Post AZ1qNK5ed2arFsTOqm by katestarbird@mstdn.social
 (DIR) More posts by katestarbird@mstdn.social
 (DIR) Post #AZ1qNGrMdiNdEglRey by katestarbird@mstdn.social
       2023-08-23T15:41:28Z
       
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       Let's talk about the "Weaponization of Government". As a researcher of disinformation, it's been both frustrating and enlightening to become the target of disinformation. The old playbooks for how to respond to this stuff (often advocating strategic silence) are broken. But we're just figuring out how to fight back. Here's my statement detailing how the House Judiciary Committee mischaracterized my voluntary service on an advisory committee to weave a false narrative: https://www.cip.uw.edu/2023/08/23/starbird-house-judiciary-committee-report/
       
 (DIR) Post #AZ1qNIRujJD8AKs9Gi by katestarbird@mstdn.social
       2023-08-23T16:51:13Z
       
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       From the statement: "The [House Judiciary] Committee’s interim report mischaracterizes the work of a voluntary advisory committee [for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)], conflates timelines, and selectively presents and recontextualizes content from emails and meeting notes ... to weave a false narrative."
       
 (DIR) Post #AZ1qNK5ed2arFsTOqm by katestarbird@mstdn.social
       2023-08-23T16:55:06Z
       
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       The House Judiciary Committee's interim report effectively punishes an academic researcher (and others) for volunteering to serve on an advisory committee — to try to help our country become more resilient to rumors, misinformation, and disinformation about elections. While they claim to be supporting "free speech", the report and related efforts function to chill speech — demotivating researchers like me from sharing what we know with government and social media platforms.
       
 (DIR) Post #AZ1qNLj2Y5h0KJuMsa by katestarbird@mstdn.social
       2023-08-23T17:03:00Z
       
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       I gave a voluntary interview to this committee (4.5 hours), where they had an opportunity to clarify the record. But they never asked about many of the email communications and meeting notes they feature in their report — because the seems they were not interested in understanding what my cherry-picked emails actually meant. They also excluded/obscured information I gave them, e.g. about timelines and how committee had no operational capacity, that would have corrected their false narrative.