Former Harvard disinformation scholar says she was pushed out of her job after college faced pressure from Facebook

Donie O'Sullivan and Clare Duffy December 04, 2023 1 min read

Donie O'Sullivan and Clare Duffy
CNN

Excerpt: A nationally recognized online disinformation researcher has accused Harvard University of shutting down the project she led to protect its relationship with mega-donor and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

The allegations, made by Dr. Joan Donovan, raise questions about the influence the tech giant might have over seemingly independent research. Facebook’s parent company Meta has long sought to defend itself against research that implicates it in harming society: from the proliferation of election disinformation to creating addictive habits in children. Details of the disclosure were first reported by The Washington Post.

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