724. Stories to Fill the Hope Gap: The Fight to Hold Big Tech Accountable — Imran Ahmed, Center for Countering Digital Hate
Stories That Fill the Hope Gap is a 10-part limited series bringing you eight extraordinary changemakers who are using story to cut through noise, build connection, shift culture, and move people to action.
From Sesame Workshop storytelling around the globe to a hyper-local hip-hop therapy program helping kids navigate mental health in the Bronx to the Center for Countering Digital Hate taking on the most haunting issues of our time, every single conversation left us feeling more hopeful. That is the invitation.
New episodes drop every Wednesday. Share your own story at weareforgood.com/hopegap.
Episode 8: When Online Became Real Life: The Fight to Hold Big Tech Accountable
Meet Imran: The Anti-Hate Crusader Making Big Tech Answer for the Harm It Causes
Imran Ahmed is the founder and CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a roughly 40-person nonprofit operating across the UK, EU, and the US that has become one of the most cited sources of evidence on algorithmic harm. A Manchester-raised, Cambridge-trained political strategist, Imran spent years working in and around British Parliament translating complex policy for the public before turning that skill toward digital hate and online safety. He developed the STAR framework — Safety, Transparency, Accountability, Responsibility — now used by policymakers as a values-based blueprint for regulating platforms, and his research has shaped how lawmakers, advertisers, and platforms think about online safety.
Imran brings a rare combination to the work: the rigor of a researcher, the clarity of a communicator, and a hard-won belief, learned young, that the only way to beat a bully is to refuse to back down.
What You'll Learn in This Episode
Why the internet is no longer a separate "world" from real life — and why that shift should change how every nonprofit thinks about its online presence
How social media algorithms work in plain English: they don't reward truth or fairness, they ruthlessly amplify whatever gets the most engagement, which is usually hate, fear, and lies
Why you often can't tell you're being manipulated online — Imran's "natural gas has no odor" analogy explains the invisible danger perfectly
What CCDH's Deadly by Design report found: TikTok served self-harm content to a fresh 13-year-old girl's account in 2.6 minutes, and gave accounts that signaled vulnerability 12x more of it
Episode Transcript
Powerful Quotes
"What happened online couldn't possibly impact the offline world, because it was two different worlds. And that's when it hit me." — Imran
"Social media is not a playing field that cares about truth, cares about justice. It is literally a platform that ruthlessly amplifies that which gets the most engagement." — Imran
"Social media companies are the only industry in America that can't be held liable through the courts." — Imran
"Power turns tyrannical when it becomes too powerful. I think we now have a technology tyranny in America." — Imran
"Hate, lies, intolerance is ice skating downhill, and it feels like the truth is roller skating uphill. And the first thing we've got to tell people is: that's by design." — Imran
Resources Mentioned
Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH): the US–UK nonprofit Imran founded to hold social media and AI companies accountable — (follow @CounterHate)
Deadly by Design: CCDH's report on how TikTok's algorithm serves self-harm and eating-disorder content to teen accounts
Protecting Kids Online: CCDH's free microsite with a parents' guide for building trust with kids and navigating what they see online
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