Academics and US agencies are overhauling or ending online misinformation research due to Representative Jim Jordan and other Republicans' escalating campaign
An escalating campaign, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and other Republicans, has cast a pall over programs that study political disinformation … Mastodon: @PaulaChertok@mas.to , @dangillmor@mastodon.social , @Noupside@saturation.social , @Epiclemur@lor.sh , @katestarbird@mstdn.social , @jgkoomey@mastodon.energy , and @JonChevreau@mstdn.ca X: @blackamazon , @blackamazon , @_yayger , @jswatz , @solnatamd , @jeffreymarlett , @dr_zil_white , @grabe , @cchoksy , @justinhendrix , @frankstengel , @vmorkevicius , and @karaswisher LinkedIn: Alan Jagolinzer and Mark Dobson See also Mediagazer Mastodon: Paula Chertok / @PaulaChertok@mas.to : 🚨🚨Disinformation research is buckling under GOP legal attacks — Academics, universities & government agencies are overhauling or ending programs to counter the spread of online misinformation amid a legal campaign from conservative politicians and activists accusing them of censoring right-wing views. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Dan Gillmor / @dangillmor@mastodon.social : Misinformation researchers are under vicious attack from Republicans, who have made lies and deceitful propaganda key tools in their campaign to overthrow democracy. The attacker aren't just burning honest education these days. They're burning the research that makes learning even possible. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Renee DiResta / @Noupside@saturation.social : It's been 6 months now of this attack on academic freedom and on the First Amendment rights of researchers, including mine. The attack relies on conjecture and innuendo and lies — not evidence. *9 out of 10 provisions* in the original “July 4” Missouri v Biden injunction were vacated … @Epiclemur@lor.sh : Misinformation research is buckling under GOP legal attacks https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Why does the GOP not want misinformation research? When the science shows they are lying the GOP says their “conservative views” are being thwarted. I'm sorry but we shouldn't be exposed to your lies. #maga Kate Starbird / @katestarbird@mstdn.social : I appreciate the WA Post drawing attention to attacks on researchers in the field of online misinformation, but there a few pieces of this story (e.g. about researchers “buckling") that just aren't accurate, at least not from my perspective at UW. … Jonathan Koomey / @jgkoomey@mastodon.energy : Anyone who doubts that the GOP has become a fascist, post-truth party should read this. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... JonChevreau / @JonChevreau@mstdn.ca : Misinformation research is buckling under GOP legal attacks https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... X: @blackamazon : The only pictured professor is a white woman who has straight up used one line to describe racial and gender vectors while saying “ I study this” when Black women challenged her Not a single one of these connects to CRT etc @blackamazon : good. They refused to actually listen and prepare they got M ILLIONS instead of supporting the most affected many of them used us as fucking mascots and left his to abuse and violence and are no casting only themselves as the victims @_yayger : Anti-vax sentiment is on the rise and being pushed the same people pushing political conspiracy theories. It's 2 sides of the same coin. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... John Schwartz / @jswatz : “In the name of protecting free speech, the scientific community is not allowed to speak,” said Dean Schillinger, a health communication scientist. “Science is being halted in its tracks.” WHICH IS THE POINT. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... @solnatamd : A must-read article describing how free speech is being weaponized to promote disinformation & silence those who combat disinfo 👇🏻. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... @jeffreymarlett : Bannon's “flood the zone with bullshit” keeps paying dividends for fascists. And as a result we all lose. Programs tracking misinfo are buckling amid campaign led by Rep. Jim Jordan https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... @dr_zil_white : This is disturbing on many levels, from the potential “biasing” or halting of research out of fear for retaliation by funding sources/governmental influences to the actual findings of how misinformation impacts us. Good luck @katestarbird et al.! https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... @grabe : Programs tracking misinfo are buckling amid campaign led by Rep. Jim Jordan. Intriguing analysis of efforts to silence organizations working to counter misinformation. Is there a right to lie without challenge? https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Dr. Carol E. B. Choksy / @cchoksy : Disinformation has a long history including propaganda, psychological warfare, mass communications, advertising, and political operations. Jordan trapped them by their too narrow definition of disinformation: intentional falsehoods. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Justin Hendrix / @justinhendrix : “Misinformation research is buckling under GOP legal attacks” - @NaomiNixWrites, @Cat_Zakrzewski, and @josephmenn on the coordinated campaign to silence scientists studying mis- and disinformation: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Frank A. Stengel / @frankstengel : Jim Jordan is using legal threats to censure science. Good stuff. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Valerie Morkevičius / @vmorkevicius : “'In the name of protecting free speech, the scientific community is not allowed to speak,' said Dean Schillinger, a health communication scientist.” Pretty much sums it up. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Kara Swisher / @karaswisher : This is what autocratic regimes do https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... LinkedIn: Alan Jagolinzer : We will continue our work with the Cambridge Disinformation Summit. — We are interested, among other things, in understanding the incentives … Mark Dobson : Under the guise of protecting free speech, and really motivated by protecting domestic disinformation and propaganda, organizations in the US … See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
The pressure on misinformation research follows a legal campaign targeting universities, nonprofit researchers and platforms over alleged government coordination on speech. It lands as major platforms were already retreating from political-misinformation enforcement amid content-moderation disputes.
This matters because the contest is no longer confined to platform policy: it reaches the outside research and public-sector capacity used to study online harms. Later coverage of Stanford’s halted rapid-response election observation work illustrates how institutional risk can narrow that capacity.
First-order effects
- Academic and U.S. agency programs studying political and medical misinformation must divert resources toward legal review, redesign, or shutdowns; some research questions and monitoring work become unavailable immediately.
- Republican lawmakers’ campaign raises the reputational and legal cost of collaboration among researchers, agencies and platforms, making those partnerships harder to sustain.
Second-order effects
- Platforms facing their own moderation backlash have less independent research and external evidence to inform political-integrity decisions, reinforcing their retreat from enforcement.
- Universities and research funders may favor work with lower perceived political exposure, reducing rapid-response and cross-institutional projects precisely where data access and coordination matter.
Third-order effects
- If this pattern persists, misinformation governance will shift from a shared research-and-response ecosystem toward more fragmented, legally defensive institutions with less common evidence for public debate.
- The underlying dispute may increasingly determine which forms of research-government-platform coordination are politically sustainable, rather than leaving those boundaries to voluntary practice alone.
The trend: Political and legal challenges to content moderation are expanding into the research infrastructure that supports it.