Disinformation costs $78 billion each year

Disinformation can destroy institutions in days that take years to build. It ruins trust in science, increases polarisation and impacts business' bottom line

About

Say No To Disinfo mines peer-reviewed empirical studies for insight on the most effective way to combat any information threat. This is combined with AI for personalisation, iteration and optimisation of counter-disinformation campaigns.

Our team is behind the seminal effort to collate, curate, categorise and analyse all relevant research based on responding to misinformation and disinformation.

We have published books on countering disinformation, have experience running campaigns and have advised several organisations on narrative strategy

Managing Director

Sahil Shah

Sahil is a co-author of the Narrative Campaign Field Guide. He previously ran an ad-tech startup, has political campaign experience and has been a fellow at the Atlantic Council. He holds an MA from the University of Cambridge

Director

Ari Soonawalla

Ari holds a BSc in Economics, specialising in game theory. Her background is in technology risk consulting at the nexus of risk and financial materiality. This informs her foresight of how information threats create commercial risks.

Services

Building resilience to disinformation

Clearly defined, highly personalised and evidence informed media literacy programmes

Vulnerability Audits

We identify potential information threats that are most likely and have the highest organisational impact

Threat Monitoring

Our mix of tools monitor cross-channel for early detection of information threats

Threat Response

We demystify information threats, synthesise insight from thousands of experiments for optimal threat response

Insights

17/07/23

How does disinformation affect the financial sector?

What is the impact of mis/disinformation on the financial sector? How can this be effectively countered?

12/05/23

What makes an effective media literacy intervention?

What should be considered in scoping, designing, implementing and iterating a media literacy intervention?

01/05/23

The impact of AI on disinformation

How does AI change how disinformation is created, spread and received?

18/04/23

What is the cost of disinformation?

How does disinformation cost you? How can affect revenue, costs, access to finance and how can you manage this risk?

Eric Sapp

Eric Sapp has served as a pastor, Senate Committee staffer, at the Pentagon, in national politics, and directed a number of advocacy campaigns. For over a decade, Eric has been President of Public Democracy, a B Corp that uses digital business solutions for social impact. Public Democracy’s focus on holes in data and undervalued communities allowed it to build some of the foundational maps of disinformation networks being used today, and to organize a network of organizations that outcompete disinformation at the human and algorithmic level. Eric is a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council and a Loomis Fellow at the Stimson Center for his work on more meaningful AI and leadership around data trusts.

Toby Orr

Toby is the co-founder of Shearwater Global, a public policy and communications consultancy.

He is the former Director of Communication and Marketing at the UK Government’s Department for International Trade. Toby also chaired the Cabinet Office Finance and Performance Committee, overseeing the Government’s COVID-19 communications activities. He was previously a Senior Partner at Portland, where he founded the company’s international team. While at Portland he led international campaigns for governments, UN agencies, philanthropic ventures and high-profile individuals including Kofi Annan, Bill Gates, Jimmy Carter and Mo Ibrahim. Earlier in his career he co-founded Africa Practice, a specialist investment and development communications consultancy.

Giulio Corsi

Giulio is a Research Associate at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, working on the AI: Futures and Responsibility Project. His research investigates epistemic security, with a focus on how epistemic threats can be countered through peer-produced approaches that allow online communities to participate in the scrutiny and moderation of information flows. Giulio holds an MPhil and a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

Ben Mallet

Ben is Director of International Campaigns at The Messina Group. Ben advises and manages political campaigns for TMG’s clients worldwide and has a breadth of experience advising politicians, governments, and companies on messaging and communications strategies.

A former advisor to British Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and David Cameron, as well as Foreign Office Minister Lord Zac Goldsmith, Ben has served as senior counsel and campaign director for numerous UK, U.S., and European politicians. More recently, Ben advised on research and communications strategies for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain and President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya.

John Cook

John Cook is a Senior Research Fellow with the Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change at the University of Melbourne. He researches how to use critical thinking to counter misinformation.

He created the Cranky Uncle game, combining critical thinking, cartoons, and gamification to build resilience against misinformation. He works with organizations such as Facebook, NASA, the Sabin Vaccine Institute, and UNICEF to develop evidence-based responses to misinformation.

Folco Panizza

Folco Panizza is a cognitive and behavioral scientist at the IMT School for Advanced Studies in Lucca, Italy. His work centers on studying and designing interventions to improve citizens' digital life and health.