Amna Batool

Batool is a Human Computer Interaction (HCI) researcher studying privacy, online harms and the ethical and societal implications of AI. Her work focuses on understanding how marginalized communities in global contexts experience image-based abuse, privacy violations, and emerging harms such as AI generated deepfakes. She examines the governance mechanisms that address these negative impacts both online, through content moderation practices of global social media platforms, and offline, through on-the-ground organizations including NGOs and law enforcement agencies, with the goal of contributing to the development of technologies and governance approaches that are more equitable, safe and inclusive.

She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan School of Information, where her dissertation examined women’s lived experiences of online abuse in South Asia through an ethnographic study conducted in collaboration with the cybercrime department of a federal law enforcement agency in Pakistan. Originally from Pakistan, Batool completed her undergraduate and master’s education there, working for six years in the public sector before beginning her Ph.D. During her research, she collaborated with various global health and community organizations to design, develop, and evaluate digital interventions supporting women’s wellbeing.