Microsoft ad network using foreign disinfo think tank to choke off conservative media outlets

By royluarca // 2023-02-17

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Microsoft's Xandr ad network used the findings of a foreign think tank about disinformation as a basis to block conservative media outlets from running ad campaigns on its platform. Xandr pounced on the disinformation risk list from the United Kingdom-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI) that assessed American online news outlets. Together with the Global Disinformation Laboratory (GDIL) at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), it reviewed 69 sources and indicated information about these on what it calls the "Dynamic Exclusion List." Established in 2020, the GDL at UT Austin seeks "to encourage collaborative interdisciplinary research on the circulation of mis- and disinformation." According to the list, many outlets tagged with a high disinformation sharing risk leaned right. These include the New York Post, RealClearPolitics, Reason Magazine, The Federalist, The Daily Wire, The Blaze, One America News Network, The American Conservative, Newsmax and The American Spectator. While Breitbart News was not initially mentioned, a Washington Examiner report confirmed that the outlet founded by the late Andrew Breitbart was in it – as per a GDI senior executive. According to the U.K.-based think tank, the sites at the highest risk for spreading disinformation "published content with far fewer fact-based ledes and far more bias, negative targeting and sensational language than the rest." In contrast, many left-leaning news outlets were deemed the least risky. These include HuffPost, New York Times (NYT), Washington Post, Associated Press (AP), National Public Radio (NPR), ProPublica, BuzzFeed News, USA Today, Insider and Wall Street Journal. In particular, GDI tagged four left-wing outlets – AP, NYT, NPR and ProPublica – as "minimum risk sites." Breitbart refuted the GDI assessment, citing particular cases wherein liberal websites committed news mistakes, some with admissions and retractions. In spite of assertions that it is neutral, independent and transparent, Breitbart pointed out that GDI has refused to release the full Dynamic Exclusion List. The think tank was established in 2018 by Clare Melford, former CEO of the International Business Leaders Forum, and New York University professor Daniel J. Rogers.

GDI disinfo list is actually biased

The list, released in December of last year, clearly favors liberal websites – mainly mainstream media (MSM) outlets. This is because GDI itself is bankrolled by the federal government. According to the Examiner, the U.K.-based think tank received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the U.S. Department of State's Global Engagement Center. (Related: Leaked documents reveal DHS is trying to police so-called disinformation online.) This practice alone is wrong. The State Department should not spend public money to help an organization pressure advertisers to punish U.S. media companies. That's because the First Amendment prohibits the U.S. government from censoring private companies. GDI claimed that bias, sensationalism and targeting often result in disinformation, but it did not mention false reporting, which is even worse. It also did not specify the news outlets guilty of such journalistic violations. What's alarming though is these MSM outlets have a wider reach and, consequently, more impact on American lives. The conservative media outlets, however, won't stop in their pursuit of truthful reports regardless of what the GDI, the government and other paid think tanks do to make them less credible to the public and the advertisers. Watch Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis denounce the MSM as the leading purveyor of disinfo in society below. This video is from the Red Voice Media channel on Brighteon.com.

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GDI disinfo list is actually biased

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