“We can draw a straight line… between the initial ‘Stop the Steal’ narratives and organizing to what ended up happening on the 6th.”
Alethea’s assessment of Twitter reflects the view of its CEO, Kaplan, that online misinformation leads to violence.
On March 11, 2021, the same day Baker flags the risk of working with Alethea without its law firm, Kaplan speaks on a panel at Harvard University’s Berkman School. While there, she blames misinformation on social media for the January 6 riot, and urges greater censorship.
Kaplan says Alethea Group flags misinformation for social media companies so it can be censored. She says “one option” is to “call the social media platforms and they say, ‘social media misinformation for the January 6 riot,’” but that Alethea does something better, which is to use “early detection” to “catch narratives when they start and we’re able to then track them and understand how they may be influencing individuals and seeking to change individuals behavior.”
January 6 was “an insurrection attempt,” says Kaplan, “We can draw a straight line from some of the narratives that were happening in March, saying that the election would be rigged, that there would be political violence…. The throughline you can draw between the initial ‘Stop the Steal’ narratives and organizing to what ended up happening on the 6th.”
She says Alethea will recommend filing lawsuits against people and “seek damages” of a punitive form. The goal is to stop opponents from “narrative building”
In response to our request for comment, Kaplan told us, “I worked in the United States Senate for a period of time. I have never worked directly for a US government agency, including the Intelligence Community. As this is true for both my time in college and after college, I suppose my relationship with the US Intelligence Community – or lack thereof – remains unchanged.”
Kaplan did not disclose to us how many contracts Alethea has had with US government agencies, writing, “We hold client confidentiality in the highest regard and do not disclose our customer relationships.”
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