Trusted News Initiative

Last updated
Trusted News Initiative
FormationSeptember 7, 2019;5 years ago (2019-09-07)
Founder and director
Jessica Cecil
Parent organization
 BBC
Website https://www.bbc.co.uk/beyondfakenews/trusted-news-initiative/

The Trusted News Initiative (TNI) is an international alliance of news media, social media and technology corporations which claim to be working to identify and combat purported disinformation about national elections, the COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 vaccines. TNI was founded by Jessica Cecil, a leadership figure at the BBC who also serves as the initiative's director. [1] [2]

Contents

History

In June 2019, the BBC convened the Trusted News Summit, bringing together leaders of many of the world's largest news and social media companies. [3] The summit addressed concerns regarding online misinformation surrounding the 2019 Indian general election, which reportedly attracted systematic attempts to spread misinformation and "fake news" through social media. [4] [5] [6] Organizations that participated in the event included the European Broadcasting Union, Facebook, the Financial Times , First Draft News, Google, The Hindu, and The Wall Street Journal . [7]

This led to the launch of a "Trusted News Charter" on September 7, 2019, outlining plans to develop tools to assist industry partners in "moving quickly and collectively to undermine disinformation before it can take hold." [8] Other projects were to include an online media education campaign and disseminating information on how to vote. Additional partner organizations were announced including Agence France-Presse (AFP), CBC/Radio-Canada, Microsoft, Reuters, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and Twitter. [7]

COVID-19

On March 27, 2020, the BBC announced that the TNI would extend its efforts to combatting COVID-19 misinformation around the world. [3] [9] [10] It continued to engage in information management related to elections, announcing in July 2020 that it was anticipating misinformation campaigns in advance of the 2020 United States presidential election. [11]

TNI Director Jessica Cecil delivered a presentation on developing a consensus in the "post-pandemic world" at the 2020 Paris Peace Forum. She highlighted the work of the TNI and the related Project Origin, led by Microsoft. [12] At a May 2022 event hosted by the RAND Corporation, Cecil suggested that institutional efforts to counter disinformation should focus on foreign adversaries such as Russia and China, as well as domestic consumers of disinformation. [13]

On August 25, 2022, the Information Commissioner's Office in the United Kingdom ruled that communications between the BBC and members of the TNI were not subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [14]

The TNI announced its expansion into the Asia-Pacific region in November 2022, providing new partners from the area with training in navigating disinformation with funding from the Google News Initiative. [15] [16]

Antitrust lawsuit

In January 2023, a group of plaintiffs including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Children's Health Defense filed an antitrust lawsuit in a Texas district court against various members of the TNI. [17] [18] The suit alleges that the defendants colluded to censor individuals and news outlets whose reporting on COVID-19 challenged or competed with the TNI. [19] Additional plaintiffs included various members of the "Disinformation Dozen", a list created by the Center for Countering Digital Hate of the "top 12 spreaders of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms." [20]

On July 11, 2025, the United States Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in support of the plaintiffs. [21] Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater urged the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to find that colluding to suppress competing viewpoints in media reporting and on social media platforms can constitute a violation of federal antitrust law. [22] [23]

Trust in News conferences

On March 22–24, 2021, the Trusted News Initiative and BBC Academy co-hosted the inaugural Trust in News conference. [24] Held entirely online, TIN21 featured webinars on "how to tackle disinformation" led by representatives of TNI members. [25]

The second conference was held on March 29–30, 2022, titled "Trust in News 2022: Fighting disinformation." [26] Topics at TNI22 included the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, nationalization of the internet, climate change, artificial intelligence (AI), and the role of Big Tech in "tackling disinformation." [26]

Trust in News 2023 took place on March 30, 2023, live streamed out of London and Delhi. [27]

Participants

Members of the Trusted News Initiative include: [25]

