MisInfoCon is a left-of-center international media organization. MisinfoCon supports online censorship under the label of online trust and verification, fact checking, reader experience, and addressing what it considers “misinformation.” ¹

Founded in 2017, MisinfoCon has hosted events on these topics in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ukraine. ²  These events have included representatives from ProPublica, Facebook’s Oversight Board, Harvard University, ³ Wikimedia Foundation, Internews, Check My Ads, Credibility Coalition, National Democratic Institute, and Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). ⁴

MisinfoCon is a subsidiary of Hacks/Hackers ⁵ and sponsors the left-of-center media outlet The American Leader. ⁶

History and Leadership

MisInfoCon was founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in February 2017 as a conference for ambassadors and experts from technology platforms, news organizations, social science, media literacy, policy, advocacy, and cybersecurity. ⁷ This event was advertised as a “summit on information” at MIT Media Lab and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism. ⁸

MisinfoCon’s editors are Jennifer 8. Lee, Burt Herman, and Samantha Sunne. ⁹

Activities

MisInfoCon is a left-of-center global media organization that supports online censorship under the guise of online trust, verification, fact checking, reader experience, and addressing what it considers “misinformation.” ¹⁰ MisinfoCon has hosted events addressing these topics in Boston, Massachusetts; London, England; Washington, D.C.; and Kyiv, Ukraine. ¹¹

In 2022, MisinfoCon hosted its tenth event, the International Journalism Festival, in Perugia, Italy. At this conference, journalists and others were taught how to identify what they define as “media manipulation campaigns,” how to “defend election integrity,” how to attack advertisement technology to create “more equitable democracies,” how to distribute news to the U.S. prison system, how to deliver “high-quality vaccine reporting,” and other topics. ¹²

Sessions at MisinfoCon 2022 included representatives from left-of-center ProPublica, Facebook’s Oversight Board, Harvard University, the Marshall Project, Graphika, Ranking Digital Rights, Analysis and Response for Trust Tool Project, and others. ¹³

In March 2022, MisinfoCon hosted MisinfoCon 9, which focused on the critical race theory-influenced concept of intersectionality and “gendered disinformation” targeting women, online censorship under the label of content moderation, countering what MisinfoCon classifies as online “misinformation,” unbiased news, memes and disinformation, “knowledge reliability,” and other topics. ¹⁴ Panelists and speakers at this event included representatives from Wikimedia Foundation, Internews, ProPublica, Check My Ads, Credibility Coalition, Mozilla, CJF Knight Fellowships, Graphika, ActiveFence, National Democratic Institute, Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), and Nandini Jammi. ¹⁵

MisinfoCon also sponsors the left-of-center media outlet The American Leader ¹⁶ and operates a newsletter. ¹⁷

Funding

MisinfoCon and Truth and Trust Online are subsidiaries of Hacks/Hackers, an online organization which connects journalists and technologists. ¹⁸ Hacks/Hackers has received grants funded by the left-of-center Knight Foundation, Rita Allen Foundation, and Democracy Fund. ¹⁹

MisInfoCon receives funding from the left-of-center Craig Newmark Philanthropies and the Knight Foundation. ²⁰ The organization has also received funding from Adam Goldstein, the founder of the travel website Himpunk. ²¹

1. “Our Stakeholders.” The American Leader. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://theamericanleader.org/about/stakeholders/.
2. “Twitter.” MisinfoCon Twitter Profile. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://twitter.com/misinfocon.
3. “MisinfoCon 2022.” MisinfoCon. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://perugia.misinfocon.com/.
4. “Misinfocon Workshop.” Mozilla Festival. March 7, 2022. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://schedule.mozillafestival.org/misinfocon.
5. “Resources.” Hacks/Hackers. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://www.hackshackers.com/resources/.
6. “Our Stakeholders.” The American Leader. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://theamericanleader.org/about/stakeholders/.
7. “Our Stakeholders.” The American Leader. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://theamericanleader.org/about/stakeholders/.
8. Jeanne Brooks. “Misinfocon, A Summit on Misinformation, Feb 24-26, at MIT Media Lab & The Neman Foundation for Journalism.” MisinfoCon. January 25, 2017. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://misinfocon.com/misinfocon-a-summit-on-misinformation-feb-24-26-at-mit-media-lab-the-nieman-foundation-for-232507bd08a6.
9. “About.” MisinfoCon. Accessed May 2, 2022. https://misinfocon.com/about.
10. “Our Stakeholders.” The American Leader. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://theamericanleader.org/about/stakeholders/.
11. “Twitter.” MisinfoCon Twitter Profile. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://twitter.com/misinfocon.
12. “MisinfoCon 2022.” MisinfoCon. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://perugia.misinfocon.com/.
13. “MisinfoCon 2022.” MisinfoCon. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://perugia.misinfocon.com/.
14. “Misinfocon Workshop.” Mozilla Festival. March 7, 2022. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://schedule.mozillafestival.org/misinfocon.
15. “Misinfocon Workshop.” Mozilla Festival. March 7, 2022. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://schedule.mozillafestival.org/misinfocon.
16. “Our Stakeholders.” The American Leader. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://theamericanleader.org/about/stakeholders/.
17. “Newsletter.” MisinfoCon. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://hackshackers.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=c56f2e53d5ed6ef87f8aaa75c&id=69a0f5880c.
18. “Resources.” Hacks/Hackers. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://www.hackshackers.com/resources/.
19. “Meedan.” Misinfocon. June 22, 2017.
20. “MisinfoCon.” Credibility Coalition. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://credibilitycoalition.org/credcatalog/funders/.
21. “Funders.” Credibility Coalition. Accessed April 27, 2022. https://credibilitycoalition.org/credcatalog/funders/.