Pluro Labs is a nonprofit think-and-do tank dedicated to safeguarding democracy from AI-enabled harms and Big Tech abuses.
Social media platforms and AI-driven abuses already drive growing harms to democracy, and they extend beyond misinformation and polarization. Leading platforms fuel urgent threats to democratic functioning, including election interference, corruption of democratic process, and persecution of vulnerable communities. Yet democratic societies lack the actionable insight into harms — and understanding of how to use it — to meaningfully remedy this problem.
Bridging the fields of technology reform and democracy protection, we empower advocates, litigators, policymakers, and regulators with digital evidence, insight, and legal frameworks needed to shield democracy from growing platform and AI-driven harms.
Our work goes beyond the exposure of tech-driven harms - we collaborate with partners to apply our research to win legal accountability, and to develop the policy guardrails needed to protect democracy as digital harms evolve.
Our flagship US Elections Defense Initiative exemplifies this approach. First, we documented a social media platform's monetization of real-world election interference and harassment incidents taking place nationwide. Now, this research is enabling legal, policy, and field resilience actions to protect election integrity and safety moving forward.
Our Approach
We apply advanced digital investigative techniques to generate data and analysis specifically tailored for legal, regulatory, and policy actions — not just reports. Leveraging capability in applied AI and expertise in tech platform economics, we document and quantify democratic harms, translating complex challenges into actionable insights.
In collaboration with legal and policy experts in both technology and democracy, we apply evidence and research to hold technology firms accountable. For example, by demonstrating how platforms don't just publish, but commercially profit from harm to democratic processes, we enable legal and regulatory actions that win lasting protections for democracy.
We share our research methods, tools, and insights, equipping democracy and human rights advocates to act proactively to counter tech-driven harms. Our goal is a field empowered to win change, rather than one rendered permanently reactive in the face of tech-driven harms.
Sofia is an open-source investigator and data analyst with experience across human rights, democracy protection, and digital investigations for legal accountability. She is skilled in mass social media discovery, identifying deepfakes, and advanced visual analysis techniques.
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Will is a social entrepreneur, applied technology executive, and democracy advocate. He served as founding CEO of Groundswell, a pioneering nonprofit that makes clean energy accessible to disadvantaged communities in the US. He then lead product strategy an AI and emerging tech software firm, before developing tech and innovation teams at CARE and Human Rights First.
Will has written and spoken on AI, tech, and the public interest at FastCompany, Stanford University, and UC Berkeley, among others. He has been honored for his impact as an Ashoka Fellow, World Economic Forum Global Shaper, Forbes 30 under 30 Entrepreneur, White House Champion of Change, and Stanford d.School Fellow.
Mackenzie is an operations and program management specialist with background in evidentiary research. She supports Pluro Labs' engagement with policy, legal and advocacy stakeholders.
Mackenzie is an experienced open-source investigator in the human rights and democracy field. Over five years, she has built expertise in the digital verification and documentation of gross human rights abuses around the world. She has conducted investigations at Amnesty International USA and Amnesty International's research arm, the International Secretariat. Mackenzie is passionate about using technology and data to drive accountability and inform ethical AI governance.
Janine Graham is an investigative researcher specializing in open-source intelligence (OSINT) techniques to investigate subjects of public interest. Her work has covered areas ranging from war crimes and illicit supply chains to tracking persons of interest for organizations such as UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center, The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal. As a journalist, she previously worked for CNBC and CNN International.
