Whistleblower allegation: Harvard muzzled disinfo team after $500 million Zuckerberg donation
A prominent disinformation scholar is accusing Harvard University in a whistleblower disclosure of muzzling her speech and stifling — then dismantling — her research team as it launched a deep dive into a damning trove of Facebook files
A prominent disinformation scholar who left Harvard University in August has accused the school of muzzling her speech and stifling — then dismantling — her research team as it launched a deep dive in late 2021 into a trove of Facebook files she considers the most important documents in internet history.
The actions impacting Joan Donovan's work coincided with a $500 million donation by a foundation run by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. In a whistleblower disclosure made public Monday, Donovan seeks investigations into “inappropriate influence" by Harvard's general counsel, the Massachusetts attorney general's office and the U.S. Department of Education.
"Whether Harvard acted at the company’s direction or took the initiative on their own to protect (Facebook's) interests, the outcome is the same: corporate interests are undermining research and academic freedom to the detriment of the public,” CEO Libby Liu said in a press statement.
