Thomas McBrien

Tom McBrien is Counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a non-profit research and advocacy center dedicated to securing the fundamental right to privacy in the digital age for all people. He is a leading advocate for privacy, algorithmic fairness, and platform accountability with expertise in the First and Fourth Amendments and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. 

Tom leads EPIC’s work on surveillance pricing and contributes to work on platform governance issues, Section 230, automated decision-making systems, and the First and Fourth amendments. He provides expertise to policymakers at both the state and federal level to advance strong privacy, platform governance, and AI oversight laws. He also helps coordinate amicus brief strategy and regularly files amicus briefs on a broad range of topics.

Tom is a graduate of New York University School of Law, where he served as the student fellow coordinator for the Privacy Research Group, as the co-president of the school’s chapter of National Lawyers Guild, and as a trained mediator in the Bronx small claims court. While in school, Tom interned at the Brennan Center for Justice and the ACLU, and he spent a year in NYU’s Technology Law and Policy Clinic. He holds a B.S. in Biology and English from the University of Michigan.  

Areas of expertise: Platform governance, social media law, First Amendment, Section 230, surveillance pricing, automated decision-making systems, and chatbots.

Pronouns: he/him 

Contact: [Mailbox], 202.483.1140