Dr. Paloma Viejo Otero

Dr. Paloma Viejo Otero is a researcher with an interest in developing critical understanding of Platform Governance. She has been awarded by Alliance YUFE to work as postdoctoral researcher at  Prof.Dr.Christian Katzenbach’s lab “Platform Governance, Media, and Technology” at the Center for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI), University of Bremen. Her project focus on platform governance, inequality and minorities.

In 2016 Paloma obtained a DCU School of Communication Scholarship. Between October 2016 and September 2021, Paloma  was a doctoral candidate at Dublin City University. During her doctoral phase Paloma’s research on hate speech led her to work with the Council of Europe, where she co-produced the ‘Yes We Can Manual‘ for the youth Department of Council of Europe. This manual aims to produce counter-narratives to diminish, counter or neutralize the attraction and impact of hateful narratives, within the framework of the ‘No Hate Speech‘ campaign.  Paloma  defended her dissertation with the title “Governing Hate. Facebook and Hate Speech” in September 2021 (supervisor: Prof.Dr.  Eugenia Siapera, University College Dublin) in which she explored  the principles and values behind Facebook Hate Speech policies and how they determined Facebooks systems of governance.

Paloma  previously  obtained her degree from School of Communication at Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca;  an  MPhil in Race, Ethnicity and Conflict from Trinity College Dublin, and holds a MA in Culture Studies and Arts Management from the Instituto de Investigacion Ortega y Gasset in Madrid. Paloma has worked as Research Assistant at DCU Anti-Bullying Centre (2020-2022) and as external colaborator for Univesidad Oberta de Catalunya (2022). In addition, Paloma also has extensive professional experience in the public and not-for-profit sector such as; the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sudan and Guatemala; UNESCO, Migrants Right Center Dublin; and the Peter McVerry Trust, Dublin

Research interests 

Platform governance, Hate Speech; Historical oppression, inequality, discrimination and segregation.

Memberships

Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR)

International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR)

Publications

• Viejo Otero, P. (2025), Platform Governance and Social Justice: Governing Hate Speech on Social Media. (Digital Activism and Society: Politics, Economy And Culture In Network Communication), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds.
• Viejo Otero, P. and Scharlach, R. (under minor revisions 2025) We do not marshal your feed. How Alt Tech platforms conceptualised Safety. Platforms & Society.
• Katzenbach, C., Pentzold, C., & Viejo Otero, P. (2024). Smoothing Out Smart Tech’s Rough Edges: Imperfect Automation and the Human Fix. Human-Machine Communication, 7(1), 2.
• Katzenbach, C., Dergacheva, D., Fischer, A., Kopps, A., Kolesnikov, S., Redeker, D., & Viejo Otero, P. (2023). Platform Governance Archive (PGA): Dataset PGA v2 [Data Paper].
• Viejo Otero, P. (in production) Platform Governance and Social Justice: Governing Hate Speech on Social Media. Emerald.
• Katzenbach, C.; Pentzold, C.,& Viejo Otero, P.; (accepted): Smoothing Out Smart Tech’s Rough Edges: Imperfect Automation and the Human Fix. In: Human-Machine Communication.
• Sargioti, A. Kuldas, S, Foody, M.;Viejo Otero,P.; A. Kinahan.A ;Canning.C , Heaney. D, ; O’Higgins Norman. J (2022) Dublin Anti-Bullying Self-Efficacy Models and Scales: Development and Validation. Journal of International Violence. Approved for publication.
• Viejo Otero, P. Sargioti, A. Kinahan.A , Canning.C , Heaney. D, O’Higgins Norman. J (2022) Implementing the FUSE Anti-Bullying and Online Safety Programme Among Post-Primary Students in Ireland: Measuring Perceived Self-Efficacy . Submitted to Journal of Educational Studies. Under Revision.
• Viejo Otero, P. (2022). Governing hate: Facebook and hate speech (Doctoral dissertation, Dublin City University).
• Siapera, E., & Viejo-Otero, P. (2021). Governing hate: Facebook and digital racism. Television & New Media, 22(2), 112-130.
• Viejo Otero, Paloma (2021) How the Donald Trump years have changed Facebook. RTE. January 2021.https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2021/0119/1190648-donald-trump-mark-zuckerberg-facebook/
• Viejo Otero, Paloma (2020) Guide to Understand Hate Speech (2020) Eskura. Ayuntamiento de SanSebastian. Basque Country. searchlibrary.ohchr.org/record/29540
• de Latour, A., Perger, N., Salag, R., Tocchi, C., & Otero, P. V. (2017). We can!: Taking Action against Hate Speech through Counter and Alternative Narratives (revised edition). Council of Europe.
• Titley, G., Nikunen, K., Pantti, M., Sharma, S., Siapera, E., Otero, P. V., … & Muench, F. (2017). Racisms In Digital Media Space. AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research.
• Viejo Otero, Paloma (2017) How Social Media impacts on online racism and Hate Speech. RTE.November 2017. www.rte.ie/eile/brainstorm/2017/1107/918190-how-social-mediaimpacts-on-online-racism-and-hate-speech/
• Otero, P. V. (2015). How Do Far-Right Movements and Parties Use the Internet and the Social Media? Digital Facebook Postcards, With Hate, Your Far Right.