A prominent disinformation scholar is accusing Harvard University in a whistleblower disclosure of muzzling her speech and stifling — then dismantling — her research team as it launched a deep dive into a damning trove of Facebook files. The 2021 actions impacting Joan Donovan’s work coincided with a $500 million donation by a foundation run by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. Made public Monday, the disclosure seeks federal and state investigations into “inappropriate influence” it alleges betrayed academic freedom and public trust. In response, Harvard's Kennedy School called the allegations of unfair treatment and donor interference false and rejected the disclosure as “full of inaccuracies and baseless insinuations.”

A prominent disinformation scholar who left Harvard University in August has accused the school of muzzling her speech and stifling — then dismantling — her research team as it launched a deep dive in late 2021 into a trove of Facebook files she considers the most important documents in internet history.

The actions impacting Joan Donovan's work coincided with a $500 million donation to Harvard by a foundation run by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. In a whistleblower disclosure made public Monday, Donovan seeks investigations into “inappropriate influence" from Harvard's general counsel, the Massachusetts attorney general's office and the U.S. Department of Education.

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