1
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Their Lies Are Finally Coming To Light
4:23
2
A Word To The Unvaccinated (Alex Jones / InfoWars)
3:29
3
More Insanity From Dr. Deborah Birx: 'We Should Be Testing Every Cow, Weekly!'
1:19
4
David Martin: Concerning Anthony Fauci's June 3, 2024, Congressional Testimony: DO NOT FORGET!
2:57
5
A Congressional Hearing With Dr. Anthony Fauci (The Full, Unedited Hearing - June 3, 2024)
3:29:11
6
Chaos Erupts As Marjorie Taylor Greene Attacks Anthony Fauci During Congressional Hearing
9:04
7
Dr. Peter McCullough: How To Treat Bird Flu Which Is Another Gain-Of-Function Lab Creation!
8:45
8
Explosive Report Torpedoes The Entire Childhood Vaccine Schedule!
2:01
9
Bad Medicine Movie: How COVID Protocols Turned Hospitals Into Death Traps (Intro & Sample Clips)
12:46
10
Unethical, Immoral, Disgusting: Doctors Being Paid BILLIONS To Promote Pharmaceutical Products!
8:23
11
Jimmy Dore: Chris Cuomo Needs To Be Shamed And I'll Do It Right Now...
29:38
12
Ron Johnson: They Are Trying To Avoid Accountability By Calling Vaccine Injuries 'Long COVID'
2:09
13
Dr. Aseem Malhotra: When You Hear The Words 'Big Pharma, Pfizer, Astra Zeneca' Think 'Psychopathic'!
1:51
14
Dr. Peter McCullough Interviews Colonel Thomas Rempfer: The Anthrax Debacle & COVID-19 Parallels
1:16:47
15
Hearing On The Weaponization Of The Federal Government (May 1, 2024 • Full, Unedited Hearing)
2:59:54
16
Ethical Hacker Exposes Horrors Of Covid-19 Vaccine From EudraVigilance Reporting System
50:37
17
Rumble Refuses New Zealand Demand To Take Down Channel Reporting On Whistleblower Barry Young
25:17
18
Message To Elon: Please, I Urge You, Fight It Out! There Is Something Severely Wrong In Australia!
3:08
Inside The 'Disinformation' Industry (Freddie Sayers, UnHerd)
20:38
20
Take Down Barry Young Content, Or Go To Jail, Face Huge Fines, Lose Your Equipment...
23:32
21
Dr. Mary Talley Bowden: People Died Because Of The Cowardice Of Doctors!
14:55
22
A Step By Step Guide On How To Keep Yourself Safe From Misinformation & Propaganda...
0:37
23
RFK Jr. Says He Will Always Love Elon Musk Because Elon Gave The World The Twitter Files...
2:54
24
Shellenberger: Brazil Should Terrify You (We Are Starting Our Own Free-Speech NGOs Around The World)
5:18
25
U.S. Senator Rand Paul: The Great COVID Coverup
6:18
26
The Incredible Story Of How Mike Pence & Deborah Birx Sabotaged President Trump's Covid Response
24:20
27
Dr. Peter McCullough Interviews Dr. Mary Talley Bowden About The FDA Settlement On Ivermectin
8:50
28
Norman Fenton: Vaccinated People, Not Unvaccinated People, Were The Main Ones Dying In Hospitals!
9:34
29
We're Witnessing An Active Coverup, A Colossal Consumer Product Safety Debacle!
4:28
30
Kim Iversen: CDC Redacts EVERY SINGLE PAGE Of Myocarditis Study!
8:07
31
MUST WATCH! James Lindsey: The People & The Enemies Of The People
15:13
32
David Martin Speaking At The International Covid Summit (February 23, 2024 & May 3, 2023)
40:03
33
Bret Weinstein - Federal Health Agencies & The COVID Cartel: What Are They Hiding?
8:24
34
Mattias Desmet - Federal Health Agencies & The COVID Cartel: What Are They Hiding?
8:49
35
Journalist Rodney Palmer - Federal Health Agencies & The COVID Cartel: What Are They Hiding?
11:35
36
Journalist Lara Logan - Federal Health Agencies & The COVID Cartel: What Are They Hiding?
12:51
37
Kennedy Predicts COVID-19 Vaccine Lies In 2020 Interview...
3:31
38
Senator Ron Johnson Roundtable: Federal Health Agencies & The COVID Cartel: What Are They Hiding?
3:57:04
39
The Statistical Trick That Made It Look Like Unvaccinated People Fared Worse Than Vaccinated People
15:31
40
THE LIE That Started The COVID-19 Pandemic...
4:07
41
Thales Digital ID Wallet (For Zombies Who Want Big Brother To Control Every Aspect Of Their Lives)
