
The incoming Trump administration’s vow to dismantle the leftwing “censorship cartel” has thrown a shadow over the cottage industry of academics, non-profits and researchers that sprang up to combat a tide of digital misinformation — and threatens to disrupt the Big Tech companies behind the world’s most popular platforms.
Researchers fear Donald Trump will make good on his past promises to crack down further on the misinformation field in the US for alleged “election interference”. Among those threats, he has said he would seek to curb funds to any universities found to have engaged in censorship activities “such as flagging social media content for removal or blacklisting” for at least five years.