John Wihbey is the Director of the AI-Media Strategies Lab (AIMES Lab) at Northeastern University and a Professor of media innovation and technology in the College of Arts, Media and Design. Wihbey is a leading scholar in understanding how digital technologies reshape news media and democratic discourse. Author of The Social Fact: News and Knowledge in a Networked World (MIT Press, 2019) and Governing Babel: The Debate over Social Media Platforms and Free Speech—and What Comes Next (MIT Press, 2025), Wihbey has established himself as a prominent voice in analyzing how networked information systems impact journalism and public knowledge.

Wihbey has also worked as a research consultant for Twitter, Inc., and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and is committed to bridging the gap between academia and industry in advancing democratic media practices. His research focuses on news media, AI and communications, social media, content moderation, and tech policy, making him uniquely positioned to address contemporary challenges in digital media landscapes.