Hakan Seyalıoğlu is a 2021 Congressional Innovation Fellow who is serving with Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and working on digital platforms, broadband, privacy, and algorithm issues. Prior to joining TechCongress as a fellow, Hakan was a Technical Lead Manager at Google and co-founded Thorny Games, a publishing company that explores the intersection of language, culture, and identity through play.

In this episode, we sit down with Hakan to talk about why he created Thorny Games, why he applied for TechCongress, and what being a civic technologist means to him.