Zeynep Tufekci (; ; ) is a sociologist and a writer who is a columnist for The New York Times. Her work focuses on the social implications of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and big data, as well as societal challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic using complex and systems-based thinking. She has been described as "having a habit of being right on the big things" by The New York Times and as one of the most prominent academic voices on social media and the new public sphere by The Chronicle of Higher Education. In 2022, Tufekci was a Pulitzer finalist for her “insightful, often prescient, columns on the pandemic and American culture”, which the committee said “brought clarity to the shifting official guidance and compelled us towards greater compassion and informed response.” Before becoming a columnist, she was a writer for The New York Times and The Atlantic and has written regular columns for Wired and Scientific American in the past. She is a professor at Columbia University's Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security and a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. She was previously an associate professor at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina. Early life and education Tufekci was born in Istanbul, Turkey, near Taksim Gezi Park in Istanbul's Beyoğlu district. In 1995, Tufekci received a B.A. in sociology from Istanbul University, as well as an undergraduate degree in computer programming from Boğaziçi University. Career Tufekci worked as a computer programmer before becoming an academic and turning her attention to social science. In 2012, Tufekci became a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society research facility at Harvard University. In 2012, Tufekci expressed concern about political campaigns impacted by and driven by big data in the form of "Smart Campaigns". This early warning was eventually recognized as prescient after Donald Trump was elected in 2016. Tufekci's research and publications include topics such as the effect of big data on politics and the public sphere, how social media affects social movements, and the privacy and security vulnerabilities exposed by the coming Internet of Things. In general, she has sought to outline the potential negative societal consequences of social media and big data, while not rejecting these phenomena outright. Tufekci's work has often emphasized examining business models