Yizhou (Joe) Xu is an Assistant Professor of Media Studies at Old Dominion University. His research looks at the globalization of the Chinese tech industry particularly at the intersections of state policy, labor practices, and digital platforms. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at University of Michigan's Digital Studies Institute, and obtained his PhD in Media & Cultural Studies from the Department of Communication Arts at University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Dr. Xu has published in academic journals such as Social Media + Society, Journal of Cultural Economy, and Communication and the Public. He received his PhD in Media & Cultural Studies at UW–Madison’s Department of Communication Arts. Prior to academia, he was a documentarian and broadcast journalist based in Beijing working for new agencies including CBS News, NPR, and Swiss TV. His documentaries have been broadcasted in Europe and distributed globally on Amazon Prime.