Disinformation Poses a Serious Threat to Democracy. Here Are Some of the Funders Pushing Back

In a democracy that depends on the voting public being reasonably well informed, one the biggest threats to our system’s health and continued survival is the rampant spread of disinformation. While that threat has hung over U.S. democracy for some time now, it’s all the more dangerous in an election year that will once again test this country’s fragile institutions. For philanthropic funders rightly concerned about the state of the nation’s public square — and democracy’s very survival — addressing the problem of disinformation is crucial.

Disinformation is false or inaccurate information that is deliberately spread. Misinformation, on the other hand, is inaccurate information that isn’t spread with the intent to cause harm. Both are harmful, but election-related disinformation is especially dangerous to democracy in a number of ways, including by suppressing voter turnout — especially among voters of color and historically marginalized communities — eroding public trust in elections, making the work of election officials more dangerous, and interfering with voters’ ability to both understand and participate in electoral processes.

While it’s true that both disinformation and misinformation can be found on some news outlets, nowhere are they more prevalent than on social media. The 2016 election saw disinformation disseminate across a number of platforms, notably Facebook. But while Facebook’s parent company, Meta, vowed to implement safeguards against mis-and disinformation, as well as foreign interference, those efforts have been criticized as “insufficient” as the company cut most of its election-integrity staff. Other platforms have also reduced their emphasis on content moderation, which has led to an increase in disinformation. More recently, X (formerly Twitter) cut down its election integrity team.

To add to the problem, advances and the widespread availability of AI also pose a threat to democracy as they can and have been used to create and spread disinformation online.

A recent poll from Free Press found that 79% of Americans are concerned that the information they see online is false and/or a deliberate attempt to confuse people; 76% are concerned about misinformation related to the 2024 presidential election.

Philanthropy’s fight against disinformation has been a years-long struggle, with efforts by funders to combat “fake news” picking up speed after the 2016 election. With another extremely fraught election approaching, many of those efforts have, fortunately, continued. Democracy Fund recently conducted a survey of more than 70 funders engaged in democracy-related work. It found that 59% of respondents reported funding media policy, misinformation and disinformation, which is encouraging. However, media policy and mis- and disinformation — along with election administration — were also cited most often as areas that need more attention and focus from funders.

There are a number of ways funders can help mitigate disinformation. The most obvious is funding journalism, either by directly supporting newsrooms and independent fact checkers or by working to improve trust in journalism. But combating disinformation has to go beyond funding journalism alone. Media literacy, for example, is a powerful tool to counter disinformation. Other grantmaking opportunities include funding research related to how misinformation affects democracies, advocating for policies to hold social media platforms accountable, and funding efforts to protect communities that are especially vulnerable to disinformation.

To that end, here are some key funders working to push back against disinformation.

Craig Newmark Philanthropies

Launched by Craigslist founder Craig Newmark in 2015, Craig Newmark Philanthropies' funding priorities include trustworthy journalism and democracy and voter protection, among others. The foundation has been a big supporter of anti-disinformation efforts, reflecting the values of its founder.

“When you know what is going on, you can take action — which starts with registering to vote and voting, and hopefully doesn’t end there,” Newmark said in a March interview for IP. Newmark has given tens of millions since 2016 to back that up, including to beef up the City University of New York’s journalism school, which was renamed the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.

Some of Craig Newmark Philanthropies’ more recent grants include $1 million for the University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public to support the center's rapid-response research of election-related mis- and disinformation, and a $500,000 grant to the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to support its work to fight online misinformation and election interference that targets communities of color. It also awarded $5 million to the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School to support research and education on media manipulation, disinformation and the public interest internet. Most recently, the California Voter Foundation received a $100,000 grant to support the Election Community Network, whose efforts include "curtailing harmful election mis- and disinformation."

MacArthur Foundation

The MacArthur Foundation is a key name to know in journalism philanthropy, all the more so now that the $500 million, multifunder Press Forward initiative is underway to revitalize local news, which MacArthur helped spearhead. Through its Journalism and Media program, the foundation has also been working to address disinformation directly. MacArthur notes that it has "yet to find an easy path or solution," but has prioritized investments to help build resilience to withstand and combat disinformation in targeted and vulnerable communities.

Its grants in this space include support for the Disinfo Defense League — a national network of organizers, researchers and disinformation experts that work to disrupt online racialized disinformation that targets Black, Latino, AAPI and other communities of color — and Free Press, whose work includes developing a policy agenda to confront threats to democracy, health and online safety. Other grantees include Media Justice, Color of Change and Voto Latino.

In partnership with its Technology in the Public Interest program, MacArthur has also funded the Data and Society Research Institute and the Knight First Amendment Institute, both of which work to understand how algorithms help spread and magnify disinformation across social media platforms, and platforms accountable for the impact they have on democracy.

