Global Disinformation Index

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Global Disinformation Index (GDI) is a not-for-profit organisation based in the United Kingdom [1] [2] which aims to mitigate the spread of disinformation on the internet. [3] [4] [5] The group utilises a system of ratings of news sources and websites to determine risk of disinformation. [6] The group's efforts also include investigations into internet advertising, [7] and the alleged use of disinformation in relation to COVID-19 featured on various websites. [4] The group has faced scrutiny over potential political bias, [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] and has been categorised as a political left think tank by the group AllSides. [15] [16]

Contents

Overview

GDI was founded in 2018 [17] by Clare Melford and Daniel Rogers, [18] [19] and has received funding through a combination of charitable trusts, governmental organizations, and ad tech licensees of its dynamic exclusion list. Contributors include the Knight Foundation, [20] [17] [21] Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), [22] and Luminate Group. [23]

A strategy promoted by GDI is the aim to remove financial incentives for news content that promotes adversarial narratives. [17] [24] GDI's investigation of COVID-19 disinformation focussed on the generation of illicit revenue for websites. [25]

GDI has reported that a recent evaluation of Italian online news sites resulted in categorising one third of the evaluated sites as high risk of disinformation. [26]

Reception

In April 2024, UnHerd CEO Freddie Sayers criticized GDI after it placed UnHerd on its dynamic exclusion list, leading to a reduction in UnHerd's advertising revenue. Sayers argued that GDI's determination was based on ideological disagreements rather than factual inaccuracies. [11] [27] In response, Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, called for GDI to be shut down. [28]

Following UnHerd's article, UK Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch joined around 10 MPs in raising concerns about GDI and their approach to distinguishing between free speech and disinformation. [29] In response to Badenoch's concerns, Foreign Secretary David Cameron stated that FCDO had ceased funding GDI in 2023 and did not plan to resume funding. [30] [27]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Fact-checking is the process of verifying the factual accuracy of questioned reporting and statements. Fact-checking can be conducted before or after the text or content is published or otherwise disseminated. Internal fact-checking is such checking done in-house by the publisher to prevent inaccurate content from being published; when the text is analyzed by a third party, the process is called external fact-checking.

Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. Misinformation can exist without specific malicious intent; disinformation is distinct in that it is deliberately deceptive and propagated. Misinformation can include inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, or false information as well as selective or half-truths.

The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), formerly Brixton Endeavors, is a British not-for-profit NGO company with offices in London and Washington, D.C. with the stated purpose of stopping the spread of online hate speech and disinformation. It campaigns to deplatform people that it believes promote hate or misinformation, and campaigns to restrict media organisations such as The Daily Wire from advertising. CCDH is a member of the Stop Hate For Profit coalition.

A troll farm or troll factory is an institutionalised group of internet trolls that seeks to interfere in political opinions and decision-making.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fake news</span> False or misleading information presented as real

Fake news or information disorder is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue. Although false news has always been spread throughout history, the term fake news was first used in the 1890s when sensational reports in newspapers were common. Nevertheless, the term does not have a fixed definition and has been applied broadly to any type of false information presented as news. It has also been used by high-profile people to apply to any news unfavorable to them. Further, disinformation involves spreading false information with harmful intent and is sometimes generated and propagated by hostile foreign actors, particularly during elections. In some definitions, fake news includes satirical articles misinterpreted as genuine, and articles that employ sensationalist or clickbait headlines that are not supported in the text. Because of this diversity of types of false news, researchers are beginning to favour information disorder as a more neutral and informative term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Full Fact</span> Fact-checking organisation

Full Fact is a British charity, based in London, which checks and corrects facts reported in the news as well as claims which circulate on social media.

Fake news in India refers to fostering and spread of false information in the country which is spread through word of mouth, traditional media and more recently through digital forms of communication such as edited videos, websites, blogs, memes, unverified advertisements and social media propagated rumours. Fake news spread through social media in the country has become a serious problem, with the potential of it resulting in mob violence, as was the case where at least 20 people were killed in 2018 as a result of misinformation circulated on social media.

