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I first thought about writing a book back in 2018. The thought crossed my mind that I should really be keeping tabs on everything happening around me, because one day it might become one.
When I left Facebook in March of 2021, I worked on a book proposal and talked to some agents. And I realized I had a lot of work to do first: building up my own audience and platform, and frankly, getting some time and space from everything that had happened.
In early 2025, I finally sat down and wrote the first draft.
Now it's official: my book, Disrupting Politics: A Front Row Seat to the Collision of Technology and Democracy, releases October 6, 2026.
I don’t have a pre-order link yet — that’s coming soon. If you want to know the moment it goes live, make sure you’re subscribed here. This Substack is where I’ll share it first.
Going forward, I’m going to be sharing a lot more: why I wrote this book, how I wrote it, the process behind it, and excerpts from the book itself. I’m hoping to do a companion podcast and an audiobook too. There’s a lot coming.
Until then, here’s the back cover copy.
What happens to democracy when technology moves faster than we can govern it?
For Katie Harbath, that question isn’t theoretical—it has defined her career, her conscience, and the sleepless nights in between for 25 years. From helping invent digital campaign tactics to shaping elections that impacted billions as a Facebook executive, she was inside the rooms where the future was being decided before anyone knew the cost.
In this candid memoir, Harbath takes readers from dolphin-suit RNC stunts to Silicon Valley operation centers, from debate stages to congressional hearings. With unflinching honesty about the 2016 election, Cambridge Analytica, and the dismantling of integrity teams, she brings readers into the defining moments that reshaped the relationship between platforms and politics.
Disrupting Politics is the story of what it means to believe in both technology and democracy—and what it costs to spend two decades inside the tension between them. It offers hard-earned wisdom on scaling powerful algorithms, holding the middle when every option feels like the wrong one, and protecting free speech without breaking the system it depends on.
I’m really excited to share this news with all of you. More soon.
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