Other grants include support for Military Veterans in Journalism Inc. for an initiative on disinformation that targets military and veteran communities, as well as Hopewell Fund, USC's Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism, Hispanics in Philanthropy, and MediaJustice, among others.

Hewlett Foundation

Following the 2016 election, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's U.S. Democracy Program launched a grantmaking strategy to combat digital disinformation on the belief that it "posed a unique challenge to U.S. democracy." Between 2017 and 2020, it awarded $10 million to universities and policy and research organizations working to fight disinformation. In 2020, Hewlett “refreshed its strategy,” focusing on moving beyond researching the problem and toward concrete solutions. As part of its Trustworthy Elections strategy, Hewlett is working to increase public trust in elections by countering the impact of disinformation on elections, strengthening public funding of elections and nonpartisan election administration, and increasing access to voting, including among those who have historically been marginalized.

Hewlett writes: "Disinformation is designed and packaged to discourage people from voting and to spread myths, chaos and even violence during election season. We fund applied research and effective tools and systems to respond to these threats. We also connect disinformation civil society organizations with elections officials, journalists and technology platforms to share their learning."

The foundation’s recent grants include support for Data & Society, the University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public, the German Marshall Fund for the United States, Institute for the Future, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for its Center for Information, Technology and Public Life, Sojourners, States United Democracy Center and Girl Security, among others.

Knight Foundation

Founded in 1950 by newspaper magnates, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is one of the nation’s cornerstone journalism philanthropies, with a grantmaking portfolio that also spans civics and democracy, arts and culture, and research related to technology's impacts on society. Its fight against disinformation also ramped up in the wake of 2016, including via an open call cofunded with the Rita Allen Foundation and the Democracy Fund to “improve the flow of accurate information.” Knight has also awarded a number of grants to help journalists combat misinformation.

Since 2019, the Knight Foundation has committed more than $94 million to improve public understanding and policy around the role of digital media in democracy, including grants related to disinformation. Some examples include a $3.8 million grant to support Clemson University's Media Forensics Hub to study online disinformation and to create tools to educate people and stop the spread of disinformation; $5 million to Carnegie Mellon University to create a new research center dedicated to studying online disinformation and its effects on democracy; and a $250,000 grant to Howard University to support research on how online disinformation and digital manipulation impacts Black communities.

The Knight Foundation also awarded more than $1.2 million to nine universities and nonprofits that are working on projects that will help news organizations and civil society expose and mitigate the impact that disinformation has on communities of color.

Democracy Fund

The Democracy Fund was established by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar to support leaders and organizations that work to defend democracy and push for a more open and just political system. Across its areas of focus – elections and voting, governance, just and inclusive society, and a healthy public square – the Democracy Fund has been a key player in pro-democracy philanthropy for many election cycles now.

The funder’s Public Square program, which characterizes disinformation as a "crisis," works to ensure communities have access to accurate information — a tall order, if an essential one. One of the program's initiatives is the Digital Democracy initiative, which invests in BIPOC leaders and movements organizing for better technology and media policy and working to hold social media companies and policymakers accountable. The program also includes the Equitable Journalism initiative, which supports reliable, community-focused journalism.

As mentioned, the Democracy Fund has been in the disinformation fight going on eight years now, including via that joint fund with Knight and Rita Allen to "improve the flow of accurate information." The projects Democracy Fund supported are: Viz Lab, The Documenters Project, Hoaxy Bot-o-Meter by the Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research, and Media Literacy at Your Library by the American Library Association.

Other grantees include Free Press Action, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Ranking Digital Rights, Change the Terms, Color of Change, Media Justice, NYU Online Political Ads Transparency Project, Stigler Committee on Digital Platforms and The German Marshall Fund.

Tides Foundation

In 2019, the Tides Foundation launched its Healthy Democracy Fund (HDF), a grantmaking initiative that strives to build a more inclusive democracy by shifting power to communities and leaders who have been historically excluded and underrepresented. Its funding priorities include voter engagement, registration and turnout; advancing and protecting voting rights; assuring fair redistricting; responding to emerging threats; and fighting disinformation. For the latter, HDF is partnering with community-based organizations and advocates to provide factual messaging on key issues while also holding politicians and the media accountable.

For example, HDF has supported Rural Arizona Engagement to address a number of issues in the rural parts of the state, including mis- and disinformation and election denial. HDF is prioritizing countering mis- and disinformation targeted at BIPOC communities, immigrants and youths as one of its three key strategies in 2024.

HDF has also supported Florida Rising, whose “Justice on Every Block” platform includes informational campaigns on disinformation that target Spanish speakers.

Additional funders working in this space include the the Rockefeller Foundation, Rita Allen Foundation, Wallace Global Fund, Skoll Foundation, Omidyar Network and Luminate, among others.

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