Yaël Eisenstat is an American democracy activist and technology policy expert who has spent over two decades combatting extremism, polarization, and anti-democratic behavior both on- and offline.
With experience as one the United States government's top counterextremism officials and as Facebook's former Global Head of Elections Integrity Ops, Eisenstat is best known for being a pioneering voice in shaping public understanding of the ways in which social media contributes to polarization and radicalization.
[4] There, her work focuses on democratic discourse on major social media platforms, AI-powered political messaging, and open information sharing practices in advance of the 2024 presidential election.
[11] On Twitter, Wall Street Journal technology reporter Jeff Horwitz described Eisenstat as having "expanded of the Overton window of former employee behavior and likely encouraged others to take risks and document what they saw."
[6][7] In her August 2023 address the Women's Assembly at the 2023 Parliament of the World's Religions, Eisenstat recounted of her experience at Facebook, "I witnessed the alarming proliferation of disinformation campaigns designed to deceive and manipulate voters.
In November 2023, she was invited to testify at one of the AI Insight Forums, led by Senate Majority Leader Charles "Chuck" Schumer, in her capacity as an online democracy advocate.
[25] Eisenstat's written and oral testimony included calls to improve access to authentic and verifiable information, to promote transparency by AI developers, and to increase industry actors' incentives to prioritize public trust and user safety on their platforms.
[26] Eisenstat is a noted advocate for changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which automatically immunizes social media companies from liability for most harms that arise on their platforms.
[34] In her articles for the New York Times and the Huffington Post, Eisenstat has criticized President Donald Trump's January 2017 speech to the Central Intelligence Agency as disrespectful and self-serving.