Stanford Internet Observatory

[1] Alex Stamos founded the Stanford Internet Observatory in 2019, after leaving Facebook the year before over frustrations that he was not allowed to publish the full account of Russia's influence operations on the platform in the 2016 US Presidential elections.

[2] According to Lauren Coffey of Inside Higher Ed, by 2024 the Stanford Internet Observatory had "published 15 white paper reports, 10 journal articles and garnered more than 5,000 media mentions".

[4] In 2024, Lauren Coffey of Inside Higher Ed wrote that SIO "served as a research powerhouse with a focus on social media amid growing misinformation".

[3] Joseph Menn of The Washington Post wrote "The Stanford Internet Observatory [...] published some of the most influential analysis of the spread of false information on social media during elections.

"[8] Disinformation research groups, including the Stanford Internet Observatory, having reported on such topics as the 2020 stolen election claims and COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, had been under attack by GOP resources accusing them of colluding with the US Government and social media outlets of censoring conservative voices.

[8][19][20][10] Leadership including Alex Stamos, the main fundraiser, had left in November 2023 citing the toll of the political pressure while Renée DiResta's contract was not renewed in June 2024.