3:15
42
Tucker Carlson Interviews Mike Benz: The U.S. Government's Orwellian Mass Censorship Campaign
1:05:08
43
COVID HALL OF FAME: COVID-19 Was Complete & Utter Bullshit & It Was Premeditated!
2:26
44
Dr. Tess Lawrie: Who Will Be Blamed For The Disastrous COVID-19 Vaccines? Doctors!
14:37
45
MUST WATCH: Trudeau Caught Using Fraudulent Data To Impose Lockdowns On Canadians!
17:07
46
COVID HALL OF FAME: Concerning Social Distancing: "There's No Science, We Made It Up!"
3:46
47
Insider Dr. Paul Alexander: Why The CDC Pushed Lockdowns, Masks, Vaccines
1:28:29
48
COVID HALL OF FAME: Dr. Deborah Birx Admits Doctoring, Hiding Critical COVID-19 Data
4:59
49
Egoic Doctors Have Replaced God & Ended Up Murdering Hundreds Of Thousands Of Americans!
4:10
50
Vaccine-Pushing Peter Hotez Reveals Flagrant Incompetence In This Joe Rogan Grilling
4:21
51
Joe Rogan: Bill Gates (Who Is Not A Medical Expert) Is A Liar Who Is Motivated By Money!
1:58
52
The Healing Power Of Natural Medicine, Especially Vitamin D & Berberine
8:39
53
Lara Logan On Fire: 'Stop Paying The People Who Are Slitting Your Throats!'
20:05
54
Jimmy Dore: "They've Been Lying About EVERYTHING!"
14:14
55
Must Watch! Del Bigtree: Pandemic Of Lies (The Highwire, Episode 327)
1:39:58
56
Matt Walsh: AI Dystopian Hell Is Here! (Google's Astonishing AI Debacle)
17:55
57
COVID HALL OF FAME: Woody Harrelson Talks About A Movie Script That No One Would Believe...
1:46
58
Joe Rogan: Right After Woody's SNL Monologue There Are All These Hit Pieces That Seem Coordinated!
5:30
59
Russell Brand: Can We REALLY Trust Vaccine Fact-Checkers??!
10:18
60
Big Pharma Is Allowed To Kill Thousands Of People, Get Caught, Pay A Fine, Then Go Kill More People
2:07
61
A Letter To Andrew Hill: “Help Expose The Corruption Of Science”
18:53
62
Dr. Ngozi O. Ezike, MD: How COVID Deaths Are Classified
0:28
63
Grand Jury Investigation Demanded For Criminal Fraud & Willful Misconduct By The CDC
22:25
64
The CDC Changed How Deaths Were Recorded Causing The Misappropriation Of 3.5 Trillion Tax Dollars
2:58
65
Naomi Wolf On Pfizer: "They Hid. They Concealed. They Redacted." And The FDA Knew!
10:36
66
Naomi Wolf: Pfizer, FDA, CDC Are All Guilty Of Fraud!
8:14
67
Dr. John Campbell: COVID Deaths Have Been Vastly Overcounted
17:09
68
The Pfizer COVID Vaccines Given To The World Were Changed Before Production!
43:18
69
The Trusted News Initiative (The Machine Behind COVID-19 Censorship)
2:20
70
The Canadian National Citizens Inquiry Unveils Their Final COVID-19 Report
2:17:17
71
Former CBC Journalist Marianne Klowak Describes The Astonishing Decline Of Journalism In Canada
1:29:07
72
Former Canadian Broadcast Corporation Journalist Exposes Massive Lies & Propaganda At The CBC
2:01:47
73
COVID Nurse: Dangerous Hospital Protocols, Vaccine Injuries & Health Workers Who Refused To Speak Up
25:26
74
COVID Nurse Gail McCrae: Medicine Failed Us (Big Picture)
47:42
75
Steve Kirsch Interview With Nurse Gail Macrae Is The Single Most Important Interview He's Done
1:27:41
76
CPSO: Unvaccinated People Are Mentally Ill & Need Psychiatric Medication
0:48
77
Minnesota Nurses: Vaccine Injuries Underreported, Hospital Administrators Discourage Use Of VAERS
1:05:45
78
MAINSTREAM’S COVID NARRATIVE COMES CRASHING DOWN
13:44
79
Joe Rogan: "If It Wasn't For Independent Journalists, We Would Be F*cked!"
1:04
80
Joe Rogan Comments On "Captured" People & COVID Vaccines
7:36
81
Joe Rogan: They Were Stifling Debate From Real Scientists!
1:43
82
U.K. Funeral Director - There Is No COVID Pandemic, Vaccinated People Are Dying In Droves
38:53
83
Elon Musk To Advertisers Who Are Trying To 'Blackmail' Him: 'Go F*ck Yourself!'
5:03
84
Glenn Greenwald On Elon Musk Controversy: We Need More Journalists To Say 'Go F*ck Yourself!'
