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Image of Muhammed Alakitan during his introductory address at the Cambridge Digital Humanities (CDH).

Hello

A Bit About Me

I am a Sociologist interested in the intersection of digital technologies and the politics of knowledge production.

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As a current doctoral research candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge, my thesis examines how Nigerian social media users construct meaning, struggle for, and contest online (in)visibility amid algorithmic, political, socio-economic, and gendered structures. In particular, I focus on how users define their identities, social movement participation, and cultural agency as contingent on their visibility and the collective action engaged. My research relies on both in-depth interviews and computational social science analysis. 

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My PhD thesis builds on my Masters’ research at the School of Global and Area Studies, University of Oxford, where I conducted an online ethnographic study that engaged with the practices of Nigerian Twitter influencers as a case study to explain the opportunities and challenges of the digital economy in Nigeria and Africa. I explored the nature of online work by influencers through the theories of affective labour and identity entrepreneurship, thereby contributing new insights into the influencer culture on Nigerian Twitter. My research won the 2022 Terence Ranger Prize for the best dissertation in African Studies. 

 

Broadly, my research and professional interests lie in the linkages between digital technologies and human development, data ethics, digital economy, and artificial intelligence & internet governances. 

Journal Publications

Blogposts 

Alakitan, M. T. (2025). Redefining social media influencership through followership building. Platforms & Society, 2. https://doi.org/10.1177/29768624251394250


Alakitan, M., & Makinde, E. (2024). Where are the ethical guidelines? Examining the governance of digital technologies and AI in Nigeria. Policy & Internet. 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/poi3.416

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​Alakitan, M., & Makinde, E. (2026, February 25). Africa Needs to Achieve AI Sovereignty for Economic Development; This Is What It Can Do—The Policy and Internet Blog. https://internet-policy-meco.sydney.edu.au/2026/02/africa-needs-to-achieve-ai-sovereignty-for-economic-development-this-is-what-it-can-do/

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Alakitan, M., Aiyenuro A., Adekanmbi O., & Kayode, F. (2025, July). Cambridge University Nigerian Society (CUNS) Democracy Day Panel: Documenting Actionable Interventions: Cambridge-Africa. https://www.cambridge-africa.cam.ac.uk/cambridge-africa-updates/2025-cambridge-university-nigeria-societycuns-democracy-day-panel/


Alakitan, M. (2023, October 27). Are current AI regulations enough to protect Social Media Influencers? Dataphyte. https://dataphyte.com/topic/are-current-ai-regulations-enough-to-protect-social-media-influencers

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Alakitan, M. (2023, October 27). Why are Nigerians leaving and what can the Government do? Dataphyte. 

https://dataphyte.com/topic/economy/why-are-nigerians-leaving-and-what-can-the-government-do


Alakitan, M. (2023). Bans, Gender, Unpaid Labour and Surveillance: Precarities of Nigerian Twitter Influencer Entrepreneurship. In Book of Abstracts XX ISA World Congress of Sociology (pp. 19).    


Alakitan, M. (2023). Ethics, Context and Fabrication: Doing Social Media Ethnography in Nigeria. In Book of Abstracts XX ISA World Congress of Sociology (pp. 19).

Contributions

[External Contributor] Mansell, R., Durach, F., Kettemann, M. C., Lenoir, T., Tripathi, G. P., & Tucker, E. (2025). Information ecosystems and troubled democracy: a global synthesis of the state of knowledge on news media, AI and data governance.

 

[External Contributor] Where have all the Workers Gone? Labor and Work in Ghana, 1951-2010. 

Connect with me

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© 2026 (Muhammed Alakitan)

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