where she is helping to catalyze a portfolio of new strategic initiatives focused on making technology work for people and the planet. She previously co-founded and led Amnesty Tech and ‘People vs Big Tech.
Caroline Sinders is an award winning critical designer, researcher, and artist. They’re the co-founder and executive director of the human rights research and technology lab, Convocation Research + Design. For over the past decade, they have been examining the intersections of human rights, artificial intelligence, intersectional justice, harmful design, and systems in technology and digital platforms. They’ve worked with the Tate Exchange at the Tate Modern, the United Nations, the UK’s Information Commissioner's Office, the European Commission, Ars Electronica, the Harvard Kennedy School and others. Caroline is currently based between London, UK and New Orleans, USA.
Image credit: Sarah Wang