15:46
85
Elon Musk: Who Funds These Organizations That Want To Control Your Access To Information?
14:38
86
Jack Posobiec: Elon Didn't Just Purchase A Company; He Purchased Evidence In Criminal Cases
8:07
87
Steve Kirsch: The Covid Hoax Is Collapsing!
43:39
88
Steve Kirsch Leaves Voicemail For Carol Crawford Of The CDC: How To Stop COVID Misinformation
9:48
89
Government Decision Makers Are Utterly Corrupt & Have No Interest In Protecting Public Health
24:14
90
Dr. Tess Lawrie: How Massive, Orchestrated Corruption Gave Rise To The World Council For Health
49:33
91
Dr. Naomi Wolf Confronts Yale For Crimes Against Students (12/02/22 Speech)
19:55
92
Medicare Database Reveals 50 Percent Rise In All-Cause Mortality After Vaccines/Boosters Rolled Out!
2:01
93
Steve Kirsch Describes How The CDC & FDA Have Failed Us
51:28
94
Joe Rogan & Matt Taibbi: Twitter, Free Speech & The Public Smear Campaign Against Elon Musk
3:55
95
Joe Rogan: The First Amendment Is Kept Alive By The Second Amendment!
3:48
96
Joe Rogan Calls Trudeau, Ardern & Newsom “Demons”
1:34
97
Evidence That “Build Back Better” Was Globally Orchestrated ("The Great Reset" Montage)
1:56
98
Joe Rogan Interviews Aaron Rodgers About COVID-19 Vaccines (Excerpt)
14:44
99
The CDC Appears To Be Removing VAERS Records (Are They Erasing Evidence Of Mass Murder?)
10:32
100
Joe Rogan On Censorship, Discourse & Propoganda
2:18
101
Joe Rogan Interviews Alex Berenson About All Things COVID (Full 3-Hour Interview)
3:01:05
102
Naomi Wolf: Analysis Of A Grand Deception
54:07
103
Should Big Pharma Sit On Advisory Panels That Decide Funding For Pharmaceutical Products?
2:01
104
Tucker Carlson: When Will Anthony Fauci Be Punished For "The Greatest Crime Ever Committed"?
3:19
105
Naomi Wolf: The "Monsters" At Pfizer Putting Profits Before Humanity
4:09
106
Dr. Tess Lawrie: "I Would Caution Against Taking Childhood Vaccines!"
5:21
107
There Has Actually Been A Crossover Event (Educated People No Longer Believe In Vaccines!)
2:03
108
The Vaccine-Injured Child Of The Woman Who Inspired RFK Jr. To Investigate Childhood Vaccines
3:22
109
COVID HALL OF FAME: Comedian Jimmy Dore: Only Dumb People Ask Questions
2:56
110
COVID HALL OF FAME: Prophetic Excerpts From The Simpsons (Cat Flu Pandemic & Death Prick)
5:13
111
Where Is That Charlatan Dr. Fauci? I Want Electoral Evisceration!
8:42
112
Disagreements Should Be Settled Through Open Debate, Not Censorship & Name Calling
3:56
113
MUST WATCH: $11 Million Given OB-GYNs To Lie To Moms About Safety Of mRNA-Vaccines
41:50
114
The Global Health Project
8:34
115
How & Why Hydroxychloroquine Was Attacked & Censored All Over The World (July 28, 2020)
11:29
116
The Real Money Is Not In Vaccines, It's In Selling Drugs To Treat Vaccine Side Effects (07/28/20)
1:57
117
Texas Sues Pfizer For Misrepresenting COVID Vaccine Efficacy & Conspiring To Censor Public Discourse
14:02
118
Must Watch! Grabien's Covid Retrospective Series (Volume 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
21:37
119
How COVID Spokespeople Misled, Then Refused To Discuss & Debate Vaccine Disaster
6:37
120
COVID HALL OF FAME: Comedian Jimmy Dore Speaking At The LA Defeat The Mandates Rally
6:53
121
Comedian Jimmy Dore: Only Dumb People Ask Questions
2:56
122
Jimmy Dore & Bret Weinstein: Nuremberg Violations & How People Were Forced To Take COVID Vaccines
7:15
123
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Pandemic Preparedness Is The New Forever War
2:16
124
Naomi Wolf: Politico Article Reveals Bill Gates Was Behind Global Conspiracy To Push COVID Vaccine
8:58
125
Congressional Hearing: Injuries Caused By COVID-19 Vaccines: Part 2 (Full, Unedited Hearing)
2:33:00
126
Congressional Hearing: Injuries Caused By COVID-19 Vaccines: Part 2 (Opening Statements)
