Welcome.
The Wayfinder (formerly Wiczipedia) is a weekly newsletter that helps you navigate our polluted information environment. It’s for people who believe a shared reality is the bedrock of democracy.
This newsletter has existed in several incarnations over the past ten years: for a while I wrote “news and analysis from places where people know how to pronounce my name”—that is, Central and Eastern Europe. I sent weekly updates from my year-long stint as a Fulbright Public Policy Fellow in Ukraine.
In 2019, I covered the Ukrainian presidential election that brought Volodymyr Zelenskyy to power, and then started writing longer pieces, including an investigation into an Instagram cash-for-comments scheme ahead of the 2020 U.S. presidential election and essays on topics as disparate as deep fake porn, the revolution in Belarus, and online inhumanity.
In the second Trump era, I’ve investigated Congressman Jim Jordan’s lies, explained the rise of an extremist at the State Department, and given my readers tips on how to avoid capitulating to the Trump administration.
We have entered the era of Internet 3.0: algorithmic feeds, disinformation, AI slop, and coordinated harassment are a part of everyday life. The initial utopia of the internet has given way to frightening patterns of violence and extremism. Many of you are looking for something much more deliberate. Well, I volunteer as tribute. Let me be your guide through this toxic information landscape.
Here’s what you can expect:
Essays on the worst of the internet and how you can avoid it;
Interviews with people defending our shared reality, highlighting the bright spots from around the world;
A monthly advice column—think “Dear Abby” for disinformation and digital harms—where I’ll answer your questions. (You can submit a question here!)
I strongly believe this work should be accessible to everyone, so The Wayfinder is free to read. Paid subscriptions make that possible by supporting my reporting, research, and the time it takes to answer your questions. If you can’t commit to a monthly or yearly subscription, you can still support the work by buying me a coffee.
Who is The Wayfinder?
I’m an author and researcher who has lived what I study. I wrote How to Lose the Information War, which The New Yorker called “a persuasive new book on disinformation as a geopolitical strategy.” My second book, How to Be A Woman Online, an examination of online abuse and disinformation and tips for fighting back, was deemed “essential” by Publishers Weekly.
I’ve testified before Congress multiple times, researched global social media regulation efforts, and led a team behind a landmark report on how disinformation and online harassment affect women and marginalized communities. I run The American Sunlight Project, a nonprofit that works to increase the cost of lies that undermine democracy.
In short: my subscribers get guidance informed by years of research, lived experience, and frontline work. With The Wayfinder, you don’t have to face this polluted information landscape alone.
