Just Security announces new January 6 clearinghouse including social media data & analyses

The January 6th assault on the United States Capitol was an attack on the seat of American democracy. Understanding the motivations and actions of the insurrectionists, the role of political elites that incited them, and the information environment that propagated the false claims advanced and embraced by both is important not just for historical purposes, but also to understand the future of American democracy.

Toward this end, Just Security today announced the January 6th Clearinghouse, intended as a resource for all who wish to research and contribute to the public’s understanding of the insurrection and a broad set of issues and ideas associated with it. The clearinghouse is co-coordinated by Ryan Goodman, Co-Editor-in-Chief of Just Security, and me. It includes contributions from a growing community of journalists, academics, and civil society researchers in addition to government documents, including law enforcement filings and congressional hearings and reports.

As a regular contributor at Just Security, I am pleased to collaborate on this project. At Tech Policy Press, we are concerned with issues at the intersection of technology and democracy. This effort serves our goal of understanding how the information environment contributed to the events and forces at play on January 6 and beyond. New details emerge often, and we will continue to develop the clearinghouse as journalists, the research community, Congress and others continue the search for facts and understanding.

“This resource will evolve over time,” said Goodman. “We invite experts to send us additional information that should be included, and we look forward to what contributions the clearinghouse makes possible.”

The clearinghouse includes:

• Timelines
• Congressional Hearings
• Congressional Reports/Documents
• Major Votes in Congress
• Criminal Cases
• Civil Cases
• Government Documents
• Digital Forensics and Social Media Analysis
• Research on Militias and Other Participants
• The Big Lie: Organizations, Broadcast and Cable Media
• Who's Who of January 6 Actors
• Directory of Experts
• Additional Research Papers and Investigative Reports
• Opinion Polls and Surveys

Just Security invites journalists, scholars and experts to contribute additional resources and information that should be added to the clearinghouse by sending an email to jan6clearinhouse@justsecurity.org. Readers are encouraged to join a new newsletter that will occasionally issue updates on news about January 6 investigations and new information that becomes available through the clearinghouse.

Tech Policy Press invites submissions related to these issues as they intersect with questions related to technology policy, content moderation, the relationship between digital media and political violence, etc. Submissions published here may indeed be included in updates to the clearinghouse as appropriate.