19:35
127
McCullough: Why Aren't More Medical Professionals Acknowledging The Harm Caused By mRNA Vaccines?
3:05
128
Rand Paul Introduces Bill To Outlaw Government Censorship Of Constitutionally-Protected Speech
1:56
129
Senator Rand Paul Grills DHS Sec. Mayorkas & FBI Director Wray About Censoring Americans
12:31
130
Senator Rand Paul: Without Question, Anthony Fauci Is A Traitor & Belongs In Jail!
3:34
131
U.S. Senator Rand Paul Speaks Against COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates For Senate Pages
13:40
132
Rand Paul Lambasts Fauci For Getting 'Treated Like A President' With Taxpayer-Funded Security
2:59
133
Rand Paul Applauds Elon Musk & Defends Free Speech
3:15
134
Moderna CEO Tells Senator Rand Paul That Moderna Paid NIH $400 Million In Royalties Last Year
0:52
135
U.S. Senator Rand Paul: "When The Truth Gets Out There, It's Going To Be Explosive!"
2:37
136
U.S. Senator Rand Paul: The System Is Not Working; We've Abdicated Our Duty
0:36
137
U.S. Senator Rand Paul: "When I Return To The Senate . . . The COVID Coverup Will End!"
1:36
138
U.S. Senator Rand Paul: There Has To Be An Investigation!
5:13
139
U.S. Senator Rand Paul: Fauci's Retirement Won't Save Him From Oversight
1:53
140
Rand Paul: "America Should Be Appalled" At Fauci Covering His Tracks
7:06
141
Rand Paul: Time To Remove 'Petty Tyrant' Dr. Fauci From Government
3:55
142
Complete Heated Exchange Between Sen. Rand Paul and Dr. Anthony Fauci
8:55
143
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene Holds Hearing On Covid-19 Vaccine Injuries (11/13/23)
2:40:02
144
Marjorie Taylor Greene Tries To Stop COVID Vaccine From Being Added To Childhood Vaccine Schedule
3:45
145
White Coat Summit: An American Awakening Of Doctors Joined By Lawmakers
37:39
146
The Complete, Unedited Congressional Hearing On The Weaponization Of The Federal Government
2:56:31
147
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Opening Statement - Hearing On The Weaponization Of The Federal Government
18:37
148
Select Subcommittee On Coronavirus Pandemic: The Constitution Is Not Suspended In Times Of Crisis
2:28:35
149
Missouri Attorney General: The "Censorship Enterprise" The U.S. Gov. Deployed Against Americans
5:09
150
Louisiana Solicitor General: How COVID Policies Grievously Violated Constitutional Authority
5:20
151
Congressman Kevin Kiley Roasts Miguel Cardona & Xavier Becerra Over School Children Mask Mandates
7:51
152
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky Refuses To Answer Questions About COVID Censorship
5:53
153
Michigan State GOP Leader Kristina Karamo: Defenseless People Are Easy Targets For Tyrants
10:20
154
House Weaponization Of The Federal Government Hearing On Twitter Files (Full Meeting - 03/09/23)
2:32:49
155
24 Minutes Of Standout Comments From The House Judiciary Committee's Hearing On The Twitter Files
24:02
156
Michael Shellenberger's Opening Statement - The Judiciary Committee's Hearing On The Twitter Files
5:38
157
Matt Taibbi's Opening Statement - The Judiciary Committee's Hearing On The Twitter Files
5:55
158
Rep. Jim Jordan: There Are 9 Million Reasons Two Scientists Changed Their Stance On Wuhan Lab Leak
3:29
159
Former CDC Director: Three Suspicious Events Took Place At The Wuhan Lab In September 2019
0:48
160
Select Subcommittee Roundtable: Examining COVID Policy Decisions (Full, Unedited Meeting - 02/28/23)
1:51:46
161
Brutal Opening Statements From Dr. Marty Makary & Dr. Jay Bhattacharya
11:25
162
Senator Ron Johnson - COVID-19 Vaccines: What They Are, How They Work, Possible Causes Of Injuries
2:56:17
163
Full 5-Hour Panel Discussion - COVID 19: A Second Opinion - January 24, 2022
4:55:24
164
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson Holds Expert Panel On COVID Vaccine Injuries, Federal Vaccine Mandate
