About the Global Disinformation IndexDefunding Disinformation ~ Malicious actors peddle disinformation for myriad reasons. They may be highly organised nation states motivated by geopolitical aims, private marketing companies acting on behalf of political or commercial organisations, or ad hoc communities of like-minded individuals motivated by a shared ideology. But GDI’s founding thesis is that the majority of disinformation on the web is motivated by financial gain, the result of the dominant attention-driven business models that drive today’s internet.This is where GDI focuses its efforts. To reduce disinformation, we need to remove the financial incentive to create it. Brands unwittingly provide an estimated quarter of a billion dollars annually to disinformation websites through online advertisements placed on them. GDI uses both human and artificial intelligence to assess disinformation risk across the open web. We then provide these risk ratings to brands and advertising technology partners, providing them with a trusted and neutral source of data with which to direct their advertising spend.How We Define DisinformationGDI views disinformation through the lens of adversarial narrative conflict. Disinformation occurs when someone pushes an intentionally misleading narrative which is adversarial against democratic institutions, scientific consensus or an at risk group — and which carries a risk of harm. Often these narratives are crafted using selected elements of fact.Whenever someone peddles an intentionally misleading narrative, often crafted using selected elements of fact, that is adversarial in nature against an at-risk individual, group, or institution and that creates a risk of harm, disinformation is being spread. Adversarial narratives undermine trust in our social, political, economic, and scientific institutions and sow or exacerbate division within our societies, often leading to real world harms, including violence, illness and death.Global Disinformation IndexGDI_4fcc538e-ce45-11ec-b691-1ad41a83ea00AdvertisersGlobal Disinformation Index FoundersClare MelfordClare is the Co-founder & CEO of The Global Disinformation Index. An experienced CEO in the commercial and not-for-profit sectors, Clare was formerly CEO of the International Business Leaders Forum and MD of MTV Networks, Nordics. Currently, Clare also serves on the Global Growth Board for the Conscious Advertising Network and on the board of EDMO. Clare was a founding board member of Girls not Brides, the global coalition to end child marriage.Dr. Daniel RogersDr. Daniel J. Rogers is the Co-founder and Executive Director of The Global Disinformation Index. Prior to founding GDI, he founded and led Terbium Labs, an information security and dark web intelligence startup and before that worked in the US Intelligence Community. Dr. Rogers also serves as an Adjunct Professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs and is a Security Fellow of the Truman National Security Project.Global Disinformation Index Advisory PanelAnne ApplebaumProfessor in Practice and Co-Director of Arena, LSEPeter PomerantsevCo-Director of Arena, LSEMiguel MartinezCo-Founder and Chief Data Scientist, Signal MediaHany FaridUC BerkeleyNic NewmanReuters Institute of JournalismCamille FrancoisNianticBen NimmoAtlantic CouncilScott HaleOII/MeedanFranziska RoesnerUniversity of WashingtonFinn HeinrichOpen SocietyOlaf SteenfadtRSF/Journalism Trust InitiativeCris TardáguilaPoynter Institute/International Fact Checking NetworkAmy MitchellPew Research CenterDavid TaubenheimNvidiaAlexandra MousavizadehTortoise MediaGlobal Disinformation Index FundersArgosy FoundationCatena FoundationUK Foreign Commonwealth & Development OfficeLuminateNational Endowment For DemocracyCharles Koch InstituteCraig Newmark PhilanthropiesKnight FoundationOpen Society FoundationsBohemian FoundationResetDisinfo CloudGlobal Disinformation Index PartnersIntegral Ad Science (IAS)TwitchOracle AdvertisingQueensland University of Technology - Digital Media Research CenterMediaMathInstituto de Tecnologia e Sociedade do Rio de JaneiroMcGill University Centre for Media Technology and DemocracySimon Fraser University Digital Democracies InstituteUniversité Laval Centre d'études sur les médiasNelezCaucasus Research Resources CenterMedia Development FoundationCentre for Internet and SocietyIstituto di Informatica e TelematicaCode for AfricaMeedanCentre for East European Policy StudiesCentre for Independent JournalismData CívicaParadigm InitiativeUniversidad Carlos III de MadridJounce_4fcc551e-ce45-11ec-b691-1ad41a83ea00To remove the financial incentive to create disinformation_4fcc5668-ce45-11ec-b691-1ad41a83ea00ProgressDisinformation and its Harms ~ The harms from adversarial narratives are increasingly evident across the world. From burgeoning hate speech and harassment to conspiracy theories and extremism, individuals are harmed emotionally, financially and physically as a result of toxic online content. At a societal level, increasing division and distrust of each other and of the institutions that make up our societies is eroding democratic progress, giving populists and authoritarians increasing visibility and power at the expense of competent and independent voices. No less than civilization’s progress since the Enlightenment is at stake.VisibilityBrand Risks ~ Advertiser spending pays for much of the open internet. The current state of our online discourse is creating huge brand risk for the advertisers whose ad spend pays for much of the internet. With little visibility into where adverts bought on the open programmatic web end up, advertisers are limited in their ability to stop their brands from appearing next to toxic content. The current state of brand safety means that many pieces of content that could endanger a brand are still monetised. It also means that much quality journalism is not receiving funding because of blunt, automated blocking tools. Advertisers have a right to transparency over where their advertising dollars end up and to ensure that they are not inadvertently funding the sorts of divisive content causing such harm around the world.EngagementDisinformation has become a business. Today’s internet business models reward engagement above all else. These models monetise attention without