tufekci was born in istanbul, turkey, near taksim gezi park in istanbul's beyoğlu district. she worked as a computer programmer before becoming an academic and turning her attention to social science. her research and publications include topics such as the effect of big data on politics and the public sphere, how social media affects social movements, and the privacy and security vulnerabilities exposed by the coming internet of things. in general, she has sought to outline the potential negative societal consequences of social media and big data, while not rejecting these phenomena outright.