The Internet broke our politics.
We’re organizing to fix it.
We use technology, advertising and networks to help truth beat trolls.
Our brains aren’t wired to handle the pace at which technology changes.
We’re literally not wired to handle the modern internet. And bad actors and foreign governments prey on our neural circuitry to corrupt the public discourse with lies and misinformation.
The only way to counter them is to fight back, and no, slick television ads won’t cut it. The Story Network Foundation fights in the digital trenches to promote good and reliable sources of factual information that lead to better outcomes for all Americans.
Only four in 10 Americans feel very confident in their abilities to spot misinformation online.
Two out of three say fake news stories cause a great deal of confusion about the basic facts of current issues.
The Story Network Foundation is fighting back.
We organize. Misinformation is propagated by large networks of pages, websites, bots and people, working together to seem much larger than they are. We organize real groups and people into networks that stand ready to amplify good and truthful ideas.
We create. Misinformation is cheap and easy to produce. Real information takes time and care. We invest in organizations dedicated to creating truthful viral online content, and then we share it with like-minded organizations who want factual stories that can further their mission.
We promote. Foreign governments spend massive amounts of money on digital advertising to sowing discord. And domestic operators spread misinformation in a cynical effort to generate new sales leads for supplements, shoddy merchandise - even Ponzi scheme investors. These bad actors outbid legitimate groups for prime advertising placement. We even the playing field by equipping legitimate online organizations with advertising tools so they can compete on an equal footing against scammers and foreign operatives.
We inoculate. Digital platforms have been ineffective at taming the trolls and the misinformation they spread. We invest in and deploy digital tools that identify, remove and report trolls at scale to help legitimate organizations fight back when they’re targeted online by false attacks.
We advocate. We push governments and technology companies for common-sense policy changes to help tame the flood of misinformation for good.
“Things are going to get worse before they get better, but humans have the basic tools to solve this problem, so chances are good that we will. The biggest risk, as with many things, is that narrow self-interest stops people from effectively collaborating.”
Support our work.
The Story Network Foundation is a registered 501(c)4 organization. You can support our mission financially or by connecting us to like-minded progressive people and organizations.