Former researcher alleges Harvard forced her out to preserve Facebook donations

WASHINGTON — Social media researcher Joan Donovan says she knows the exact moment her career began to go off the rails. 

The moment led to her departure from Harvard University in what she calls a firing, which Harvard says was anything but. The resulting dispute has rea-world implications for academic freedom, social media and corporate influence over research.   

On Oct. 29, 2021, Donovan, a Harvard research director focused on social…