The Information Futures Lab (IFL) is a left-of-center research and advocacy organization that advocates for news outlets, social media platforms, and government institutions to adopt strategies to combat so-called “misinformation.” The organization was launched in June 2022 and is housed at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. ¹

Information Futures Lab is the successor to First Draft, a now-defunct collective of left-leaning communications and media companies that operated from 2015 to 2022. First Draft partners included tech giant Google and its grantmaking arm, the Google News Initiative, as well as the foreign affairs publication Bellingcat. ² First Draft also received financial backing from the Open Society Foundations, the flagship grantmaking entity within the network of Hungarian-born billionaire activist financier George Soros. A large portion of these funds were allocated towards combating allegations of electoral irregularities during the 2020 U.S. presidential election. ³ When First Draft announced that it would be shutting down, it indicated that Information Futures Lab would be continuing its mission, and First Draft co-founder Claire Wardle helped launch IFL. Multiple other First Draft staff also transitioned to the IFL after First Draft closed. ^{4 5}

Initiatives

Much like First Draft, Information Futures Lab develops guidelines for policing narratives surrounding controversial issues in the news and on social media. The organization conducts research on misinformation , recommends policies to government and private-sector institutions, and evaluates the effectiveness of the misinformation-suppression measures. ⁶

One of its reports blames “structural racism” in America for “hesitancy” toward COVID-19 vaccination. ⁷ The report was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation as part of a larger project and was based on a review of 250 published documents as well as interviews with community, religious, and other leaders. Project partners included the Open Society Institute of Baltimore. ⁸

The IFL also runs a fellows program to train new advocates for left-of-center media narrative control. ⁹ The 2023 fellows include a UNICEF employee, Politico’s chief technology correspondent, and a senior technical staffer from the international nonprofit FHI 360. ¹⁰

Leadership

Claire Wardle is a co-founder of the IFL and was a co-director of the organization’s predecessor First Draft. She previously worked with Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism. She has also worked as the head of social media at the United Nations Refugee Agency and as a social media trainer for staff at the British Broadcasting Corporation. ¹¹

Stephanie Friedhoff is a co-founder of the IFL and the organization’s co-director. She is a professor at the Brown University school of public health, which houses the organization. She is also an advisor on COVID-19 policy to the Biden administration. ¹²

1. “Information Futures Lab.” Brown University. Accessed January 15, 2023. https://sites.brown.edu/informationfutures/
2. “About.” First Draft. Accessed January 15, 2023. https://firstdraftnews.org/about/
3.  “First Draft launches US election tools to help tackle misinformation in run-up to November 3.” First Draft. October 9, 2020. Accessed January 15, 2023.https://firstdraftnews.org/articles/first-draft-launches-us-election-tools-to-help-tackle-misinformation-in-run-up-to-november-3/
4. “About.” First Draft. Accessed January 15, 2023. https://firstdraftnews.org/about/
5. “The IFL Team.” Brown University. Accessed January 15, 2023. https://sites.brown.edu/informationfutures/people/
6. “Brown School of Public Health launches new Lab to combat misinformation, data deficits, outdated communication practices — and to catalyze innovation.” Brown University. June 14, 2022. Accessed January 15, 2023. https://sites.brown.edu/informationfutures/2022/06/14/ifl_launch-2/
7. Information Futures Lab. “Structural barriers: The role of systems and institutions.” Brown University. Accessed January 16, 2023. https://buildingvaccinedemand.org/key-drivers-of-vaccine-demand/structural-barriers-the-role-of-systems-and-institutions/
8. Information Futures Lab. “About the Equity First Vaccination Initiative.” Brown University. Accessed January 16, 2023. https://buildingvaccinedemand.org/how-we-got-here/about-the-equity-first-vaccination-initiative/
9. “Brown School of Public Health launches new Lab to combat misinformation, data deficits, outdated communication practices — and to catalyze innovation.” Brown University. June 14, 2022. Accessed January 15, 2023. https://sites.brown.edu/informationfutures/2022/06/14/ifl_launch-2/
10. Information Futures Lab. “Information Futures Fellows John Brown School of Public Health to tackle information crisis.” Brown University. December 14, 2022. Accessed January 16, 2023.
11. “About.” Dr. Claire Wardle. Accessed January 15, 2023. https://clairewardle.com/about/
12. “The IFL Team.” Brown University. Accessed January 15, 2023. https://sites.brown.edu/informationfutures/people/