Giliann Karon is an internet user based in Brooklyn, New York. She uses digital media to elevate undiscovered voices and foster community. Her screen time is probably too high.

Giliann holds a B.A. in Political Science from American University, where she minored in Media Communications and was — no surprise — a member of WVAU, her college’s student radio station. Her show “Ask a Punk” highlighted bands in the DC DIY scene.

Since 2021, she has served as Digital Associate (2024 edit: Senior! Digital Associate) at Accountable Tech, a nonprofit dedicated to reining in Big Tech’s societal harms. Her day-to-day responsibilties include managing the organization’s social media accounts, as well as the accounts for Design It For Us, a youth-led coalition focused on advocating for safer online platforms and social media. She crafts messaging guides for influencers and assists with copywriting for campaign websites.

Big Tech monopolies dominate our information ecosystem, influencing where we receive our news and how we communicate. Giliann uses accessible and democratic platforms to distill complex policy debates down to bite-size, shareable pieces of content. As a digital native, she has a knack for weaving popular culture together with everyday issues, such as workers’ rights and digital privacy, to foster participation that leads to tangible change. Her research that revealed Google collects and retains user location data and search queries for abortion clinics by default, in violation of a July 2022 policy change, was published in The Guardian.

When she’s not working, she’s writing for Penny and Post-Trash. Selected work includes interviews with Indigo de Souza, Tomato Flower, Feeble Little Horse, Cola, and The Lemon Twigs. She’s reviewed critically aclaimed indie albums like i’ve seen a way by Mandy, Indiana and Several Songs About Fire by A. Savage of Parquet Courts. Otherwise, she’s convincing friends to join her at a concert or tweeting about whatever album she’s obsessed with. She makes a mean Spotify playlist.

Social media, notably Twitter and Tumblr, have always been her go-to sources for music discovery. For over a decade, she’s used platforms that encourage fan particpation and built lifelong friends along the way. Her closest relationships, online and IRL, are either built around or furthered by mutual taste in artists.

She strives to create that community for others and she’s always available for work.