Technology and democracy are at a crossroads. Technology can potentially empower people and make our democracies more responsive. Or technology can be used to manipulate and divide us. Welcome to Impossible Tradeoffs. I’m Katie Harbath. In this weekly podcast, we’ll talk about and analyze the most fascinating headlines. We’ll make predictions about where things are going. And we’ll talk to experts about the challenges we face and how we might look for solutions. anchorchange.substack.com
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What if we could redesign the systems that don't work? Design Influence is about exploring how we can use business and design to reimagine the world’s constructs. In other words it’s about adventures in entrepreneurship, social innovation and capital.
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We’re back! Welcome to season three of Impossible Tradeoffs. This season will focus mainly on the U.S. election, how the campaigns use tech, how tech companies respond, and what people outside the United States are watching. First up is Paolo Carozza, a member of the Meta Oversight Board and law professor at Notre Dame. Earlier this week, the Overs…
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I’ve got another special episode of the Summer Spectacular podcast for you with my good friend Emi Kolawole. Emi has 10 years of experience in communications, design, and tech. In our conversation, she shares her insights from attending the Aspen Ideas Festival and the Socrates program. She highlights the importance of including diverse voices, par…
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Perspectives on Trust and Safety Among Investors
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Ahead of TrustCon next week, I wanted to bring you a conversation I’ve been trying to set up since Duco released the Trust and Safety Market Research Report in March. Guests, investors Lauren Wagner and Shu Dar Yao, join me to discuss their involvement in the report and the reasons behind it. They highlight key takeaways from the report, such as th…
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Debrief on the India and EU Elections Online
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I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting to do my first Summer Spectacular episode quite this quickly. However, when Saurabh Shukla with NewsMobile pinged me on WhatsApp to offer to talk about what had happened in the Indian election, I jumped at the chance. I then saw former Integrity Institute resident fellow Alexis Crews post about her work in the EU, and…
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Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality
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Don’t forget to follow us on YouTube! This is the last episode of season 2! Thank you all for listening. I’ll be taking a break over the summer and returning with season 3 in the Fall. Between now and then, I might be planning a few summer spectacular episodes, so keep your eyes out. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to end the season with.…
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Building Election Fact Checking Coalitions
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Don’t forget to follow us on YouTube! This week Claire Wardle and Daniel Bramatti discuss their work in creating fact-checking coalitions around elections as a follow up to the guide we published back in April. They highlight the importance of collaboration and trust-building among news organizations and social media platforms. They also discuss th…
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Don’t forget to follow us on YouTube! I’m so honored to have my good friend and expert extraordinaire Kat Duffy as my guest this week. I have no words other than you should listen to everything she says. Summary Kat Duffy, a senior fellow for digital and cyberspace policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses her work in the trust and safe…
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ACK! I totally forgot to schedule this last night. So sorry for my delay. Don’t forget to follow us on YouTube! This week we welcome Nina Jankowicz to the podcast. She talks about the importance of recognizing Russia's use of disinformation as a geopolitical strategy and the need for more vocal online presence in countering disinformation. Nina als…
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Kate Dommett, a professor of digital politics, discusses her book “Data-Driven Campaigning and Political Parties” and her research on how political parties use data in election campaigns. She explores the prevailing narratives around data-driven campaigning and how they often do not match reality. Dommett also discusses the role of regulation in da…
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Pivot! Navigating Unprecedented Times with Audacity and Humility
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Sorry for the slight delay today. The tech gods were not being kind. Watch this on YouTube! NOTE: A lot of this summary and show notes were generated via a new AI tool by Riverside.fmIn this episode, Brian Fishman, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Cinder, discusses his background in studying terrorism and his work at Facebook. He shares ins…
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Watch this episode on YouTube. As most of you know, I started working full-time as the Global Affairs Officer of Duco Experts in January. One of the things I like about the job is getting to work across the industry and seeing how companies tackle similar problems differently. Thus, I thought it would be fun to bring the leadership team on the podc…
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Harbath Solo Session: Frequently Asked Questions
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I’m trying something different for this week’s podcast. I originally hoped I would have a webinar to repurpose, but we ended up rescheduling it, so rather than not doing a podcast this week, I thought I would record the answers to questions I get quite often. In this discussion, I go into seven different areas of interest. Topics and time stamps ar…
