One year after the assault on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, 81% of sites that according to NewsGuard analysis had published election disinformation in the US continue to spread false information about the elections.
Of the 113 US sites identified by NewsGuard for posting election disinformation shortly after the 2020 presidential elections and which are still active, more than 8 in 10 continued to post false information about the January 6, 2021 election and assault on the US Capitol. , according to a new analysis from NewsGuard.
The problem is global. NewsGuard’s analysis also revealed that half of the European sites identified last year as spreaders of false election information, and which are still active today, continued to publish misinformation on the issue.
In its 2020 Election Disinformation Monitoring Center, NewsGuard identified 159 sites that, between election day (November 2, 2020) and the inauguration day of the new president (January 20, 2021), had spread false information about the election. .
Now, more than a year after the election and nearly a year after the assault on the Capitol, a new analysis by NewsGuard has highlighted how the vast majority of sites that spread election disinformation a year ago have continued to promote theory that the elections were not legitimate, while minimizing the assault on the Capitol, defending its architects or blaming others for the attack.
NewsGuard’s analysis later revealed that 892 major brands funded sites that spread disinformation on Jan.6 through the purchase of digital advertising space during that time, according to data provided by Moat Pro, an advertising intelligence tool. Much has been written last year about the fact that websites that spread disinformation are financed by revenues from programmatic advertising. NewsGuard also took care of it earlier this year: a report produced in collaboration with Comscore, a company that measures audience, traffic, and advertising metrics for dozens of sites, estimated that companies pay 2.6 billion dollars each. year directly into the coffers of sites that spread disinformation through advertising. The brands that advertise on the 159 sites that, according to NewsGuard, have published disinformation on the American elections and on January 6 are 892: 32% less than in the same period last year.
In summary, NewsGuard analyzed the false information on the elections, including that relating to the integrity of the vote and the assault on the Capitol on January 6, published in the 90 days between September 1 and December 1, 2021. Of all sites in the 2020 Election Disinformation Monitoring Center, 81% continued to share false information. Including European sites in the calculation, this percentage amounts to 72%.