Project 4β Teams Up with the University of Chicago Researcher

We’re happy to announce that our pro bono initiative Project 4β has partnered with Grace Shao, a Master’s student in Computational Social Science at the University of Chicago. Grace is investigating algorithmic reduction - commonly referred to as shadowbanning - to better understand how digital platforms suppress content without notifying users. Her work leverages public web data to explore how such hidden mechanisms shape online experiences and limit transparency.

Research Goals

Grace’s research focuses on exposing the intentional opacity of algorithmic reduction. Social media platforms benefit from suppressing content in ways that evade user awareness, making it difficult to assess accountability or fairness. Her primary goal in collecting public web data is to chip away at this opacity and bring some transparency to algorithmic reduction.

She views access to public web data as a critical counterweight to the information asymmetry between platforms and researchers. As industry and academic interests increasingly diverge, data accessibility ensures that platforms remain subject to public scrutiny.

Challenges and the Role of Project 4β

The main obstacle in Grace’s research has been the platforms themselves. Many are designed to limit data collection efforts, particularly those that could reveal problematic content moderation practices.

This research offers a rare glimpse into how content can be quietly suppressed online, without users even realizing it. Thanks to the scale of the data she collected, Grace was able to uncover patterns that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. As conversations about free speech and protest rights grow louder, her work is a timely reminder of the importance of independent research in holding platforms to account.

Join 4β

Project 4β continues to support researchers and mission-driven organizations by offering free access to Oxylabs’ web intelligence collection solutions. If you're working on a research project that uses public web data, reach out to us via 4beta@oxylabs.io or by filling a form.