Katie Harbath is excited to share that her book, Disrupting Politics: A Front Row Seat to the Collision of Technology & Democracy, will be released on October 6, 2026. Drawing on two decades at the intersection of technology and politics—including a decade leading Facebook's work on elections—it's an insider's account of how social media reshaped democracy, what really happened behind the headlines, and what the AI era can learn from those hard-earned lessons.
Pre-order from one of the links below! Right now, the e-book is available.
Paperback and audiobook versions are coming.
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.
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.
“Disrupting Politics is the rare tech memoir that doesn’t flatten the story into heroes and villains. It sits with the tradeoffs — the ones where every option feels wrong and you have to choose anyway. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how technology and democracy actually collided, told by someone who was standing at the fault line.”
— Yoel Roth, Senior Vice President, Trust and Safety, Match Group
“Katie takes readers through the full arc of politics in the Internet era, from heady days of exuberance around new social media tools to the intense backlash against them. Now that we are again on the precipice of powerful new technology — AI — reshaping our world, Katie’s look at the past holds lessons for the future of politics, tech, and civic life around the world.”
— Kristin Soltis Anderson, Pollster and Founding Partner, Echelon Insights
“I’ve spent years researching how influencers, algorithms, and online crowds shape our information environment — analyzing those systems from the outside. Katie Harbath helped build and defend them from the inside. Disrupting Politics is the bridge between academic understanding and operational reality that the field has been missing.”
— Renee DiResta, Author, Invisible Rulers
Why Katie Wrote It
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
The early years building digital political infrastructure — before most of today’s platforms existed
A decade running Facebook’s global elections program, including the 2016 election and its aftermath
Cambridge Analytica, the congressional hearings, and what actually happened inside the building
The dismantling of platform integrity teams, and what it revealed about how these decisions really get made
What it looks like to leave an institution with your integrity intact
About the Author
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, which is 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.
Interested in having Katie speak about the book? Email her at katieharbath [at] anchorchange.com or fill out the form at this link: