Kaveh Waddell




I’m a John S. Knight journalism fellow at Stanford.


I’m also affiliated with the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI. Previously, I was an investigative journalist at Consumer Reports’ Digital Lab—and before that, I was on staff at Axios, The Atlantic, and National Journal, and a freelancer in Beirut, Lebanon. 

Here’s some of my reporting:




Here’s some of my past work:


DISPATCHES FROM BEIRUT

Lebanon's Facebook vigilantes are “turning suspects into criminals in one click” (The Atlantic)

A quiet campaign to map Lebanon's mass graves before they're destroyed (The Atlantic)

Beirut tries to get back on the bike (CityLab)


POLITICS & POLICY

Defenders against misinformation descend on 2020 campaigns (Axios)

Police can use a legal gray area to rob people of their belongings—without even charging them with a crime (The Atlantic)

America’s post-9/11 “Muslim registry” (The Atlantic)

After Trump’s Muslim ban, an army of attorneys descends on Dulles (The Atlantic)

How New York’s top advertisers tried to fight ISIS propaganda (The Atlantic)


CULTURE

As kids, two Guinean brothers invented a new script for their native language. Now they’re trying to get it on every smartphone (The Atlantic)

How Seattle’s Iranians kept their culture while ingraining into the city (The Atlantic)
TECHNOLOGY

A monumental tug-of-war over biased AI (Axios)

Human workers are being automated like machines (Axios)

Facing ALS, a systems engineer built a smart home to preserve his independence (NY Mag)

Will self-driving cars be able to navigate the roads where they're most needed? (Wired)


SURVEILLANCE

AI surveillance goes to school (Axios)

License-plate readers have helped police and lenders target low-income neighborhoods (The Atlantic)

How big data harms poor communities (The Atlantic)


PRIVACY

People who most need digital privacy often can’t afford the smartphones that provide it (The Atlantic)

Unregulated people-search services offer up personal information for cheap or free, with few safeguards (The Atlantic)

In most states, your boss can track your location around the clock (The Atlantic)



Here’s how to reach me:


✉️ kavehw@stanford.edu
🐦 twitter.com/kavehwaddell
🐘 sfba.social/@kaveh
📖 fb.com/kavehwaddell

Communicate securely:
🔏 keybase.io/kavehwaddell
💬 ask for my number for Signal