Global Disinformation Index

Last updated
Global Disinformation Index
Disinformation Index Ltd
Formation2018
Type Nonprofit
Legal statusCompany limited by guarantee (registered in England & Wales)
Location
Key people
 Clare Melford, Daniel Rogers
Website www.disinformationindex.org

Global Disinformation Index (GDI) is a not-for-profit organization based in the United Kingdom [1] [2] that aims to purportedly mitigate the spread of disinformation on the internet. [3] [4] [5] The group utilizes 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 apparent political bias, [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] and has been categorized as a political left think tank by the group AllSides. [15] [16]

Contents

Overview

GDI was founded in 2018 [17] by Clare Melford, Alexandra Mousavizadeh 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]

One of its strategies 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 focused on the generation of illicit revenue for websites. [25]

GDI has reported that a 2022 evaluation of Italian online news sites resulted in categorizing one third of the evaluated sites as high risk of disinformation. [26]

Reception

GDI's alleged bias was first reported by the Washington Examiner , a U.S. conservative website, which released an investigative series in February 2023 that said GDI was "part of a stealth operation blacklisting and trying to defund conservative media, likely costing the news companies large sums in advertising dollars". [27] The journalist who authored that series of stories, Gabe Kaminsky, pointed out that all 10 outlets that GDI in a report [28] identified as the "riskiest" and "worst" all leaned to the political right while all but one of the 10 ranked "least risky" leaned to the political left. [27] Kaminsky said that GDI received $100,000 from the U.S. Department of State. [29] [30] [31] However, the State Department has denied that the grant was used to "blacklist" any companies in the U.S. [32] [33]

The series in the Washington Examiner sparked outcry among conservatives, and prompted a lawsuit by The Daily Wire and The Federalist , two U.S. right-wing websites, against the State Department. [34] [35] The State Department-funded National Endowment for Democracy announced in 2023 that it would no longer fund GDI. [36] After the series of stories, Microsoft's Xandr cut ties with GDI and exited the political advertising space. [37] [38] Congress passed a law in 2023 that banned the Pentagon from funding GDI in the future for military recruitment advertising. [39]

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. [40] [41] Sayers argued that GDI's determination was based on ideological disagreements rather than factual inaccuracies. [11] [42] In response, Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, called for GDI to be shut down. [43]

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. [44] 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. [45] [42]

In September 2024, the New York Post''s Josh Christenson reported on internal U.S. State Department documents, with the outlet saying that the federal agency "sought to denigrate two reporters and a member of Congress as part of damage control attempts" over its funding of GDI. [46] The New York Post was referring to journalists Matt Taibbi and Gabe Kaminsky, as well as congressman Jim Banks. The State Department said in the internal documents that Kaminsky "did not ask for an interview," but did send questions repeatedly” to the State Department's press office for information on the GDI funding. [47] Kaminsky told the New York Post, "The State Department had numerous opportunities to respond to my reporting on it funding the Global Disinformation Index, but they declined to answer basic questions."

"The State Department falsely claimed I was boosting Russian state propaganda because I called out their censorship of conservative Americans," Jim Banks told the New York Post. "They are proving my point. It’s UnAmerican and disgraceful." [48]

Advisory panel

Until March 2023, GDI publicly disclosed members of its "Advisory Panel". Amongst others, these have included Anne Applebaum, Peter Pomerantsev, Miguel Martinez and Hany Farid. [49] Reason reported in February 2023 that Applebaum had asked for her name to removed from the GDI website as she had not been in contact with GDI since 2019. [50]

See also

Related Research Articles

Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic deceptions and media manipulation tactics to advance political, military, or commercial goals. Disinformation is implemented through attacks that "weaponize multiple rhetorical strategies and forms of knowing—including not only falsehoods but also truths, half-truths, and value judgements—to exploit and amplify culture wars and other identity-driven controversies."

<i>The Epoch Times</i> Far-right media company affiliated with the Falun Gong movement

The Epoch Times is a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. The newspaper, based in New York City, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television. The Epoch Times has websites in 35 countries but is blocked in mainland China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Misinformation</span> Incorrect or misleading information

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 Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The school is the owner of the Tampa Bay Times newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Network. It also operates PolitiFact.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Institute for Economic Research</span> Free-market think tank

The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) is a libertarian think tank located in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1933 by Edward C. Harwood, an economist and investment advisor, and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Since January 2022, the organization's president has been William P. Ruger, formerly of the Charles Koch Institute.

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.

NewsGuard is a rating system for news and information websites. It is accessible via browser extensions and mobile apps. According to NewsGuard, its team of "expert journalists" score publishers on a scale of 0-100 based on whether they have transparent finances or publish many errors, among other criteria.

<i>UnHerd</i> British online magazine featuring politics and culture

UnHerd is a British news and opinion website founded in July 2017, which describes itself as a platform for slow journalism.

Fix the Court is an advocacy group that seeks reform of the U.S. federal court system. The group lobbies for term limits for members of the U.S. Supreme Court, for streaming live audio and video of the court's oral arguments, and for publicizing potential conflicts of interest among justices. Fix the Court submitted multiple Freedom of Information Act requests related to the Supreme Court nominations of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, as well as for all 25 people that former President Donald Trump put on his shortlist of potential Supreme Court nominees.

<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 was initially founded as The Grayzone Project and was affiliated with AlterNet before becoming independent in early 2018.

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.

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">Center for Countering Disinformation</span> State body of Ukraine

The Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) is a working body of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine established in accordance with a decision of that council dated March 11, 2021 "On the creation of the Center for Countering Disinformation", and enacted by Presidential Decree No. 106 of March 19, 2021.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global Engagement Center</span> U.S. federal government agency

The Global Engagement Center (GEC) is an agency within the Bureau of Global Public Affairs at the United States Department of State. Established in 2016, its mission is to lead U.S. government efforts to "recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining or influencing the policies, security, or stability of the United States, its allies, and partner nations" around the world.

