The Stanford Internet Observatory launched three years ago as a cross-disciplinary laboratory for the study of abuse in current information technologies, with a focus on the misuse of social media. We launched on June 6, 2019, with an initial team of three. By the end of 2022, we had grown to a team of 11, with 356 students enroled in our courses and nearly 40 student RAs. In addition, we produced four issues of our Journal of Online Trust and Safety, authored ten journal articles, 22 op-eds, 33 blog posts and 15 white papers. The media took note as well, with nearly 5,400 media mentions.

We continue to expand on our mission to provide the policy community independent analysis on these issues with policy explainers and commentary that blends the technical and policy knowledge that decision makers need. And we will serve as connectors and conveners with a reputation for clear, timely, and trusted feedback and policy recommendations based on rigorous policy analysis and academic research.

We extend our gratitude to our faculty leads Nate Persily, Dan Boneh and Jeff Hancock at the Stanford Cyber Policy Center; Michael McFaul, the director of the Freeman Spogli Institute; and our generous supporters.

The attached report shares the outputs of our research, teaching and policy work and highlights our new and refined goals as we begin 2023.