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Watch the video of our conversation on YouTube! This week, I welcome Professor Kate Klonick to the podcast. The name of this episode comes from some amazing swag Kate made for a conference she put on last year on the history of the Trust and Safety profession. (You know how much I love swag.) Kate is among the foremost experts on many things, inclu…
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Don’t forget you can watch all of these on YouTube! This week, we are discussing all things online influence operations with one of the foremost experts - Olga Belogolva. We’re talking about Russians, Chinese, Iranians, and other actors who want to influence the online information environment. The title of this episode comes from one of her classes…
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Michael Bąk on the intersection of tech and civil society
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Don’t forget you can also watch this on YouTube! This week, we are talking to Michael Bąk. Michael brings more than two decades of experience across international development, peacebuilding, diplomacy, and tech policy. Throughout his career, he has sustained a strong commitment to democratic governance, human rights, and information integrity. He i…
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Nate Persily on Elections, Social Media and AI
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Don’t forget you can also watch these on YouTube! This week we welcome Stanford Law Professor Nate Persily to the podcast. I’ve known Nate since 2013/2014 when he held a gathering at Stanford with folks in the tech/digital industry and the Federal Elections Commission. Nate has been a thought leader his entire career with experiences across technol…
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Who Voters Trust for Election Information in 2024
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Don’t forget you can now also watch these conversations on YouTube! This week, we are diving deep into elections and specifically where people go to get information on the election. Rachel Orey is the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Senior Associate Director where they are responsible for the organization’s election administration policy development, st…
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Lie Detectives: How Political Campaigns Fight Disinformation
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This week on the podcast, we are taking you to SXSW and discussing a conversation I had with Sasha Issenberg about his new book, Lie Detectives: How Political Campaigns Fight Disinformation. You might remember him from his popular book Victory Lab, which was published after Obama won. Sasha’s book looks at people in the U.S. and Brazil who were at …
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Democracy Works: Helping voters navigate the first elections in the generative AI era
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We’re back! I didn’t intend to take two full months off from the podcast, but as many of you know, I started a new job in January as the Chief Global Affairs Officer of Duco Experts - a technology consulting firm. It has been overwhelming, in a good way, but it took me a bit to get started again with the podcast. I’ve got some exciting guests lined…
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In this special episode of Impossible Tradeoffs, I sit down with Latika Bourke - a journalist who I first met in Sydney ten years ago - who now has her own Substack at Latika Takes . In celebration of Facebook’s 20th birthday we sat down to take a look back at the role the platform has played in politics and elections and what we might expect going…
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Lessons in building a safe platform from scratch
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It’s our last podcast of the year! Thank you all for joining my journey in starting this podcast. As a reminder, I’ll take some time off before restarting episodes in 2024. Don't forget to fill out this short form if you have ideas for what you’d like to see. This week’s fun trade-off is: For our last guest of 2023, I’m welcoming Sarah Oh to the po…
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You all like your guacamole! In last week's poll, 64% of you voted for it over queso. I have friends who have strong feelings on either side of this debate. Maybe someday I’ll expand this podcast beyond just impossible tradeoffs in tech. By the way, I’m on team queso. This week’s fun tradeoff question is: This week, we are traveling to Mexico. They…
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There are only a few more episodes of Impossible Tradeoffs for 2023! Today’s fun tradeoff question is a real challenge: From past tradeoff questions, most of you who took the polls prefer to live in the city (81%) rather than the country (19%). An equal number of you like to travel by plane and automobile (38%), and 25% of you like to take the trai…
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Welcome to this week’s podcast. The fun question to kick things off with is … For this week’s podcast, we are heading to India. I’ve been following Indian politics since late 2013 and find it absolutely fascinating. Their elections are unlike any anywhere else in the world. To help us navigate all of that, Shoaib Daniyal joins me from the news webs…
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Hi all, we are back after a week break for Thanksgiving with a new episode! This week, I recorded three more interviews, which, along with the ones I already have in the hopper, will take us through December 28th. After that, I plan on taking a short break - no more than a few weeks - to think about how I can make the podcast better. I’ve enjoyed p…
