A New Venture
Fact or Fiction
What's at stake is the very health of democracy
In the malicious sea of online misinformation, disinformation, and harm, where are the lifeguards? Founded in 2019, GW’s Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics (IDDP) was established to develop a new science of combating online harms. By gathering experts across many disciplines to analyze the ever-complex digital media ecosystem, IDDP aims to distinguish fact from fiction and give the truth—and our democracy—a fighting chance.
IDDP's Goals
Regulations
Platform Operations
Public Health Communication
How journalists report on and use online content
“Democratic societies rely on well-informed citizens who understand the facts on the ground, who can make good decisions when they go to the ballot box. They need to know what's true, what's accurate.”
-Rebekah Tromble, Director, IDDP
School of Media & Public Affairs
IDDP’s Cross-disciplinary Collaboration
Examining problems as vast and complex as online disinformation and harm require multiple angles of approach. IDDP gathers the best minds in disciplines as seemingly disparate as computer science, engineering, government and law, media, public health and more to devise solutions as they inform journalists, advise policymakers and engage influential organizations around the world.
Our Researchers
Rebekah Tromble
Director, Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics
Dr. Rebekah Tromble is an Associate Professor in the School of Media and Public Affairs. Her research focuses on political communication, digital research methodology, and research ethics, with particular interests in political discourse on social media, as well as the spread and impact of online misinformation.
David Broniatowski
Associate Director, Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics
Dr. Broniatowski is an Associate Professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and formerly leads IDDP's Meaningful Open Source Indicators (MOSI). He conducts research in decision making under uncertainty, collective decision making, the design and regulation of complex information flow systems, and how behavior spreads online.
Lorien Abroms
Knight Fellow, Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics
Dr. Abroms is a professor in the Department of Prevention and Community Health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. Dr. Abroms' career focuses on the intersection of digital communication technologies and health promotion, with an emphasis of developing new applications and insuring that existing ones are health promoting. Dr. Abroms is also the founding director of the GW mHealth Collaborative, an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students in clinical medicine, public health, biostatistics, and engineering.
Dawn Nunziato
Knight Fellow, Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics
Dawn Nunziato is the William Wallace Kirkpatrick Research Professor and Professor of Law at GW Law, where she is Co-Director of the Global Internet Freedom and Human Rights Project and Law School Lead for the Public Interest Technology University Network. She is an internationally recognized expert in content regulation and free speech on the Internet and has written and lectured extensively on issues involving free speech and privacy on the Internet.
Information about the full research team can be found on the IDDP website.
Inoculating Against Lies: IDDP and COVID-19
As more people than ever before reject traditional media outlets for health information on social media and other dubious sources — particularly amid the greatest global pandemic in a century — IDDP is not only analyzing how people are being influenced by health misinformation online, but also working to calm fears, help the vaccine hesitant, and ultimately inoculate people with the truth.