<i>The Grayzone</i> US-based fringe news website and blog

The Grayzone is an American fringe, far-left news website and blog, founded and edited by American journalist Max Blumenthal. The website, initially founded as The Grayzone Project, was affiliated with AlterNet before becoming independent in early 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 misinformation</span> False or misleading virus information

False information, including intentional disinformation and conspiracy theories, about the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic and the origin, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease has been spread through social media, text messaging, and mass media. False information has been propagated by celebrities, politicians, and other prominent public figures. Many countries have passed laws against "fake news", and thousands of people have been arrested for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. The spread of COVID-19 misinformation by governments has also been significant.

An infodemic is a rapid and far-reaching spread of both accurate and inaccurate information about certain issues. The word is a portmanteau of information and epidemic and is used as a metaphor to describe how misinformation and disinformation can spread like a virus from person to person and affect people like a disease. This term, originally coined in 2003 by David Rothkopf, rose to prominence in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disinformation attacks are strategic deception campaigns involving media manipulation and internet manipulation, to disseminate misleading information, aiming to confuse, paralyze, and polarize an audience. Disinformation can be considered an attack when it occurs as an adversarial narrative campaign that weaponizes multiple rhetorical strategies and forms of knowing—including not only falsehoods but also truths, half-truths, and value-laden judgements—to exploit and amplify identity-driven controversies. Disinformation attacks use media manipulation to target broadcast media like state-sponsored TV channels and radios. Due to the increasing use of internet manipulation on social media, they can be considered a cyber threat. Digital tools such as bots, algorithms, and AI technology, along with human agents including influencers, spread and amplify disinformation to micro-target populations on online platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Google, Facebook, and YouTube.

Godi media is a pejorative term coined and popularised by veteran journalist Ravish Kumar for the "sensationalist and biased Indian print and TV news media, which supports the ruling NDA government ". The term is a pun on the name of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has become a common way to refer to television and other media that are perceived as "mouthpieces" of the leading party of the NDA, the Bharatiya Janata Party.

This timeline includes entries on the spread of COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. This includes investigations into the origin of COVID-19, and the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 which is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. Social media apps and platforms, including Facebook, TikTok, Telegram, and YouTube, have contributed to the spread of misinformation. The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) reported that conspiracy theories related to COVID-19 began on "day one". CAHN reported on March 16, 2020, that far-right groups in Canada were taking advantage of the climate of anxiety and fear surrounding COVID, to recycle variations of conspiracies from the 1990s, that people had shared over shortwave radio. COVID-19 disinformation is intentional and seeks to create uncertainty and confusion. But most of the misinformation is shared online unintentionally by enthusiastic participants who are politically active.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disinformation Governance Board</span> Board of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

The Disinformation Governance Board (DGB) was an advisory board of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), announced on April 27, 2022. The board's stated function was to protect national security by disseminating guidance to DHS agencies on combating misinformation, malinformation, and disinformation that threatens the security of the homeland. Specific problem areas mentioned by the DHS included false information propagated by human smugglers encouraging migrants to surge to the Mexico–United States border, as well as Russian-state disinformation on election interference and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Emilio Ferrara is an Italian-American computer scientist, researcher, and professor in the field of data science and social networks. As of 2022, he serves as a Full Professor at the University of Southern California (USC), in the Viterbi School of Engineering and USC Annenberg School for Communication, where he conducts research on computational social science, network science, and machine learning. Ferrara is known for his work in the detection of social bots and the analysis of misinformation on social media platforms.

Misinformation in the Israel–Hamas war refers to the dissemination of false, misleading or unsubstantiated information during the Israel–Hamas war. Much of the content has been viral in nature, with tens of millions of posts in circulation on social media. A variety of sources, including government officials, media outlets, and social media influencers across different countries, have contributed to the spread of these inaccuracies.

