Policy Analyst, Free Expression Project
Aliya Bhatia is a policy analyst on CDT’s Free Expression team, which works to promote users’ free expression rights in the United States and around the world. Aliya works on issues regarding online safety and content moderation, and is dedicated to upholding media freedom and creative expression online.
Before joining CDT, Aliya worked at Ranking Digital Rights, a non-profit research organization that evaluates the policies and practices of the world’s largest technology companies, where she worked to bridge the work of civil society, the press, and the public to hold corporate power accountable.
She also worked on the first digital decennial census in 2020 as a policy and campaigns manager with the Association for a Better New York, coordinating a state-wide campaign to ensure access to the census with over 150 community-based, corporate, and public institutions. On the census, she particularly worked on issues related to privacy, disinformation, and organizational security and worked to increase census completion rates amongst undocumented communities, communities of color, and communities who lived in low-digital access zones. She comes to this work having worked in immigrants rights, political campaigning, and youth engagement in Toronto and New York.
Originally from India, Aliya holds a masters degree from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto, having studied international relations and art history. You can follow her at @aliyabhatia.