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Hey all, since I’m off elk hunting, there’s no fun question or intro interview for this episode. Instead, we’re going to jump right into the main discussion. This week, I chatted with Phumzile Van Damme, a fellow at Harvard and a long-time expert at the intersection of technology and human rights. She was kind enough to walk me through all things e…
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The past, present and future of platforms' approach to elections
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From last week's poll, most of you prefer physical books to digital ones. Physical books won 73 percent to 27 percent. This week’s question is: This week, we are nerding out on all things digital campaigning and the platforms’ approach to elections. First up is my interview with Henri Makembe who is the CEO of Do Big Things - a creative services fi…
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Biden's AI executive order and all things European elections
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Welcome to another episode of Impossible Tradeoffs! Thank you all for bearing with me as I get used to being a podcast host. Listening to this latest episode, I realize I use some phrases a lot - like I’m always very excited for my guest. I'm going to work on standardizing some of these things. But this is another interesting episode — first, the f…
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From the inside: When platforms engage with government
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I have to apologize to you all. I forgot to put a poll in last week’s podcast notes about our fun tradeoff, which was how you would want to unwind. I won’t make that same mistake this week! The hard question for you today is: This week, we are joined by a bunch of exciting guests. First up is Diane Chang. Diane is a journalist-turned-product manage…
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We’re back after a week off! At the beginning of this month, I was freaking out that scheduling guests was going slower than expected. However, in the last ten days, I’ve recorded six episodes (including this one) and one more to come. In the hopper includes conversations on India, the European Union, Africa, the United Kingdom, the history of tech…
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Season III / Episode 5: Communities, Networks, and Ecosystems — Platforms for Change
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Host Isabelle Swiderski sits down with Meaghan Kennedy, founder of Orange Sparkle Ball, an innovation consultancy focused on public-private partnerships to explore the role communities / networks / ecosystems can serve as a supportive framework for change.
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Yoel Roth on hard tradeoffs, speaking publicly and the future of trust and safety
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Turns out I’m in the minority for last week’s fun tradeoff - 72% of you said you would choose the beach over going to the lake. This week’s question is, would you order pancakes or waffles? This week, I’m joined by two fabulous guests - Josh Lawson and Yoel Roth. Josh was a colleague of mine at Facebook and is now doing work with the Aspen Institut…
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What you need to know about the Indonesia elections
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Welcome to the second Impossible Tradeoffs podcast! This week’s fun, hard question is: Would you rather go to the lake or the beach? Vote below on what you would choose, and feel free to debate it in the comments! I’m solo this week for the opener, so I tried out sharing all my hot takes on: * The elections coming up in Slovakia and Poland. * My ta…
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How will tech tackle the tsunami of elections in 2024
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This week, my guest host is Crystal Patterson. She was on my team at Facebook for seven years and now is President of the Washington Media Group. She joins me to answer the hard questions such as if you could only order one of these would you choose french fries or ice cream? We also get into last week’s Congressional gathering on AI with tech exec…
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Technology and democracy are at a crossroads. Technology can potentially empower people and make our democracies more responsive. Or technology can be used to manipulate and divide us. Welcome to Impossible Tradeoffs. I’m Katie Harbath. In this weekly podcast, we’ll talk about and analyze the most fascinating headlines. We’ll make predictions about…
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continue reading
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Season III / Episode 4: What if we ran the thing?—Building Economic Democracy
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“What if we thought of the Bronx as an economy of scale? And what if we try to create a plan for the borough that actually brings all of us in, where we share a vision, where we share in leadership, and where the wealth and capital is owned by us and bred by us? So the simple phrase is: what if we ran it?”—Michael Partis Host Isabelle Swiderski sit…
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Season III / Episode 3: The Practice of Democracy—From Redlining to Equity
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This episode features April De Simone, a transdisciplinary practitioner working at the intersection of architecture, planning, and systems thinking. She collaborates with different communities across the country, bringing to light the lasting impacts of redlining, urban renewal, and gentrification. What are new ways to explore housing as a key node…
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Season III / Episode 2: Disrupt or Destroy—the Identity Crisis of Gender Lens Investing
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Sana Kapadia, director of strategy at 2X Global, sits down with host Isabelle Swiderski to talk about the current state of gender lens investing and the resources and approaches that support the people and partnerships behind the work.