considering the quality of the content garnering that attention, or the harm that may result. There is a robust and growing community of industry, policy, and civil society advocates pressing for reform of this ecosystem, they all need data to inform their actions.DataThe Global Disinformation Index was born out of this need for data, specifically the need for transparent, independent neutral disinformation risk ratings across the open web. GDI’s founders recognized early on that in order to disrupt the business model of disinformation, commercial companies, researchers and policymakers alike need access to independent ratings of news sites’ disinformation risk. These risk ratings are then used by advertising technology companies to ensure advertisers money and brands do not end up supporting high risk websites. Stakeholders also need strong and consistent leadership to help navigate the ever changing disinformation landscape.Thus, GDI was established in 2018 as a not-for-profit entity built on the three pillars of neutrality, independence and transparency.NeutralityGDI is non-political, nonpartisan, and global in nature. We operate and partner in dozens of countries and with a variety of organisations, all united in combating disinformation and its harms.IndependenceGDI does not take funding from media companies or grants from technology companies. Our funding comes from a wide range of sources including governments, foundations and licencing our data to those who can use it to defund disinformation.TransparencyMany of our research research methodologies and findings are made public, as are our funding sources. We also operate an open appeals process for sites that wish to contest their risk assessment.Disinformation IndexHost an index of a website’s risk of disinforming readers_4fcc5802-ce45-11ec-b691-1ad41a83ea001AdvertisersAd Tech IndustrySearch CompaniesSocial Media CompaniesResearchersGDI’s work focuses on three primary areas. First is our neutral, independent, transparent index of a website’s risk of disinforming readers. We employ cutting edge artificial intelligence combined with thorough analyses of journalistic practice to best serve and inform advertisers, the ad tech industry, search and social media companies, and researchers.ListingList global news publications rated high risk for disinformation_4fcc591a-ce45-11ec-b691-1ad41a83ea001.1Global News PublicationsAd Tech CompaniesAd tech companies and platforms can license GDI data to defund and downrank these worst offenders, thus disrupting the ad-funded disinformation business model.Online PlatformsDynamic Exclusion List ~ The core output of the Disinformation Index is our Dynamic Exclusion List (DEL) of global news publications rated high risk for disinformation. The DEL contains the worst offending websites and apps across multiple countries and languages and is continually updated to capture new disinformation sources and narratives.Media BuyingProvide in-depth analyses of brand media buying strategies and assess levels of exposure to disinformation_4fcc5a46-ce45-11ec-b691-1ad41a83ea001.2Media Buying Audits ~ GDI’s Media Buying Audits provide in-depth analysis of a brand’s media buying strategy and assess the level of exposure to disinformation. The audits provide advertisers with metrics and qualitative analysis of advertising placements and include actionable recommendations tailored to brand values and corporate social responsibility goals.PublishersVet publishers_4fcc5b68-ce45-11ec-b691-1ad41a83ea001.3Publisher Vetting ~ Ad exchanges and supply-side platforms can use GDI data to screen properties for disinformation risk at scale. Inventory quality teams can access the website, article and app-level risk ratings to inform publisher onboarding and identify potential policy violations.OSINT HubTrack disinformation and extremism across platforms online_4fcc5dc0-ce45-11ec-b691-1ad41a83ea002Second is our independent, non-profit open source intelligence (OSINT) hub, which tracks disinformation and extremism across platforms online. We serve a broad array of governments, NGOs, online platforms and media.Market AnalysisPerform journalistic integrity assessments of high-profile media outlets_4fcc5ea6-ce45-11ec-b691-1ad41a83ea002.1Media OutletsMedia Market Analysis ~ To complement our artificial intelligence, GDI performs in-depth journalistic integrity assessments of high-profile media outlets in most major media markets using a transparent methodology compatible with the Journalism Trust Initiative’s international standard. With coverage of nearly two dozen — and growing — of the world’s most impactful media markets, we index both the highest-risk and the lowest-risk media in each country.IntelligencePerform cross-platform OSINT tracking of disinformation and extremism online_4fcc5f96-ce45-11ec-b691-1ad41a83ea002.2Intelligence Capabilities ~ GDI’s open source intelligence hub performs cross-platform OSINT tracking of disinformation and extremism online. Primarily serving GDI’s internal needs, this hub leverages both GDI’s internal resources and our network of global partners to provide intelligence on emerging disinformation threats to a broad array of governments, NGOs, online platforms and the media. Contact us to learn more about GDI’s disinformation intelligence capabilities.PolicySupport policy makers in governments, regulatory bodies and platforms_4fcc6342-ce45-11ec-b691-1ad41a83ea003Policy MakersGovernmentsRegulatory BodiesOnline PlatformsThird is our policy team that provides data and research to support policy makers in governments, regulatory bodies and platforms around the world.Data & ResearchProvide access to our data and research to policy makers_4fcc646e-ce45-11ec-b691-1ad41a83ea003.1Policy MakersGovernmentsPolicy and Advocacy ~ We view disinformation as a byproduct of the attention-driven business models that power today’s internet. Disinformation is a global problem not contained by borders. Governments and policymakers around the world have a role to play in regulating and reforming the ad tech industry to counter disinformation and its harms. GDI provides access to our data and research to policy makers in government and elsewhere.2018-12-312022-05-07https://www.disinformationindex.org/missionOwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net