’60 Minutes’ failed to disclose ‘misinformation’ researcher got millions in gov’t grants, donated to Biden

CBS’ “60 Minutes” failed to disclose that a prominent “misinformation” researcher it featured on its Sunday program received funding and collaborated with President Joe Biden’s administration.

University of Washington professor and researcher Kate Starbird was featured on the program about “misinformation” proliferating on social media. Starbird spearheaded a project that Biden’s National Science Foundation (NSF) granted $2.25 million in 2021, and the researcher collaborated with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by serving on an advisory committee under its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which CBS did not mention.

That segment never once told viewers that Kate Starbird, the “misinformation researcher,” has taken millions of dollars from federal taxpayers to advance the government’s censorship mission.

Or that she’s been on a DHS advisory panel with the same mission.

They made it seem…

— Vince Coglianese (@VinceCoglianese) March 25, 2024

“It’s interesting that the people that pushed voter fraud lies are some of the same people that are trying to discredit researchers that are trying to understand the problem,” she said, according to CBS.

The research that the NSF funded “will develop and evaluate ‘rapid response’ methods for studying and communicating about disinformation at a sophistication and pace on par with the dynamic and interdisciplinary nature of the challenge,” the professor said in a press release announcing the NSF grant.

CISA’s Protecting Critical Infrastructure from Misinformation and Disinformation subcommittee, which Starbird served on, published recommendations to the cybersecurity agency in June 2022 regarding how to handle information risks to “critical functions” like public health, the financial system, and elections. The subcommittee advised CISA to identify “informational threats,” work with “governmental” and “non-governmental” entities to debunk mis- and disinformation and expand related studies.

The subcommittee courted left-wing research groups and pro-censorship organizations in its initiatives to subdue perceived misinformation, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported.

Starbird contributed $750 to Biden’s 2020 campaign and $250 to the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee, according to Federal Election Commission data.

Academic researchers and government agencies are reevaluating or ending their Biden administration-funded programs to censor online “misinformation” after a July court ruling to prevent federal agencies from working with social media companies, The Washington Post reported in September. Conservatives have accused federal agencies and social media companies of collaborating to censor right-wing views.

CBS and “60 Minutes” did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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