Elijah Appelson is a Master's student in the Social Algorithms group at the MIT Media Lab. His research focuses on the relationships between technologies, activists, and communities, especially how people can contest the algorithms that govern them. Before joining the Media Lab, he served as the first Data Scientist at the ACLU of Louisiana. His work sits at the intersection of technology, human rights, and the political economy, exploring how technology can be turned away from extraction and surveillance and toward justice.