About

Cybersecurity for Democracy is a research-based, nonpartisan, and independent effort to expose online threats to our social fabric – and recommend how to counter them. We are a multi-university research project of the Center for Cybersecurity at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering and the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute at the Northeastern University Khoury College of Computer Sciences.

We use traditional cybersecurity methods to evaluate vulnerabilities of online platforms that are used to spread misinformation. Our focus is on systems, revealing the ways that online sites leave themselves open to misinformation attacks. We then develop mitigation strategies to improve online security, working with advocates, policy makers, and platforms.

We focus on democracy because online platforms–such as Facebook, X, and YouTube–have proven vulnerable to misinformation aimed at weakening democratic norms. There is nothing new about misinformation, dirty tricks, and voter suppression in the history of democracy. But as political campaigns – like much of the rest of public life – have moved online, so have tactics to mislead the public. Solutions must be tuned to the ways platforms work in the real world, with algorithmic amplification and micro-targeted content.

We champion data transparency and standardization so we can effectively audit online platforms. We provide data we collect to researchers and journalists investigating online misinformation. Our default is open source whenever possible: we make data and code available for others to use and replicate.

This project was formerly known as the Online Political Transparency Project.

Staff

Damon McCoy

Damon McCoy is an associate professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering. He received his Ph.D., MS, and BS in Computer Science from the University of Colorado, Boulder. McCoy is the recipient of an NSF CAREER award, former CRA/CCC Computer Innovation Fellow, IEEE Security and Privacy best practical paper award, and ACM MobiSys best paper award.

Laura Edelson

Laura Edelson is an assistant professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University Khoury College of Computer Sciences. She received her Ph.D in Computer Science from New York University. Laura's current research involves large-scale analysis of online paid political content on major platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter, and the development of methods to detect inauthentic content and fraudulent actors. Prior to her current time in academia, Laura was a software engineer for Palantir and Factset.

Yaël Eisenstat

Yaël Eisenstat is a democracy activist, having spent over two decades combating extremism, polarization and anti-democratic behavior both on- and offline. Most recently, she was Vice President at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), heading the Center for Technology & Society. Prior to that, she served in a wide range of roles including as head of global elections integrity for political ads for Facebook and 14 years in pubic service including as a diplomat, intelligence officer, and White House advisor. She earned an M.A. in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Bruno Coelho

Bruno Coelho is a Computer Science Ph.D. Candidate at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering. He is interested in developing theory and practice around using artificial intelligence (AI) for social good. This means working on research projects ranging from creating a smart insect trap designed to detect dengue-carrying Aedes mosquitos to analyzing illegal timber transport on the Amazon rainforest. His current research focus is multilingual Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques applied to Spanish-language political ads. Bruno also enjoys teaching and entering data science competitions.

Funders

Democracy Fund works toward an open and just democracy that is resilient in the face of change and worthy of the American people’s trust. We support partners and ideas from across the political spectrum in pursuit of a vibrant and diverse public square, free and fair elections, effective and accountable government, and a just and inclusive society.

Media Democracy Fund is a catalyst for an open, secure and equitable internet. We bring together diverse voices to design inclusive and responsible solutions, and empower public interest advocates to create an environment where digital technologies and the internet have a long-term, positive impact on society.

Privacy and Ethics

Independence. We don't take funding from platforms like Facebook or Google.

Privacy. We do not collect or use personally-identifying information in our projects, including Ad Observatory and Ad Observer, or track cookies on our websites. (We do allow website visitors to share their name and email address with us for communications, such as our mailing list.)

Openness. We aim to publish most of our data and code publicly on Github, so others can use it — and check our work. (There are some exceptions, particularly around code that could be exploited by adversaries.)

Collaboration. We work with journalists, civil society groups and researchers because different disciplines have different strengths.