Global Disinformation Index

Description

Micha Narberhaus:

"For a deeper insight into how powerful the global fact-checking anti-disinformation industry has become, and what the consequences are, we need only look at the case study of the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), brilliantly researched and recently published by the British heterodox media outlet Unherd.

Founded in 2018, the UK company began with the ambition to disrupt the business model of online disinformation by starving offending publications of funding. They originally defined disinformation as “deliberately false content designed to deceive”. As discussed above, this is problematic in itself, but the organisation has since broadened this definition to include "anything that uses an 'adversarial narrative' - stories that may be factually true but pit people against each other by attacking an individual, an institution or 'science'", as Unherd reports.

The GDI is used by advertisers around the world. Media companies that score low on the index struggle to attract advertising for their websites. This is what happened to Unherd. Because Unherd has published a number of high quality writers who are critical of the mainstream narrative on trans ideology, it was deemed by the GDI to be publishing "anti-LGBTQI+ narratives" and therefore spreading disinformation. Most interestingly, the GDI is partly funded by the UK government, the European Union, the German Foreign Office and the US State Department.

This example illustrates the forces and hidden dynamics that are increasingly at work to keep our public conversation within narrow ideological parameters and to punish anyone who tries to break out of the apparent consensus. And, importantly, Western governments are playing an active role by funding these activities."

(https://michanarberhaus.substack.com/p/sleepwalking-into-totalitarianism-910?triedRedirect=true)