May 15, 2025
The New York Times recently published an article featuring Marshall Van Alstyne, Allen and Kelli Professor of Information Systems, discussing how The Trump administration has escalated its efforts to curb research on misinformation by canceling more than 1,400 federally funded scientific grants, including many focused on studying harmful content online.
Officials at agencies like the National Science Foundation and NIH claim these studies might infringe on First Amendment rights, despite no evidence they caused censorship. Critics argue the cancellations are part of a broader effort to suppress research into misinformation’s spread and impact. The canceled grants included projects on AI deepfakes, foreign propaganda, and how repeated falsehoods shape beliefs. Researchers say their work has been misrepresented and was meant to understand and combat disinformation.
“I’m almost certain this is going to lead to a vastly more polluted information environment,” Van Alstyne adds.
The funding cuts, framed as spending cuts and free speech protections, have sparked backlash and left researchers struggling, risking a more toxic online environment with fewer tools to combat misinformation.
