Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about Katie Harbath, Anchor Change, and how to work with us.
About Katie
Who is Katie Harbath? Katie Harbath is the founder of Anchor Change and a consultant, speaker, and writer focused on the intersection of technology and democracy. She spent a decade at Facebook building and leading the company’s global elections work — running the team through the 2016 election, Russian interference investigations, Cambridge Analytica, and the first congressional hearings on platform accountability. Before Facebook, she worked in Republican politics for a decade, including at the Republican National Committee, where she helped build the party’s first digital operation. She has been independent since 2021, consulting for tech companies, think tanks, and policy organizations across the political spectrum.
What did Katie Harbath do at Facebook? Katie Harbath ran Facebook’s global elections and civic integrity work for a decade. She built the elections team essentially from scratch — coding Election Day reminders for every country on earth alone for two years before a product team existed, traveling to the EU Parliament, meeting with heads of state across four continents, and running the global operation through the most consequential period in the company’s history. She was in the rooms where decisions were made during the 2016 election, the Russian ads investigation, and Cambridge Analytica. She left Facebook in 2021.
What is Katie Harbath’s political background? Katie Harbath spent over a decade working in Republican politics before joining Facebook — including building the RNC’s first digital operation, working on presidential and Senate campaigns, and advising on digital strategy across the party. At Facebook, she was hired specifically because the company needed someone with Republican credibility who Democrats would also trust. Since leaving Facebook, she has worked with organizations across the political spectrum and has maintained a reputation for analysis that doesn’t take partisan sides.
Where has Katie Harbath been featured in the press? Katie Harbath’s analysis has been featured on 60 Minutes, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Washington Post, Axios, and more. Foreign Policy called her the “election whisperer to the tech industry.”
What is Katie Harbath working on now? Katie Harbath is the founder of Anchor Change, a newsletter, podcast, and briefing network covering the intersection of technology and democracy. She consults and works directly with tech companies, think tanks, and policy organizations. Her first book — Disrupting Politics: A Front Row Seat at the Collision of Technology and Democracy — publishes fall 2026.
About the Work
What is Anchor Change? Anchor Change is a newsletter, podcast, and briefing network founded by Katie Harbath, covering the intersection of technology and democracy. It focuses on elections, AI, content moderation, platform policy, and trust and safety — with analysis drawn from 25 years of operating inside campaigns, platforms, and policy rooms. Anchor Change also covers how to build a career in this space and how to use AI effectively in professional work. Katie also works directly with organizations through speaking, executive briefings, and advisory engagements.
What topics does Anchor Change cover? Anchor Change covers the intersection of technology and democracy — elections, AI, content moderation, platform policy, and trust and safety. It also covers navigating a career in tech policy and trust and safety, and how to use AI effectively in professional work. The through-line is synthesis across rooms that don’t usually talk to each other: campaigns, platforms, Capitol Hill, Brussels, and boardrooms.
What makes Anchor Change different from other newsletters covering tech and democracy? Most coverage of technology and democracy comes from a single vantage point — journalists who covered it, academics who studied it, or advocates who protested it. Katie Harbath has been inside the campaigns, inside the platforms, and inside the regulatory conversations — on both sides of the political line. Anchor Change holds campaign operations, platform governance, trust and safety, and international elections simultaneously, from inside all of them. No other newsletter in this space does that with the same credibility model.
Who is the Anchor Change newsletter for? People who need to make decisions at the intersection of technology and democracy — not just follow the headlines. If you work in tech policy, government affairs, campaigns, trust and safety, journalism, or civil society, Anchor Change is for you. So is anyone who wants to understand what’s actually happening in these fields and why it matters.
How often does Anchor Change publish? At least once a week, with more during busy news cycles. The podcast features conversations with platform leaders, campaign strategists, researchers, and policymakers — new episodes drop on Thursdays when seasons are running.
About the Offerings
What is the difference between free and paid Anchor Change? Free subscribers get the newsletter and podcast — weekly analysis on what’s happening at the intersection of tech, politics, and democracy, including curated news and global context. Paid subscribers ($50/year) get the full archive plus the teaching layer: how Katie actually thinks, operates, and navigates this space. That includes career and craft content for people building expertise in tech policy, trust and safety, or independent consulting, behind-the-scenes content on the book, and access to Briefing Network memos.
What is the Anchor Change Briefing Network? The Anchor Change Briefing Network is a private membership for senior practitioners who need the interpretation layer that doesn’t exist in the public conversation — plus a high-signal peer room to think it through. It includes live briefings, structured peer discussion, curated introductions, and access to briefing memos. Membership is $500/month or $5,000/year and is capped at 40 seats to keep the room high-signal. It launched May 21, 2026.
Who is the Briefing Network for? Senior operators, journalists, policy professionals, and in-house leads who need more than analysis — they need interpretation, and they need the right peer room to think it through. The Briefing Network is a membership for individuals, not organizations. If you need something tailored to your leadership team, the Executive Briefing is the right fit.
How can I work directly with Katie Harbath? Katie works directly with organizations through three engagements: speaking at conferences, universities, and corporate events; executive briefings for leadership teams that need a tailored, shared read on the political and regulatory landscape; and fractional advisory for organizations that need an embedded intelligence layer inside their decisions. To learn more, [visit the Work with Me page.]
Can my organization get a bulk subscription? Yes. Reach out at info@anchorchange.com.
About the Ideas
What does “panic responsibly” mean? Panic responsibly is the framework Katie Harbath uses for navigating high-stakes uncertainty. The risks in AI, elections, and platform governance are real — pretending otherwise isn’t useful. But panic isn’t a strategy either. Panic responsibly means staying clear-eyed about what actually matters, doing the hard thinking before the crisis arrives, and keeping moving when others freeze.
What is Disrupting Politics? Disrupting Politics: A Front Row Seat at the Collision of Technology and Democracy is Katie Harbath’s first book, publishing fall 2026. It traces 25 years at the collision of technology and politics — from early campaign digital work through the Facebook years, Russian interference, Cambridge Analytica, congressional hearings, and into the AI era. It’s a first-person account of what the decisions actually looked like from inside, written under her own name.
What are “impossible tradeoffs”? Impossible tradeoffs is how Katie Harbath describes the decisions at the heart of tech and democracy — choices where every option has real costs, there’s no clean answer, and someone has to decide anyway. It’s the honest framing for what platform governance, content moderation, and election integrity actually look like from inside. Most public debate pretends these decisions are simpler than they are. They’re not.
We’re living through a moment where AI, politics, media, and technology are all crashing into each other at once. Anchor Change is where I connect the dots, share what I’m noticing, and help people panic responsibly about what comes next. Subscribe for grounded analysis and strategic insight from someone who’s been inside the rooms where these decisions get made.