References

  1. ↑ Bakir, V., & McStay, A. (2023). Defending the Civic Body from False Information Online. In Optimising Emotions, Incubating Falsehoods: How to Protect the Global Civic Body from Disinformation and Misinformation (pp. 205-246). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
  2. ↑ Privacy. GDI. Accessed 26 April 2024.
  3. ↑ Salehi, H., & Kardouni, N. (2023). Fake News and Disinformation in the Perspective of International Peace and Security. Journal of Legal Studies, 15(2), 321-353.
  4. 1 2 Zendelovski, G., & Cvetkovski, S. (2021). The Pandemic of Fake News and Disinformation in the Age of Deglobalization. Security Dialogues.
  5. ↑ Pratelli, M., & Petrocchi, M. (2022). A Structured Analysis of Journalistic Evaluations for News Source Reliability. arXiv preprint arXiv:2205.02736.
  6. ↑ Glazunova, S., Dehghan, E., FitzGerald, K. M., Wikstrom, P., & Myint, Z. (2021). Disinformation Risk Assessment: The online news market in Australia.
  7. ↑ Aaronson, S. (2021). Can Trade Agreements Solve the Wicked Problem of Disinformation (No. 2021-12).
  8. ↑ Myers, Steven Lee (December 14, 2023). "State Dept.'s Fight Against Disinformation Comes Under Attack". The New York Times– via NYTimes.com.
  9. ↑ Farber, Alex (April 22, 2024). "Foreign Office link to 'biased' report on unreliable news sites" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  10. ↑ "Hugh Linehan: Who watches the watchers when it comes to disinformation?". The Irish Times.
  11. 1 2 Sayers, Freddie (17 April 2024). "Inside the disinformation industry". UnHerd .
  12. ↑ "Der "Global Disinformation Index" bekämpft auch missliebige Meinungen" (in German). 19 April 2024.
  13. ↑ "A combination of self-delusion and self-righteousness is a surefire way for experts to lose our trust". The Boston Globe. 9 May 2024.
  14. ↑ "The Times view on press ratings agencies: Arbiters of Truth". The Times. 13 May 2024.
  15. ↑ Global Disinformation Index AllSides. Accessed 26 April 2024.
  16. ↑ Brechter, H. A. (2023). Misinformation Watch: 'Disinformation Risk Assessment' Lacks Transparency, Shows Bias Against the Right. AllSides. 20 Feb 2023. Accessed 26 April 2024.
  17. 1 2 3 Disinformation index www.rand.org. Accessed 26 April 2024.
  18. ↑ Alexandra Mousavizadeh is listed as a founder by Rand Corp.
  19. ↑ About. GDI. Accessed 26 April 2024.
  20. ↑ Ignatidou, S. (2019). EU–US cooperation on tackling disinformation. International Security Department. September.
  21. ↑ "Knight Research Network". Knight Foundation.
  22. ↑ "Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament".
  23. ↑ "Global Disinformation Index". www.luminategroup.com.
  24. ↑ "FKN0058 - Evidence on Disinformation and 'fake news'".
  25. ↑ Verrall, N. (2022). COVID-19 Disinformation, misinformation and malinformation during the pandemic infodemic: a view from the United Kingdom. In COVID-19 disinformation: a multi-national, whole of society perspective (pp. 81-112). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
  26. ↑ Lesser, M., Stern, H. J., & Terp, S. J. (2022). Countering Russian Misinformation, Disinformation, Malinformation and Influence Campaigns in Italy Surrounding the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. In IFDaD.
  27. 1 2 Farber, Alex (10 May 2024). "Cameron says government has stopped funding disinformation index". The Times.
  28. ↑ Earle, A (2024). "Elon Musk: Global Disinformation Index should be shut down." UnHerd. April 19 2024. Accessed May 10 2024.
  29. ↑ Farber, Alex (19 April 2024). "MPs oppose funding disinformation ratings agency in blacklisting row". The Times.
  30. ↑ Earle, A (2024). "David Cameron: Government will no longer fund Global Disinformation Index." UnHerd. May 9 2024. Accessed May 10 2024.
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