A Front Row Seat to the Collision of Technology and Democracy
By Katie Harbath
Disrupting Politics
BOOK RELEASE
coming october 6
What happens to democracy when technology moves faster than we can govern it?
In this candid memoir, Harbath takes readers from dolphin-suit RNC stunts to Silicon Valley operation centers, from debate stages to congressional hearings. With unflinching honesty about the 2016 election, Cambridge Analytica, and the dismantling of integrity teams, she brings readers into the defining moments that reshaped the relationship between platforms and politics.
Disrupting Politics is the story of what it means to believe in both technology and democracy — and what it costs to spend two decades inside the tension between them. It offers hard-earned wisdom on scaling powerful algorithms, holding the middle when every option feels like the wrong one, and protecting free speech without breaking the system it depends on.
About the Book
From helping invent digital campaign tactics to shaping elections that impacted billions as a Facebook executive, Katie Harbath was inside the rooms where the future was being decided — before anyone knew the cost.
What it looks like to leave an institution with your integrity intact
The dismantling of platform integrity teams, and what it revealed about how these decisions really get made
Cambridge Analytica, the congressional hearings, and what actually happened inside the building
A decade running Facebook's global elections program, including the 2016 election and its aftermath
The early years building digital political infrastructure — before most of today's platforms existed
Because almost no one was telling this story from the inside, honestly, under their own name. The takedowns existed. The corporate defenses existed. The account of what the decisions actually felt like — the impossible tradeoffs, the personal cost, what was believed then and what was missed — didn't. Katie waited until she could tell the truth about it, including the parts that aren't flattering. And she wrote it now because the AI moment is history’s rhyme to the social media era, and the people navigating it deserve the institutional memory. Her mantra is to create what she wishes existed about this time frame, and this book is that.
What's Inside
Why Katie Wrote It
Contact: katieharbath@anchorchange.com
Katie Harbath is the founder of Anchor Change, a consultancy advising companies, civil society organizations, and policymakers on issues related to technology and democracy. A Green Bay, Wisconsin native, she writes the Anchor Change newsletter, read by thousands of leaders and policymakers worldwide, and is a regular voice on elections, AI, and platform accountability. Her philosophy: panic responsibly — take the risks seriously without letting fear paralyze the work.
About the Author
Interested in having Katie speak about the book?
— Tina Mercep, Executive Director, IDU
"It is a pleasure to work with her and if you need a speaker for all things AI, tech and democracy: she is the one!"
— Olga Belogolova, Director of SAIS Emerging Technologies, Johns Hopkins SAIS
"Katie led a fantastic table-top exercise on election-related trust and safety scenarios, preparing students to think critically and to 'panic responsibly.' Her openness and reflection on her own career path also really resonated with students."
Pre-Order Disruptive Politics now!
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