‘Stakes are really high’: misinformation researcher changes tack for 2024 US election

Kate Starbird says attacks have made research difficult, and claims of bias arise because of prevalence of lies from the right

A key researcher in the fight against election misinformation - who herself became the subject of an intensive misinformation campaign - has said her field gets accused of bias" precisely because it's now mainly rightwingers who spread the worst lies.

Kate Starbird, co-founder of the University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public, added that she feared that the entirely false story of rigged elections has now sunk in" for many Americans on the right. The idea that they're already going to the polls with the belief that they're being cheated means they'll misinterpret everything they see through that lens," she said.