3:18:09
165
Senator Ron Johnson & Families Speak: COVID Vaccine Adverse Reactions
1:10:24
166
Complete Exchange Between Senator Rand Paul & Dr. Anthony Fauci At Monkeypox Hearing
6:57
167
Heated Exchange Between U.S. Senator Rand Paul & Dr. Anthony Fauci On Vaccines & Royalties
7:37
168
Update From Josh Yoder: Vaccine-Injured Pilots, Treatments, Intentions To Hold FAA Accountable
12:41
169
Danger In The Skies: Del Bigtree Interviews Josh Yoder & Dr. Thomas Levy
33:41
170
Danger In The Skies: mRNA Vaccines & The Airline Industry (DailyClout & US Freedom Flyers)
52:36
171
European Parliament Group: Are You Safe On A Plane? No. You Are Not.
5:26
172
Steve Kirsch Interviews American Airlines Captain Robert Snow
1:01:25
173
Steve Kirsch Interviews Josh Yoder About Vaccine-Damaged American Airlines Captain Bob Snow
1:02:44
174
American Airlines Captain Bob Snow Speaks Out About His Vaccine-Caused Heart Attack
1:24
175
Vaccinated Pilot Goes Into Cardiac Arrest - Freedom Flyers Expose MASSIVE Airline Cover-Up
10:03
176
Ramaswamy & DeSantis Tackle Warp Speed, COVID Vaccine Injuries, Vaccine Liability Laws, Free Speech
3:21
177
Media Matters Tries To Silence Elon Musk, Elon Musk Launches "Thermonuclear Lawsuit"
3:07
178
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Announces Lawsuit Against The "Trusted News Initiative"
4:13
179
The Truth Is Coming Out! (Involved In Over 50 Lawsuits, Children's Health Defense Seeks Support)
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Dr. Melissa McCann: A Summary Of The Australian COVID Vaccine Injuries Class Action Lawsuit
27:11
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Class Action Alert: Dr. Melissa McCann's COVID Vaccine Lawsuit Revelation
16:04
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Unprecedented Lawsuit Challenges Department Of Defense With Willful Misconduct
54:17
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Japanese Researchers Sue The Government For Hiding Inconvenient Truths About COVID-19 Vaccines
2:19
184
Dr. Mary Bowden Sues COVID-Vaccine-Pushing Hospital For $25 Million
19:21
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MUST WATCH: Remdesivir Deaths Press Conference - Fresno, California (09/07/22)
1:45:09
186
Landmark Ruling: Federal Judge Protects Free Speech By Blocking Gov. Communication With Big Tech
18:10
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Vaccine-Injured Mother Files $10.5 Million Lawsuit Against Canadian Government & CBC
43:35
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"Vaccine" Injured Mum SUES for $10.5M: Was Lied to By Canadian Gov & CBC (misinfo & negligence)
43:35
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Mother Sues LAUSD Claiming Son Was Bribed To Take Covid Shot With Pizza
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6:44
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Dr. Peterson Pierre: Legal Grounds For COVID-19 Vaccination Lawsuits
1:58
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Peter McCullough, MD - COVID-19 Is Treatable. Why Haven't We Focused On That Instead Of Vaccines?
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Vaccine Safety Research Foundation: The Tragedy Of Remdesivir & COVID Hospital Protocols
2:00:42
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Dr. Bryan Ardis: Remdesivir, Which Was Aggressively Promoted By Fauci, Has Killed Thousands
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8:49
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Dr. Pierre Kory: Criminal Big Pharma Is "Literally Destroying Society"
48:46
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U.S. Senator Ron Johnson: The Whole Covid Debacle Was "All Pre-Planned By An Elite Group Of People"
4:44

