About Reality TeamReality Team is reality's marketing team. ~ Founded in August 2020, Reality Team uses the tools and techniques of digital marketing to make credible information more visible and influential.Fighting disinformation where it lives: social media feeds. ~ Disinformation is seen by more people more often than credible information. Bad actors use propaganda techniques and digital marketing tools maliciously to push and amplify disinformation, target vulnerable or uninformed people, and exploit their individual concerns. This is how disinformation has become so influential, even among people without strong party or ideological attachments.The U.S. and the world are facing existential crises of elections, democracy, health, and climate change driven by disinformation-induced confusion, rancor and radicalization. We can and must fight back. We must do it now and with the tools at hand.Reality TeamRLTT_08b5a820-cdb8-11ec-b983-d7530483ea00Reality Team is a non-profit working to push credible information into social media feeds. We research complicated issues, share what we learn and always list our sources.Hacks/HackersReality Team is a project of Hacks/Hackers a 501(c)(3), which was founded to catalyze collaboration between journalists (Hacks) and technologists (Hackers).Debra Louison-LavoyExecutive Director, Reality TeamNan NobleAdvisor, Funding and Partnership, Reality TeamCraig Newmark PhilanthropiesFunder ~ We are proud recipients of a grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies. Among the objectives of CNP is Promoting trustworthy journalism, including the ethics of news distribution to deny the amplification of disinformation.Reality Team PartnersHacks/HackersOur mission is to create a network of journalists (“hacks”) and technologists (“hackers”) who rethink the future of news and information.Credibility CoalitionThe Credibility Coalition serves as a nexus for addressing the issue of information credibility. Members of our coalition facilitate, organize and take part in a variety of activities to advance our goals.Cogsec CollaborativeCogsec Collaborative is a non-profit that helps specialists form teams to combat disinformation. They bring together information security researchers, data scientists, and other subject-matter experts in order to create and improve resources for the protection and defense of the cognitive domain.CTI LeagueThe CTI League is the first Global Volunteer Emergency Response Community, defending and neutralizing cyber-security threats and vulnerabilities to the life-saving sectors related to the current COVID-19 pandemic.Voter Communications Task ForceThe Voter Communications Task Force, with support from the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy, is a nonpartisan initiative to identify and help others implement the best ways to communicate reliable information to registered voters about where, when, and how to vote in the 2020 elections and beyond.The Propwatch ProjectThe Propwatch Project is a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit, whose core mission is to increase media literacy and raise public awareness regarding the rapid growth of propaganda and disinformation in mass media, as well as to promote non-partisan critical thinking regarding the biased and misleading nature of political speech.Credible information becomes more visible and influential_08b5a924-cdb8-11ec-b983-d7530483ea00To fight disinformation_08b5a9c4-cdb8-11ec-b983-d7530483ea00InformationInfluenceCredibilityCredibility is not all or nothing. ~ No source is accurate 100% of the time. No source is 100% objective. Trying to figure out where a source is between “Perfect” on one end and “Garbage” or “Intentionally misleading” at the other is tricky. Here are some of the criteria that professionals use to judge credibility:TransparencyDoes it clearly say who writes, edits and who funds it?PurposeIs it a publisher of journalism or research? Or is it designed to promote a product, brand, industry or interest group? This is sometimes hard to figure out. Be wary of publications designed to sell dietary supplements or policy positions.SkillSkill and experience ~ Some publishers are better than others, even if they have similar intentions.ExperienceImpartialityTopic and language choices: Does a source intentionally use emotional or manipulative language? Does it focus on sensational topics that shock people? Does it ignore other credible sources or viewpoints?ObjectivityObjectivity vs Both-Sides-ism. ~ In the past few years there has been concern that the attempt to be objective has lead mainstream media sources to give equal weight to opinions that do not have equal credibility. They have ended up amplifying minority opinions, like the idea that the earth is flat or vaccines are dangerous, making them seem more credible than they are.Most news outlets are rethinking how to avoid amplifying minority opinions, without hiding evidence that contradicts more popular opinions. We wish them luck in this complicated endeavor and hope they figure it out quickly.RealityInformationMake credible information more visible and influential_08b5aaaa-cdb8-11ec-b983-d7530483ea00Media Credibility Ranking ServicesRankings we rely on. ~ Several organizations that publish media credibility rankings, such as AdFontesMedia and BothSides, base their rankings on surveys or people who read those publications. We find these less reliable and consistent than those that establish more specific evaluation criteria. We have learned a lot about media credibility from The Global Disinformation Index, and they are our primary source of credibility information. NewsGuard and some others also have well-documented ratings criteria.The Global Disinformation IndexNewsGuardFact Checking SitesMost reliable Fact Checking Sites:FactCheck.orgPolitifactFlackCheckSnopesTruth or FictionOur targeted campaigns change the ratio of good to garbage information on people’s news feeds – denying disinformation a monopoly on what non-news readers know about complex issues, such as vaccines, elections and climate.Tools & TechniquesUse the tools and techniques of digital marketing_08b5ab40-cdb8-11ec-b983-d7530483ea00We make reality simple, visible and appealing. We put it where people are, using words they use. While as a society we have a very long, complex road from here to a disinformation-free world, our work shows we can take immediate and effective countermeasures right now, without waiting for new legislation or platform changes.We have focused campaigns on combating election and vaccine disinformation, and are now embarking on an effort to combat climate disinformation (nicknamed “CODD” — Climate Online Disinformation Defense.)2020-08-312022-05-07https://realityteam.org/OwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net