JOURNALISM · TECHNOLOGY · POWER · DEMOCRACY

Akintunde Babatunde

Akintunde Babatunde

Journalism, Technology, Power & Democracy

Journalism, Technology, Power & Democracy

I am a journalist, media leader and scholar examining how digital platforms and artificial intelligence are reshaping journalism, public institutions and political authority.

PROFESSIONAL PORTRAIT

Executive Director, CJID · PhD Candidate, University of Iowa

01 — FOCUS AREAS

What I work on

What I work on

Platform Governance

How private infrastructures set public rules, shape access and reorder democratic accountability.

Digital Sovereignty

The changing capacity of states to govern data, networks and their digital public spheres.

AI Policy & Infrastructure

The political choices embedded in artificial intelligence systems and their governing institutions.

Journalism & Information Integrity

Independent media as civic infrastructure in contested information environments.

02 — SELECTED WORK

Selected Work

Selected Work

POLICY ESSAY · 2026

How governments and technology companies are negotiating authority as AI becomes critical infrastructure.

ESSAY · AI & AFRICA · 2026


AI, Africa, and the politics of knowledge, infrastructure and technological dependence

ANALYSIS · PLATFORM GOVERNANCE · 2025

How governments outside Washington and Brussels are asserting authority over global technology platforms.

ANALYSIS · TECHNOLOGY & LAW · 2025

When Big Tech Goes to Court


What legal battles involving Google, Meta and governments reveal about the changing relationship between platform power and public authority.

03 — FROM PRACTICE TO RESEARCH

My work moves between the newsroom, the institution and the university.

I began my career working in journalism, fact-checking, civic technology and public accountability. Over time, the institutions shaping that work changed. Digital platforms became central to journalism, political communication and civic life, while governments increasingly sought to exercise authority over technological systems they did not control.

Those experiences now shape my research on platform governance, digital sovereignty and AI

My work moves between the newsroom, the institution and the university.

I began my career working in journalism, fact-checking, civic technology and public accountability. Over time, the institutions shaping that work changed. Digital platforms became central to journalism, political communication and civic life, while governments increasingly sought to exercise authority over technological systems they did not control.

Those experiences now shape my research on platform governance, digital sovereignty and AI

04 — DOCTORAL RESEARCH

Platform Governance and the Reconfiguration of State Sovereignty

Platform Governance and the Reconfiguration of State Sovereignty

Examining how public authorities and global digital platforms negotiate and contest authority, and why state-platform confrontations develop differently across Nigeria, Brazil and the European Union.

NIGERIA

BRAZIL

EUROPEAN UNION

05 — BUILDING INSTITUTIONS

Building institutions

Building institutions

01

CJID

A pan-African journalism and media institution working across journalism, democratic accountability, technology policy, information integrity and civic innovation.

02

DUBAWA

A pan-African fact-checking and media literacy initiative advancing verification, information integrity and public understanding.

03

UDEME

A civic technology and accountability initiative using data, field research and journalism to track public spending and government projects.

06 — TEACHING

Teaching

Teaching

Courses that connect media theory, political power and the practical realities of emerging technologies.

Global Media Studies

Political Communication

AI, Platforms & the Future of Journalism

SELECTED FELLOWSHIPS & RECOGNITION

Chevening Scholar · Mandela Washington Fellow · Oxford AI & Media Policy Summer Institute · Poynter Media Transformation Fellow · CUNY AI Journalism Leaders Lab

Chevening Scholar · Mandela Washington Fellow · Oxford AI & Media Policy Summer Institute · Poynter Media Transformation Fellow · CUNY AI Journalism Leaders Lab

Akintunde Babatunde

hello@akintundebabatunde.com

© 2026 Akintunde Babatunde