Inside The 'Disinformation' Industry (Freddie Sayers, UnHerd)

1 month ago
7.72K

Inside The Disinformation Industry
A Government-Sponsored Agency Is Censoring Journalism
By Freddie Sayers
UnHerd
April 17, 2024

https://unherd.com/2024/04/inside-the-disinformation-industry/

"Our team re-reviewed the domain, the rating will not change as it continues to have anti-LGBTQI+ narratives… The site authors have been called out for being anti-trans. Kathleen Stock is acknowledged as a 'prominent gender-critical' feminist."

This was part of an email sent to UnHerd at the start of January from an organisation called the Global Disinformation Index. It was their justification, handed down after a series of requests, for placing UnHerd on a so-called "dynamic exclusion list" of publications that supposedly promote "disinformation" and should therefore be boycotted by all advertisers.

They provided examples of the offending content: Kathleen Stock, whose columns are up for a National Press Award this week, Julie Bindel, a lifelong campaigner against violence against women, and Debbie Hayton, who is transgender. Apparently the GDI equates "gender-critical" beliefs, or maintaining that biological sex differences exist, with "disinformation" -- despite the fact that those beliefs are specifically protected in British law and held by the majority of the population.

The verdicts of "ratings agencies" such as the GDI, within the complex machinery that serves online ads, are a little-understood mechanism for controlling the media conversation. In UnHerd's case, the GDI verdict means that we only received between 2% and 6% of the ad revenue normally expected for an audience of our size. Meanwhile, neatly demonstrating the arbitrariness and subjectivity of these judgements, Newsguard, a rival ratings agency, gives UnHerd a 92.5% trust rating, just ahead of the New York Times at 87.5%.