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Season III / Episode 1 : Yes, and . . . —Iterations on the New Economy
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This episode features Vicki Saunders, founder of Coralus (formerly SheEO) based in Toronto. Coralus now operates in 5 countries and through the annual contribution of individual activators, provides interest-free loans and, crucially, a community of support, to ventures led by women- and non-binary folks. Over 140 ventures tackling the world’s to-d…
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Season II / Episode 8: Driving Social Change—the Case for Economic Empowerment
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This episode, the last in Season II, features Darrell Schuurman, co-founder and CEO of the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. The CGLCC is a coalition of LGBTQ2S+ businesses, government, corporate and community partners advocating for change to make a more inclusive Canadian economy possible. Darrell sheds some light on the evolution of …
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Season II / Episode 7: Catalysing Community—The Power of People in Driving Systems Change
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This episode features Sarah Burgaud who leads Programs and Partnerships at StartOut, a national US 501c3 organization supporting LGBTQ+ founders. StartOut’s mission is to accelerate the growth of the LGBTQ+ community to drive its economic empowerment, building a world where every LGBTQ+ entrepreneur has equal access to lead, succeed, and shape the …
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Season II / Episode 6: Good Business Sense—Inclusion & Diversity as a Corporate Lived Value
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This episode features Al Ramsay, VP and Head of 2SLGBTQ+ & Black Customer Segments at TD Bank Group. How do corporations navigate changing social mores and customer expectations and still successfully develop thriving corporate cultures founded on diversity of thought and service to customer? What does it mean to truly live values of inclusion and …
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Season II / Episode 5: The Audacity of Difference—Reinventing LGBTQIA Activism
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This episode features Louise Chernin, an activist, LGBTQIA business and community leader, and the former CEO of the Greater Seattle Business Association. What does it mean to create shared value partnerships uniting small businesses, corporations, and government? How might we best redirect resources, technical support and money where it's most need…
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Season II / Episode 4: Young & Restless—Heeding the Call to Engage
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This episode features Jordan Wolken, a sustainability student, social enterprise enthusiast, and the Global President of Bridges for Enterprise, a volunteer-led non-profit empowering early-stage impact startups. He is currently based in Paris, France. Social entrepreneurship is a complex undertaking at the best of times. The pandemic and overall vo…
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Season II / Episode 3: Women’s Work—The Rise of Female Entrepreneurs in Kosovo
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This episode features Arta Istrefi, an experienced private sector development adviser, ecosystem builder, Founder of Women Entrepreneurs Kosovo and a PhD candidate, based in Pristina. She is focussed on the growing role of entrepreneurship as an engine for economic mobility, particularly for women. We had a chance to discuss her findings on how the…
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Season II / Episode 2: Chosen Friends & Family—Bridging the Racial Wealth Gap
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This episode features Kevin Jones, a successful serial entrepreneur who, with his wife, has built media and event businesses centered on niche communities—including the influential SOCAP Conference. He is currently focussed, amongst other efforts, on helping communities of faith take seriously the call to economic justice through faithfinance.net. …
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Season II / Episode 1: Designing Collective Wellbeing—The Happy City Movement
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This episode features Charles Montgomery, author of the book Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design, and the founder of the consultancy of the same name. We know cities are key economic drivers, often even outperforming their own countries in terms of growth. We also know that urbanization comes at a cost, particularly around trans…
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Season I / Episode 8: More together, with more humility
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This episode features Adriana Valdez Young, an urban design researcher and strategist based in New York City. Her perspectives on cities and how we live together seem particularly relevant in a time where our collective notions of private and public spaces have shifted. Where the global pandemic has meant that for the privileged who can perform the…
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Season I / Episode 7: It starts with the people
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In this episode I speak with Delilah Agho-Otoghile, an Organizer, Political Strategist and Co-Founder of VoteSimple, a Texas based digital voter registration organization focused on registering young voters of colour and LGTBQ+ Texans. Delilah previously worked as State Director for Beto for America and Field Director for Stacey Abrams for Governor…
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Season I / Episode 6—Reinventing social networks
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In this episode, I speak with Mica Le John. Mica is a writer, technologist, and educator, and the CEO and co-founder of 2SWIM, a social messaging app with an emphasis on close connections and private communities. 2SWIM will be for everybody but is currently invite-only for POC-, LGBTQ+-, and/or womxn-centric communities, creators and brands (and th…
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