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The Misinformation industry generates a toxic cocktail of conspiracy theories and outright lies. It stokes fear, hate, racism, religious intolerance and misogyny. There is compelling evidence to suggest it can swing elections. And it has led to the degradation and coarsening of our public sphere. 

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Misinformation sites are largely funded by online advertising, often paid for by mainstream brands who have no idea where their money is going; they just pay an agency or "programmatic advertising" service which places ads to fulfill a pre-determined target profile. Algorithms automatically allocate adverts to sites regardless of any dangerous and offensive content.

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As Misinformation sites are one step removed from their advertisers, this advantages websites that prioritise "clickbait" - stories that generate the most traffic, regardless of the truth behind those stories.

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When enough advertisers pull their business from a misinformation site they often have to rely on donations from their readers. This presents a new target: we call on donation platforms to kick off sites that violate their codes of conduct policy. When they don't, we call on big organisations to move to more ethical donation platforms.