So, what are these "ratings agencies" that could be the difference between life and death for a media company? How does their influence work? And who funds them? The answers are concerning and raise serious questions about the freedom of the press and the viability of a functioning democracy in the internet age.

Disinformation only really became a discussion point in response to the Trump victory in 2016, and was then supercharged during the Covid era: Google Trends data shows that worldwide searches for the term quadrupled between June and December 2016, and had increased by more than 30 times by 2022. In response to the supposed crisis, corporations, technology companies and governments all had to show they were taking some form of action. This created a marketplace for enterprising start-ups and not-for-profits to claim a specialism in detecting disinformation. Today, there are hundreds of organisations who make this claim, providing all sorts of "fact-checking" services, including powerful ratings agencies such as GDI and Newsguard. These companies act as invisible gatekeepers within the vast machinery of online advertising.

How this works is relatively straightforward: in UnHerd's case, we contract with an advertising agency, which relies on a popular tech platform called "Grapeshot", founded in the UK and since acquired by Larry Ellison's Oracle, to automatically select appropriate websites for particular campaigns. Grapeshot in turn automatically uses the "Global Disinformation Index" to provide a feed of data about "brand safety" -- and if GDI gives a website a poor score, very few ads will be served.

The Global Disinformation Index was founded in the UK in 2018, with the stated objective of disrupting the business model of online disinformation by starving offending publications of funding. Alongside George Soros's Open Society Foundation, the GDI receives money from the UK government (via the FCDO), the European Union, the German Foreign Office and a body called Disinfo Cloud, which was created and funded by the US State Department.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, its two founders emerged from the upper echelons of "respectable" society. First, there is Clare Melford, whose biography published by the World Economic Forum states that she had previously "led the transition of the European Council on Foreign Relations from being part of George Soros's Open Society Foundation to independent status". She set up the GDI with Daniel Rogers, who worked "in the US intelligence community", before founding a company called "Terbium Labs" that used AI and machine learning to scour the internet for illicit use of sensitive data and then sold it handsomely to Deloitte.

Together, they have spearheaded a carefully intellectualised definitional creep as to what counts as "disinformation". Back when it was first set up in 2018, they defined the term on their website as "deliberately false content, designed to deceive". Within these strict parameters, you can see how it might have appeared useful to have dedicated fact-checkers identifying the most egregious offenders and calling them out. But they have since broadened the definition to encompass anything that deploys an "adversarial narrative" — stories that may be factually true, but pit people against each other by attacking an individual, an institution or "the science".

GDI founder Clare Melford explained in an interview at the LSE in 2021 how this expanded definition was more "useful", as it allowed them to go beyond fact-checking to targeting anything on the internet that they deem "harmful" or "divisive":

"A lot of disinformation is not just whether something is true or false -- it escapes from the limits of fact-checking. Something can be factually accurate but still extremely harmful… [GDI] leads you to a more useful definition of disinformation… It's not saying something is or is not disinformation, but it is saying that content on this site or this particular article is content that is anti-immigrant, content that is anti-women, content that is antisemitic…"

Larger traffic websites are rated using humans, she explains, but most are rated using automated AI. "We actually instantiate our definition of disinformation -- the adversarial narrative topics -- within the technology," explains Melford. "Each adversarial narrative is given its own machine-learning classifier, which then allows us to search for content that matches that narrative at scale… misogyny, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-black content, climate change denial, etc."

Melford's team and algorithm are essentially trained to identify and defund any content she finds offensive, not disinformation. Her personal bugbears are somewhat predictable: content supporting the January 6 "insurrections", the pernicious influence of "white men in Silicon Valley", and anything that might undermine the global response to the "existential challenge of climate change".

