Alex Bolton

Alex Bolton is the executive director of the Tech Policy Lab, an interdisciplinary collaboration at the University of Washington founded by faculty from the School of Law, the Information School and the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. Bolton is also a Siegel Research Fellow.

As executive director, Bolton provides leadership for the lab; hosts weekly campuswide tech policy discussions that bring together law students, Ph.D. students, medical students, and undergraduates from a wide range of majors; co-instructs a course on technology law, policy and ethics; and serves as a substantive expert on tech policy.

Bolton is also a founding member of the Public Tech Leadership Collaborative Steering Committee, a peer learning group of scholars, researchers and government leaders committed to addressing the social and cultural implications of data and technology.

Previously, he worked in state government and higher education in several roles, including serving the late Daniel J. Evans, former Washington governor and U.S. senator.

• U.S. TikTok ban case pits free speech vs. national security. Which will win? - National (Alex Bolton of Tech Policy Lab quoted)
  Sep 18, 2024 | Source: Global News (Canada)

  “You have these two constitutional principles butting up against each other … and I don’t think you can necessarily say that one always trumps the other,” said Alex Bolton, the program manager of the University of Washington’s Tech Policy Lab that studies the intersection of law, politics, cybersecurity and other tech issues.

• WA lawmakers back TikTok ‘ban.’ Seattle TikTokers aren’t happy about it (Alex Bolton of the Tech Policy Lab quoted)
  Mar 13, 2024 | Source: Seattle Times

  At the crux of the issue isn’t just data collection, but that data could be used to influence the American public, said Alex Bolton, the program manager of the University of Washington’s Tech Policy Lab. Lawmakers are concerned ByteDance could tweak TikTok’s algorithm to show content that would benefit Chinese government interests and influence public opinion in the U.S., Bolton said.

• Everett police disable Facebook comments after violent, threatening posts (Alex Bolton of the Tech Policy Lab quoted)
  Dec 21, 2023 | Source: KOMO

  Facebook comments took an ugly turn for the Everett Police Department as people started posting threats of violence against officers and the agency, and earlier this week, the comment section got shut down. The police chief indicated that the comments section will be enabled again but offered no timeline. Alex Bolton, program manager for the Tech Policy Lab at the UW, is quoted.

• Meta sued by 33 States for practices that exploit children and teens (Tech Policy Lab)
  Nov 07, 2023 | Source: The Daily

  “The claim [that] they’re making is that it’s under consumer protection,” Alex Bolton, program manager at the UW School of Law’s Tech Policy Lab, said. “That they basically knew that it caused these problems for younger people, and because they didn’t disclose it and didn’t make changes to it, that it’s basically deceptive.”