Tamar Mitts

Tamar Mitts

Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs

Tamar Mitts

International Affairs Building, Room 1330


Personal Details

Tamar Mitts is an Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs and a member of the Data Science Institute, the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies and the Political Science Department at Columbia University. Her research addresses emerging challenges at the intersection of technology and conflict.

Professor Mitts’s work focuses on several broad questions: (a) What role does social media play during conflict and civil war? (b) How do violent and nonviolent movements use the internet to advance their cause? and (c) In what ways can media be manipulated to shape public opinion? Mitts’s research draws on innovative data collection techniques and creative research designs that leverage the wealth of information available in digital media platforms. Her articles have been published in leading journals, including the American Political Science Review, International Organization, the Journal of Politics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Journal of Economic Perspectives, among other outlets. Her research has been cited in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Fortune Magazine, Vox, War on the Rocks, and Foreign Policy.

Her new book, Safe Havens for Hate: The Challenge of Moderating Online Extremism (Princeton University Press, published in 2025), offers a novel account of how content moderation shapes the activity of harmful content producers, by providing a deep dive into networks of extremist organizations on a wide range of social media platforms. Drawing on rich data on the activity of over a hundred militant and hate organizations, the book shows that different moderation standards across platforms create “safe havens” that allow these actors to organize, launch campaigns, and mobilize supporters.

Mitts holds an M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University and a B.A. in politics from New York University.

Honors and Awards

  • Best Paper Award in the Conflict Processes Section, American Political Science Association. 2023.
  • Patricia Weitsman Award for outstanding graduate student paper, International Security Studies Section (ISSS) of the International Studies Association (ISA). 2018.

Research And Publications

The Politics of Allyship: Multiethnic Coalitions and Nonviolent Resistance

May 2024

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121, no. 19

Tamar Mitts

Devorah Manekin

Yael Zeira

Cross-Platform Reactions to the Post-January 6 Deplatforming

Mar 2023

Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media 3

Tamar Mitts

Cody Buntain

Martin Innes

Jacob Shapiro

How the Ultra-Rich Use Media Ownership as a Political Investment

Oct 2022

The Journal of Politics 84, no. 4: 1913-1931

Tamar Mitts

Guy Grossman

Yotam Margalit

Political Coalitions and Social Media: Evidence from Pakistan

Aug 2022

Perspectives on Politics: 1-20

Tamar Mitts

Asfandyar Mir

Paul Staniland

In The Media

Technology & Innovation

Attempts to moderate online hate might actually be creating more harmful content. Tamar Mitts is a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, where she is a faculty member at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, the Institute of Global Politics, and the Data Science Institute.

Jun 10 2025
Think
Democratic Resilience

In a new book, Mitts reveals how extremist groups strategically navigate across different platforms to thrive despite content moderation efforts.

May 15 2025
Meet the SIPA Community

Every May, SIPA faculty recommend their best reads of the year, which range from policy tomes to collections of poetry.

May 13 2025
Technology & Innovation

SIPA Integrates Study of AI Into Diverse Course Offerings

Apr 29 2025
Technology & Innovation

SIPA professor Tamar Mitts’ recently published Safe Havens for Hate: The Challenge of Moderating Online Extremism offers timely insights into the trajectory of online threat actors, voluntary platform commitments, and international regulatory regimes over the past decade.

Apr 14 2025
Tech Policy Press