The difficulty, however, is that most of these issues are highly contentious and require robust, uncensored discussion to find solutions. Challenges to scientific orthodoxy are particularly important, as the multiple failures of the official response to Covid-19 amply demonstrated. Indeed, one of the examples of GDI's work that Melford highlighted in her LSE talk was an article about the Delta variant of Covid-19. "This is a Spanish language site talking about how a third of deaths in the United Kingdom from the Delta variant are amongst those people who are vaccinated, which is clearly untrue," says Melford. "It is Chipotle that has been caught next to this ad unwittingly, and unfortunately for them have funded this highly dangerous disinformation about vaccines."

The statistic being reported comes from a June 2021 Public Health England report into Covid variants that sets out the 42 known deaths from the Delta variant from January to June: 23 were unvaccinated, 7 vaccinated with one shot and 12 fully vaccinated. In other words, 29% were fully vaccinated -- around a third -- and 17% partially vaccinated, making a total of 45% vaccinated. To further complicate the question, Melford misread the Spanish headline, and it actually referenced two thirds, or 66%, which is wrong again.

Examples like this are far from rare. The GDI still hosts an uncorrected 2020 blog about the "evolution of the Wuhan lab conspiracy theory" surrounding Covid-19's origins, which concludes that "cutting off ads to these fringe sites and their outer networks is the first action needed". This is despite the fact that Facebook and other tech companies long ago corrected similar policies and conceded that it was a legitimate hypothesis that should never have been censored.

In the US, a number of media organisations have started to take action against GDI's partisan activism, prompted by a GDI report in 2022 that listed the 10 most dangerous sites in America. To many, it looked simply like a list of the country's most-read conservative websites. It even included RealClearPolitics, a well-respected news aggregator whose polling numbers are among the most quoted in the country. The "least risk of disinformation" list was, predictably enough, populated by sites with a liberal inclination.

In recent months, a number of American websites have launched legal challenges against GDI's labelling system, which they claim infringes upon their First Amendment rights. In December, The Daily Wire and The Federalist teamed up with the attorney general of Texas to sue the state department for funding GDI and Newsguard. A separate initiative to prevent the Defense Department from using any advertiser that uses Newsguard, GDI or similar entities has been successful, and is now part of federal law.

But GDI is a British company and, on this side of the Atlantic, the Conservative Government continues to fund it. A written question from MP Philip Davies last year revealed that £2.6 million was given in the period up to last year, and that there is still "frequent contact" between the GDI and the FCDO "Counter Disinformation and Media Development" unit.

Yesterday, I was invited to give evidence to the House of Lords Communication and Digital Committee during which I outlined the extent of the threat to the free media of self-appointed ratings agencies such as the Global Disinformation Index. The reality, as I told Parliament, is that GDI is merely the tip of the iceberg. At a time when the news media is so distrusted and faces a near-broken business model, the role of government should be to prevent, not encourage, and most certainly not fund, consolidations of monopoly power around certain ideological viewpoints.

But this isn't simply a matter for the media. Both companies and those in the advertising sector also need to act: it cannot be good marketing for brands to target only half the population. Last year, Oracle announced it was cutting ties with GDI on free speech grounds, but as we discovered, it seems they are still collaborating via the Grapeshot plaform: is Larry Ellison aware of this?

At its heart, the disinformation panic is becoming a textbook example of how a "solution" can do more harm than the problem it is designed to address. Educated campaigners such as Clare Melford may think they are doing the world a service, but in fact they are acting as intensifying agents, lending legitimacy to a conspiratorial world view in which governments and corporations are in cahoots to censor political expression. Unless something is done to stop them, they will continue to sow paranoia and distrust -- and hasten us towards an increasingly radicalised and divided society.

Original YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILEMV0xKGh4

See also:

Free Speech, Censorship, Informed Consent
https://rumble.com/playlists/cZ0hNmhMAOg

Dubious Data, Lies, Corruption, Propaganda, Brainwashing
https://rumble.com/playlists/byFwM-ICr5A

COVID-19 Was Planned In Advance
https://rumble.com/playlists/F_RU5N2kT58

Mass Formation Psychosis
https://rumble.com/playlists/IW1ikH70xTw

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