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. Archived from the original on April 25, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024– via NYTimes.com.
  9. ↑ Farber, Alex (April 22, 2024). "Foreign Office link to 'biased' report on unreliable news sites". Archived from the original on April 18, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024– via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  10. ↑ "Hugh Linehan: Who watches the watchers when it comes to disinformation?". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 2024-04-22. Retrieved 2024-04-26.
  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. Archived from the original on 22 April 2024. Retrieved 26 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. Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  14. ↑ "The Times view on press ratings agencies: Arbiters of Truth". The Times. 13 May 2024. Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  15. ↑ Global Disinformation Index Archived 2024-04-26 at the Wayback Machine AllSides. Accessed 26 April 2024.
  16. ↑ Brechter, H. A. (2023). Misinformation Watch: 'Disinformation Risk Assessment' Lacks Transparency, Shows Bias Against the Right. Archived 2024-04-26 at the Wayback Machine AllSides. 20 Feb 2023. Accessed 26 April 2024.
  17. 1 2 3 Disinformation index Archived 2024-04-29 at the Wayback Machine www.rand.org. Accessed 26 April 2024.
  18. ↑ Alexandra Mousavizadeh is listed as a founder Archived 2024-04-29 at the Wayback Machine by Rand Corp.
  19. ↑ About Archived 2024-04-23 at the Wayback Machine . 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. Archived from the original on 2024-04-18. Retrieved 2024-04-26.
  22. ↑ "Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament". Archived from the original on 2024-04-18. Retrieved 2024-04-26.
  23. ↑ "Global Disinformation Index". www.luminategroup.com.
  24. ↑ "FKN0058 - Evidence on Disinformation and 'fake news'". Archived from the original on 2024-04-17. Retrieved 2024-04-26.
  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 Kaminsky, Gabe (2023-02-09). "Disinformation Inc: Meet the groups hauling in cash to secretly blacklist conservative news - Washington Examiner" . Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  28. ↑ "Brief: Disinformation Risk in the United States Online Media Market, October 2022" (archived), disinformationindex.org, 21 October 2022.
  29. ↑ Kaminsky, Gabe (2023-02-10). "Disinformation Inc: State Department bankrolls group secretly blacklisting conservative media - Washington Examiner" . Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  30. ↑ Flood, Brian (2023-02-15). "State Department funds 'disinformation' index targeting non-liberal and conservative news outlets: report". Fox News. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  31. ↑ Soave, Robby (2023-02-14). "U.S. State Department funds a disinformation index that warns advertisers to avoid 'Reason'". Reason.com. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  32. ↑ Board, Editorial (2024-03-19). "Opinion | Don't defund the fight against Russia and China's disinformation". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  33. ↑ Raymond, Nate (December 6, 2023). "Texas claims US State Department funds tech that censors conservative news". Reuters .
  34. ↑ "Daily Wire Censorship Claims Survive Against State Department". news.bloomberglaw.com. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  35. ↑ "NCLA Defeats Motion to Dismiss, Wins Expedited Discovery in Suit Alleging State Dept. Censorship". Morningstar, Inc. 2024-05-07. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  36. ↑ Kaminsky, Gabe (2023-02-20). "Disinformation Inc: State Department-backed group cuts ties with group blacklisting conservative news - Washington Examiner" . Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  37. ↑ Fischer, Sara (July 27, 2023). "Microsoft's Xandr bans political ads". Axios.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  38. ↑ Kaminsky, Gabe (2023-02-11). "Disinformation Inc: Microsoft suspends relationship with group blacklisting conservative news - Washington Examiner" . Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  39. ↑ Kaminsky, Gabe (2023-12-11). "Inside the GOP's tense negotiations with Democrats to ban Pentagon-funded 'censorship' - Washington Examiner" . Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  40. ↑ Ponsford, Dominic (23 April 2024). "'Anti-trans narratives' see Unherd put on advertising blacklist". Press Gazette. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  41. ↑ Linehan, High (20 April 2024). "Who watches the watchers when it comes to disinformation?". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 20 April 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  42. 1 2 Farber, Alex (10 May 2024). "Cameron says government has stopped funding disinformation index". The Times. Archived from the original on 11 May 2024. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
  43. ↑ Earle, A (2024). "Elon Musk: Global Disinformation Index should be shut down." UnHerd. April 19 2024. Accessed May 10 2024.
  44. ↑ Farber, Alex (19 April 2024). "MPs oppose funding disinformation ratings agency in blacklisting row". The Times. Archived from the original on 12 May 2024. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
  45. ↑ Earle, A (2024). "David Cameron: Government will no longer fund Global Disinformation Index." Archived 2024-05-10 at the Wayback Machine UnHerd. May 9 2024. Accessed May 10 2024.
  46. ↑ Christenson, Josh (2024-09-13). "Exclusive | State Department tried to discredit reporters, Republican pol over conservative 'blacklist'" . Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  47. ↑ Christenson, Josh (2024-09-13). "Exclusive | State Department tried to discredit reporters, Republican pol over conservative 'blacklist'" . Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  48. ↑ Christenson, Josh (2024-09-13). "Exclusive | State Department tried to discredit reporters, Republican pol over conservative 'blacklist'" . Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  49. ↑ "Our Story - Advisory Plan". Global Disinformation Index. Archived from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  50. ↑ Soave, Robby (28 February 2023). "Global Disinformation Index, Inform Thyself". Reason. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
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