# Kate Starbird University of Washington researcher and co-founder of the Center for an Informed Public, a leading academic institution studying [[Disinformation]] and crisis informatics. Her research has mapped how conspiracy theories and false narratives spread across social media platforms, documenting the infrastructure of online information warfare. Starbird's work on participatory disinformation and [[Stochastic Terrorism]] has been influential in understanding how decentralized networks amplify extremist content.