A group of wealthy foundations tied to leftist causes are now partnering together to fight “online misinformation.”
QUICK FACTS:
- Wealthy corporations with a history of supporting left-wing agendas are now backing a new global group of researchers to combat so-called “online misinformation.”
- “The International Panel on the Information Environment” (IPIE) met in Washington, D.C. for its first official meeting last week, gathering over 200 researchers from 55 countries.
- “Algorithmic bias, manipulation and misinformation has become a global and existential threat that exacerbates existing social problems, degrades public life, cripples humanitarian initiatives and prevents progress on other serious threats,” the panel wrote in its initial report.
- Many of IPIE’s supporters have donated to left-wing groups and causes including Media Matters for America, a left-wing media watchdog that claims to be “dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing and correcting conservative misinformation,” the group’s website states.
- According to the New York Times, the IPIE gathered during a three-day meeting hosted by the Nobel Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences.
IPIE SECRETARIAT DR. SHELDON HIMELFARB ON THE GLOBAL GROUP CRACKING DOWN ON “MISINFORMATION”:
“Our ongoing work is dedicated to equipping those responsible for driving global change’ — policymakers, industry leaders, and civic society – ‘with the actionable knowledge needed to counteract thE threat posed,” Himelfarb said.
BACKGROUND:
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently announced an initiative where they are inviting people to report “misinformation” regarding health topics online.
- The initiative, known as “Rumor Control,” asks users to report perceived misinformation on the internet, specifically on social media.
- “The growing spread of rumors, misinformation, and disinformation about science, medicine, and the FDA, is putting patients and consumers at risk. We’re here to provide the facts,” the health body announced.
- The agency also called on users to check their “rumor control page” to see how the FDA has been “fighting” misinformation.
- Critics of the initiative argued that the page raised concerns over the FDA getting involved in self-policing misinformation when the FDA itself has been directly accused of spreading misinformation.
