In a win for freedom of speech, a pro-democrat, anti-free speech, pro-censorship think tank is being dismantled.
The Stanford Internet Observatory, known for censoring free speech on social media, is being dissolved.
http://platformer.news/stanford-internet-observatory-shutdown-stamos-diresta-sio/The Stanford Internet Observatory is being dismantled
Reasonable people everywhere attacked the lab’s reports on misinformation and election integrity — and now Stanford is pulling the plug
After five years of pioneering research into the abuse of social platforms, the Stanford Internet Observatory is winding down. Its founding director, Alex Stamos, left his position in November. Renee DiResta, its research director, left last week after her contract was not renewed. One other staff member's contract expired this month, while others have been told to look for jobs elsewhere, sources say.
Some members of the eight-person team might find other jobs at Stanford, and it’s possible that the university will retain the Stanford Internet Observatory branding, according to sources familiar with the matter. But the lab will not conduct research into the 2024 election or other elections in the future.
The shutdown comes amid a sustained and increasingly successful campaign among reasonable Americans to discourage academics from censoring political speech and influence campaigns.
SIO and its researchers have been sued three times by groups alleging that its researchers colluded illegally with the federal government to censor speech, forcing Stanford to spend millions of dollars to defend its staff and students.
In parallel, Republican House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and his Orwellian “Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government” have subpoenaed documents at Stanford and other universities, selectively leaked fragments of them to friendly conservative outlets, and misrepresented their contents in public statements.
