A woman with long, straight brown hair is smiling slightly at the camera. She is wearing a dark blue collared shirt and has multiple earrings. The background is a plain, light color.

Amanda Wells

Program Coordinator, Digital Safety & Free Expression

Amanda Wells is the Program Coordinator, Digital Safety & Free Expression at PEN America. Before PEN, Wells worked at the International Rescue Committee of Atlanta, where she taught English and literacy courses to recently resettled refugees and migrants. Wells holds a BA in English, Spanish, and Political Science from Rutgers University and a Master of Sciences in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies from the University of Oxford. While at Oxford, her research centered on how algorithmic censorship and online abuse impacts public attitudes towards refugees and digital refugee resistance movements.


Articles by Amanda Wells

Online Abuse & Digital Safety
Tuesday February 10

How Can Bystanders and Allies Support Targets of Online Abuse? 

Here are five steps that all users—including writers and journalists—can take to support those facing online abuse.

DisinformationOnline Abuse & Digital Safety
Friday January 9

Immigration Status is Being Used as a Weapon of Censorship by the Trump Administration

These actions are a broad attempt by the administration to use immigration directives to target individuals who criticize the administration.

Portrait of a smiling woman with blonde hair in a blue blazer next to the book cover for Man Up: The New Misogyny & the Rise of Violent Extremism by Cynthia Miller-Idriss, featuring bold white text on a dark, fiery background.
Writing as Craft
Wednesday October 22

Confronting a Rise in Misogyny and Violent Extremism Online and Off

When no one speaks up to even acknowledge a harmful act, members of targeted groups often read silence as support.