'60 Minutes' omits critical details about 'misinformation expert' otherwise painted as victimized researcher

CBS News' "60 Minutes" recently boosted the grievances of activists who fancy themselves online narrative curators, including so-called "misinformation expert" Kate Starbird, the cofounder of the University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public.

The liberal news network framed Starbird as a defender of truth and a victim of conservative criticism but failed to mention critical biographic information about the so-called expert, namely that she's a partisan who has taken money from the Biden administration and is named as a defendant in an ongoing legal battle over censorship.

The beleaguered academic

"60 Minutes" introduced Starbird as "a professor at the University of Washington, a former professional basketball player, and a leader of a misinformation research group created ahead of the 2020 election."

The dribbling academic complained to host Lesley Stahl that X has not responded to or heeded more than 30% of her censorial outfit's suggestions — "and on the majority of those, they put labels."

Additionally, she claimed that conservatives disproportionately push "misinformation" online, insinuating further that they have a stake in combating her fact-checking efforts and have sought to intimidate both her and her team.

"This campaign against you is meant to discredit you so we won't believe you," said Stahl.

"Absolutely. And 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," said Starbird.

"60 Minutes" leaned on Starbird's claims in the episode to later suggest that while conservatives bemoan censorship of speech online, they simultaneously seek to "chill the research" of benevolent academics such as Starbird.

The censorious partisan

The liberal news outfit neglected to mention that Starbird is a radical partisan, a Biden donor, and a recipient of Biden administration grants who has collaborated with the Biden Department of Homeland Security on efforts to shut down speech deemed undesirable by the powers that be.

The Daily Caller highlighted that Starbird ran lead on a narrative-curing project that secured $2.25 million from the National Science Foundation in August 2021. The stated purpose of the initiative was to "study ways to apply collaborative, rapid-response research to mitigate online disinformation."

Upon receipt of the grant, Starbird said in a statement, "Working to advance scientific understanding of online disinformation, this research 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."

Starbird was named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed last year by Jim Hoft of the Gateway Pundit and Jill Hines, codirector of the conservative Health Freedom Louisiana group, whose criticism of mask wearing was suppressed on Facebook. Starbird is also referenced in Murthy v. Missouri, the case concerning the Biden administration's efforts to have Americans censored online now before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hoft and Hines' complaint alleged that Starbird and other personnel from her organization were involved in "probably the largest mass-surveillance and mass-censorship program in American history — the so-called 'Election Integrity Partnership' and 'Virality Project.'"

The complaint further claimed that Starbird's UW lab secured the aforementioned $2.25 million grant "just months after Starbird's lab helped censor the Biden Administration's political adversary during the 2020 election."

Starbird served as a member of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Cybersecurity Advisory Committee. She apparently also ran lead on the CISA task force "Protecting Critical Infrastructure from Misinformation and Disinformation."

CISA, a component of the Department of Homeland Security, is accused along with other prongs of the Biden administration in Murthy v. Missouri of violating Americans' First Amendment rights online.

Last year, Mike Benz, executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, shared a video from Starbird detailing how to kill or curate narratives on Twitter.

In her interview with "60 Minutes," Starbird regurgitated many of the talking points advanced by the Biden administration in its fight to keep leaning on social media companies to censor dissenting voices online.

"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," said Starbird.

The bespectacled researcher is not only sympathetic to the Democratic administration's clampdown on undesirable speech online but also a fan of the man in the White House.

The Daily Caller noted that Starbird donated to then-candidate Joe Biden's presidential campaign in 2020.

Extra to signing checks for the Biden campaign and the Biden Victory Fund, Starbird has poured cash into ActBlue and other leftist causes, according to Federal Election Commission records.

The Caller indicated that "60 Minutes" did not respond to requests for comment.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) responded to Starbird's interview, writing, "Missouri v. Biden exposed this. 'Misinformation Researchers' are part of the Vast Censorship Enterprise. No tax dollars to these wannabe authoritarians."

Trump advisor Stephen Miller's America First Legal noted, "Irony Alert: CBS is guilty of rank disinformation in this interview. They use Kate Starbird as their 'expert' ... but they don't tell you that Starbird is the defendant in our lawsuit alleging a vast scheme to silence speech and deprive Americans of their fundamental civil rights."

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