References

  1. ↑ "Jessica Cecil". Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism . Archived from the original on 2023-09-26. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
  2. ↑ "Meet the Speaker: Jessica Cecil, BBC". BritishAmerican Business. Archived from the original on 2023-10-15. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
  3. 1 2 "Trusted News Initiative announces plans to tackle harmful Coronavirus disinformation". BBC . 2020-03-27. Archived from the original on 2023-10-15. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
  4. ↑ Purnell, Newley (2019-04-01). "Facebook Removes Hundreds of Fake Accounts Ahead of India Elections". The Wall Street Journal . ISSN   0099-9660. Archived from the original on 2019-04-02. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
  5. ↑ Goel, Vindu; Frenkel, Sheera (2019-04-01). "In India Election, False Posts and Hate Speech Flummox Facebook". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2019-04-02. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
  6. ↑ Das, Anupam; Schroeder, Ralph (2021-09-10). "Online disinformation in the run-up to the Indian 2019 election" . Information, Communication & Society . 24 (12): 1762–1778. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2020.1736123. ISSN   1369-118X. S2CID   216356456.
  7. 1 2 "New collaboration steps up fight against disinformation". BBC . 2019-09-07. Archived from the original on 2023-10-15. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
  8. ↑ Mar, Leon (2019-09-07). "CBC/Radio-Canada joins global charter to fight disinformation". CBC/Radio-Canada . Archived from the original on 2023-08-11. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
  9. ↑ Fenlon, Brodie (2020-05-25). "Canada not immune to the virus of COVID-19 conspiracies". CBC News . Archived from the original on 2023-10-11.
  10. ↑ Mar, Leon (2020-03-27). "Trusted News Initiative announces plans to tackle harmful coronavirus disinformation". CBC/Radio-Canada . Archived from the original on 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  11. ↑ Ramachandran, Naman (2020-07-13). "Early Warning System Set Up to Combat Fake News During U.S. Presidential Election". Variety . Archived from the original on 2020-08-02. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
  12. ↑ Cecil, Jessica. "A new consensus for the post-Covid19 world: Disinformation". Paris Peace Forum . Archived from the original on 2022-05-30.
  13. ↑ "Combating Disinformation by Bolstering Truth and Trust". RAND Corporation . 2022-05-24. Archived from the original on 2023-10-17.
  14. ↑ Churchill, Claire (2022-08-25). "Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) Decision notice – IC-185687-C4J8" (PDF). Information Commissioner's Office . Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-10-17.
  15. ↑ Mar, Leon (2022-11-09). "Trusted News Initiative creates Asia-Pacific network". CBC/Radio-Canada . Archived from the original on 2023-10-17. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
  16. ↑ Jackson, Sally (2022-11-15). "ABC joins the Trusted News Initiative". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Archived from the original on 2023-01-26. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
  17. ↑ Porterfield, Carlie (2023-01-13). "RFK Jr. Sues BBC And Other Media Outlets Over Covid 'Censorship'". Forbes . Archived from the original on 2023-07-06. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
  18. ↑ Rawnsley, Adam (2023-01-12). "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and His League of Extraordinary Anti-Vaxxers Sue Media Outlets Over Conspiracy 'Boycott'". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on 2023-07-05. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
  19. ↑ "Robert F. Kennedy Jr sues media outlets over misinformation initiative". France 24 . Agence France-Presse. 2023-01-13. Archived from the original on 2023-10-17. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
  20. ↑ Jarry, Jonathan (2021-03-31). "A Dozen Misguided Influencers Spread Most of the Anti-Vaccination Content on Social Media". Office for Science and Society . Archived from the original on 2022-07-01. Retrieved 2021-07-18.
  21. ↑ "Justice Department Files Statement of Interest on Suppression of Competition in the Marketplace of Ideas Through Deplatforming of Rival Viewpoints". United States Department of Justice . 2025-07-11. Archived from the original on 2025-07-11. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
  22. ↑ Nicastro, Jack (2025-07-14). "The Department of Justice just sided with RFK Jr. group's claim that news orgs can't boycott misinformation". Reason . Archived from the original on 2025-07-14. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
  23. ↑ "Antitrust laws protect 'competing viewpoints' in news media, US DOJ says". MLex . 2025-07-11. Archived from the original on 2025-07-19. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
  24. ↑ "AFP in full force at Trust in News conference (22nd-24th March)". Agence France-Press . 2021-03-15. Archived from the original on 2023-02-05. Retrieved 2024-04-20.
  25. 1 2 "Trusted News Initiative". BBC . Archived from the original on 2023-09-23. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  26. 1 2 "Welcome to Trust in News: 29-30 March 2022". BBC . Archived from the original on 2022-03-08. Retrieved 2024-04-20.
  27. ↑ "Welcome to Trust in News 2023". BBC . Archived from the original on 2023-03-15. Retrieved 2024-04-20.
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