Why defunding research on misinformation and disinformation isn’t what Americans want

Research on misinformation and disinformation has become the latest casualty of the Trump administration’s restructuring of federal research priorities.

Following President Donald Trump’s executive order on “ending federal censorship,” the National Science Foundation canceled hundreds of grants that supported research on misinformation and disinformation.

Misinformation refers to misleading narratives shared by people unaware that content is false. Disinformation is deliberately generated and shared misleading content...