Email: icheon at uw.edu

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Inyoung Cheong

Inyoung Cheong is an Affiliate Instructor, teaching Technology Law and Public Policy (syllabus), and Fulbright Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Washington School of Law.

Her research focuses on how algorithmic decision-making has impacted on the norms of free speech and privacy. She wrote an article called, “Freedom of Algorithmic Expression,” (University of Cincinnati Law Review, 2023), which explored whether social media platforms’ content moderation algorithms can be considered a form of speech under the First Amendment. She is currently working on “Generative AI and Law for Humanities.” Her thoughts on Generative AI and Fair Use appeared in the Wall Street Journal.

She conducts her multi-disciplinary research with her peers and her advisor, Tadayoshi Kohno, at the UW Computer Science Privacy & Security Lab and the UW Tech Policy Lab.

Before arriving in Seattle, she was Deputy Director at the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the Korea Communications Commission in 2012-2019. Also, she assisted the United Nations’ Under-Secretary-General in formulating strategic partnership with South Korean local governments in 2020.

Updates

Nov 2022. Best Poster Award at the NWRC 2022

Received the Best Poster Award for my research about social media’s algorithms as speech at the Northwest Research Conference 2022 in Seattle, WA, hosted by the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association.

October 2022. Web Conference 2023 Submission.

Submitted a qualitative research paper on South Korea’s online content self-regulation to the Web Conference 2023 with Profs. Pardis Emami-Naeini and Tadayoshi Kohno.

September 2022. Poster Presentation at the Trust & Research Conference 2022.

Hung a poster at the Stanford Internet Observatory about conceptualizing social media’s algorithmic decision-making as free speech. I argued that content moderation/amplification is likely to be considered a form of speech but can be subject to public regulation under the contextualized approach to First Amendment protection.

Here is a 12-minute walk-through of my idea.

September 2022. Lightning Talk at the TrustCon 2022.

Thrilled to be a part of the first TrustCon hosted by the Trust and Safety Professionals Association! I briefly introduced South Korea’s online content co-regulation based on collaboration between online platforms and content creators.

July 2022. First Completed Draft for Law Reviews.

Finished my law review draft, “Freedom of Algorithmic Expression.” This draft explores whether social media’s algorithmic decision-making can be a form of speech protected by the U.S. First Amendment.

July 2022. New Home!.

Joined the UW Security and Privacy Research Lab and Tech Policy Lab. Looking forward to diving into interdisciplinary research with computer scientists!

June 2022. First Teaching Experience in the U.S.

Taught a Korean language course at the Asian Language & Literature department. It was a delightful and inspirational journey with 27 amazing undergraduates passionate about learning my home country.

June 2022. Presentation at the Trinity College Dublin.

Held a 40-minute presentation about my paper on social media’s automated content curation in front of European legal scholars and technologists at the International Symposium Governing Artificial Intelligence: Designing Legal and Regulatory Responses.

June 2022. Legal Internship at a U.S. Federal Agency.

Completed my legal summer internship at the Administrative Conference of the United States. It was great to work with the U.S. government attorneys to improve equality and accessibility of federal administrative procedures.

June 2021. Passed a General Exam.

Obtained a Ph.D. candidacy to research self- and co-regulation of free speech online.