Tracking the Trump Administration’s Impact on Military Communities

HRC Investigations Lab students and staff worked with The War Horse News to create a timeline of the Trump administration’s actions that negatively impact veterans and military communities. This interactive project links to executive orders, articles, social media posts, and more to provide a comprehensive resource to understand the human impact of the policy changes within the Department of Defence and Office of Veterans Affairs. The timeline is continuously updated by The War Horse News.

Our students and staff analyzed a large collection of social media posts stoking mis/disinformation about federal emergency aid in southern states impacted by Hurricane Helene.

More than 30 of our Investigations Lab students, staff, and professional partners spent the night of the 2024 U.S. presidential election — and the days prior — monitoring potential instances of election interference, the proliferation of mis/disinformation, voter suppression, and calls for violence across various social media platforms. To do this, we partnered with Berkeley Journalism and our sister labs in the UC Digital Investigations Network at UCLA and UC Santa Cruz. Students also monitored far-right online influencers, particularly those targeting veteran communities. Our work revealed alarming trends, from online calls to violence to targeted disinformation campaigns aimed at vulnerable communities.