From Harvard Research to National Security Innovation: The Story of Thresher
From Harvard Research to National Security Innovation: The Story of Thresher
In 2015, Weatherhead University Professor Gary King co-founded a company that would bridge the worlds of academia and industry. That company was Thresher, a venture born out of his academic research at Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS).
The origins of Thresher trace back to two groundbreaking research programs. The first focused on censorship and fabrication of Chinese social media posts, conducted with then graduate students Patrick Lam (now at Airbnb), Jennifer Pan (now professor at Stanford), and Molly Roberts (now professor at UCSD). In the process of analyzing data from an earlier startup, Crimson Hexagon (now Brandwatch), King and his collaborators discovered a way to download Chinese social media content before it could be censored by the government. This serendipitous finding, giving them access to the entire corpus of posts the Chinese people could not read because they were not allowed to, became the foundation for deeper analysis of how information was manipulated online. It also enabled Thresher to understand the interests and accurately predict the actions of the Chinese leaders before anyone else.
The second research program improved automated text analysis. Together, these innovations positioned Thresher to combine “signal-rich data, novel quantitative methods, and world-class qualitative expertise” to help government and corporate leaders understand China, even when the signals they needed had been censored, fabricated, or obscured.
Unlike many startups, Thresher was bootstrapped and profitable from day one, and the team deliberately turned down all outside investment offers. This independence enabled the team to grow rapidly, stay true to its mission, and simultaneously advance scholarly research while developing tools at the intersection of technology, social science, and security.
In May 2022, Thresher’s story entered a new chapter. The company was acquired by Two Six Technologies, a national security technology firm backed by the Carlyle Group. Following the acquisition, Thresher’s core technology was rebranded as the Media Manipulation Monitor (M3) and added to Two Six’s suite of advanced data and cyber capabilities.
Today, M3 continues the work that began at IQSS: detecting, analyzing, and contextualizing manipulation of online information at scale and using it as a unique window to what otherwise secretive authoritarian leaders are planning. As Two Six Technologies describes it, M3 is designed to “deliver unique insights into foreign disinformation and censorship campaigns,” equipping decision makers with the intelligence they need to respond to rapidly evolving information environments.
Reflecting on the journey from academic research to impactful startup, Professor King emphasizes the importance of commercial pathways for social science:
“Working closely with industry is one of the best ways of accomplishing the goals of academia. Commercializing research opens incredible opportunities for academics, unlocking vast datasets, enabling stronger science, and generating public good that universities alone can’t always achieve.”
For King, the sale of Thresher was not just a business milestone but another proof of concept: that social science research, when paired with entrepreneurial execution, can meaningfully shape industries and strengthen democratic resilience.
From Harvard to the national security frontlines, Thresher’s story is a testament to the power of academic innovation—an idea sparked in a research program, refined through real-world application, and scaled through industry to create lasting impact. See King's tweet stream, posted at the time of the acquisition.
