Stop Funding Fake News

Stop Funding Fake News (SFFN) is an advocacy group which asks advertisers to stop placing ads on web sites it argues are spreading misinformation ("fake news").[2] The organisation is small and mostly anonymous. It is a project of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.[3]

Stop Funding Fake News
NicknameSFFN
FormationMarch 2019 (2019-03)[1]
Websitewww.stopfundingfakenews.com

History

The campaign began in March 2019,[1] and was backed by Rachel Riley and Tracy-Ann Oberman.[2][4][5] It was inspired by the U.S. success of Sleeping Giants, which had convinced several advertisers not to advertise on the Breitbart News website.[2]

In March 2019, charity Macmillan Cancer Support removed an advertisement from The Canary website after complaints from SFFN and others.[6] SFFN said The Canary promoted conspiracy theories, defended antisemitism, and published fake news.[7] Changes to Google and Facebook's algorithms and the campaign by SFFN led to The Canary downsizing its operations. The Canary said that it was "against the actions of a state, not against Jewish people as an ethnic group" and that it had been "smeared with accusations of anti-Semitism by those who’ve weaponised the term for political ends".[8][9][10] Labour Party MP Chris Williamson described the SFFN's campaign against The Canary as "sinister".[11]

In March 2019, The Jewish Chronicle wrote that Rachel Riley was abused by trolls on Twitter apparently due to her work with the SFFN campaign.[12]

In March 2019, SFFN said that Stephen Yaxley-Lennon's far right TR News, which SFFN had targeted, gave up on advertising to rely solely on donations.[7]

By September 2019, Ted Baker, Adobe Inc., Chelsea FC, eBay and Manchester United were among the 40 brands and charities that the group had persuaded to stop advertising on what the campaign called fake news sites.[5][8]

In October 2019, MP Mary Creagh credited SFFN with identifying advertisements for tours of the Houses of Parliament on Breitbart.[13][14]

The campaign has also targeted the right-wing Politicalite and Westmonster, and left wing Dorset Eye and Evolve Politics.[13][2][15]

The SFFN website stated that from 4 May 2020 the campaign became a project of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.[16]

In summer 2020, SFFN reported that Zero Hedge and The Federalist were among websites promoting racist fake news in the wake of the George Floyd protests; according to Gizmodo this led to Google removing Zero Hedge from its AdSense platform.[3]

See also

References
  1. Cohen (2019).
  2. Frot (2019b).
  3. "The Federalist Bends the Knee to Big Tech, Deletes Its Awful Comments Section". Gizmodo. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  4. Frot (2020).
  5. McCarthy, John (25 June 2019). "Stop Funding Fake News in talks with media agencies to demonetise misinformation sites". The Drum. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  6. Frot (2019a).
  7. "Our fight against fake news is starting to turn the tide". politics.co.uk. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  8. Jewish News Reporter (2019).
  9. Tobitt, Charlotte (5 August 2019). "The Canary blames attacks by 'political Zionists' for failing business model as cuts fall". Press Gazette. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  10. Doherty (2019).
  11. "Suspended MP Chris Williamson defends pro-Corbyn hyper-partisan The Canary, attacking 'sinister' bid to close it". www.thejc.com. 4 August 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  12. "Rachel Riley in 'tears' over messages of support as trolls call for 'boycott'". www.thejc.com. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  13. ITV Report (2019).
  14. Daly (2019).
  15. "Google ads are supporting fake news - here's how we stop them". politics.co.uk. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  16. "Stop Funding Fake News". Stop Funding Fake News. Archived from the original on 5 July 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020. From 4th May 2020, Stop Funding Fake News has been a project of the Center For Countering Digital Hate.

Sources


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