Represented election workers, voters, and a postal inspector who were defamed and terrorized as part of the Big Lie conspiracy theory, and helped them spotlight the human cost of disinformation.
Countering Disinformation
Our Work
Democratic decisionmaking requires a shared reality based on facts.

Without shared facts, citizens in a democracy cannot trust each other or our political leaders, or make informed voting decisions that hold our representatives accountable.
Today in the United States, the unmitigated spread of disinformation — false information deliberately spread by bad-faith actors — threatens to make too many of us apathetic, or even actively hostile, towards democratic institutions and one another.
But we have powerful tools to help stop disinformation and those who intentionally spread it. Together, we can create a healthier political discourse based on shared facts, genuine disagreement, and honest differences of opinion.
- Deter the spread of election-, voting-, and other democracy-related disinformation through litigation and other tools.
- Neutralize the biases in our information ecosystem that allow disinformation to spread more easily than facts.
- Disrupt the feedback loop that pushes elected officials toward enacting disinformation-driven policy.
Produced research to help communities of color cope with the unique disinformation challenges they face, centering their voices, experiences, and expertise across these solutions.
Impact in the News

Shaye Moss receives the JFK Library Foundation’s Profile in Courage Award Shaye Moss

Electoral Confusion: Contending with Structural Disinformation in Communities of Color
Research from Professor Samuel Woolley in partnership with Protect Democracy exploring the threat that election disinformation poses to communities of color and how to mitigate its effects.

19 Employers File Brief Against Florida’s Stop WOKE Act, Asserting the Law is Unconstitutional and an Impediment to Business Success
19 employers in a range of industries filed an amicus brief in support of our lawsuit against Florida's Stop WOKE Act.

Protect Democracy sues makers of 2020 election conspiracy film over false statements, voter intimidation
Protect Democracy and its partners filed suit against the makers and promoters of the election lie-hyping film 2000 Mules.

Federal Court to Hear Arguments Today That Florida Cannot Censor Private Companies’ Speech on Race and Gender
Today, the Florida companies that have sued to challenge the constitutionality of the Stop WOKE Act will appear in federal court to argue that the law should be blocked.

Hearing scheduled, Plaintiffs file two new briefs in suit challenging the “Stop WOKE Act”
Today, on behalf of Honeyfund, Primo Tampa, Chevara Orrin and Collective Concepts, Protect Democracy and its partner firm Ropes & Gray filed two briefs in our ongoing lawsuit challenging Florida’s “St

Protect Democracy, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Knight First Amendment Institute Welcome Recommendation Advising DHS to Drop Disinformation Governance Board
Today, it was reported that a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Advisory Council has recommended that DHS abandon plans to establish a “Disinformation Governance Board.”

Judge Rules Against Project Veritas et. al., Allowing Case to Proceed In Significant Win for Protect Democracy’s Law for Truth Project
Today, a Pennsylvania court denied motions seeking dismissal of an Erie postmaster’s defamation lawsuit against defendants Project Veritas, James O’Keefe, and Richard Hopkins.
Protect Democracy launches guide for media: The Authoritarian Playbook
The Authoritarian Playbook draws on guidance from leading experts on democracy to help journalists discern, contextualize, and cover the tactics used by would-be autocrats to grab and hold on to power

The Gateway Pundit Must Defend Itself in Missouri State Court, Judge Rules
A judge ruled that The Gateway Pundit, its founder Jim Hoft, and its contributor Joe Hoft, must defend themselves in Missouri state court.