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Yonder, formerly named New Knowledge, was a company from Austin, Texas, that specialized in information integrity.[1] It is most widely known for supporting the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in its investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.[2] The company was also involved in a disinformation operation during the 2017 US Senate special election in Alabama, though the company denied any political motivation behind its research.[3] More recently, Yonder's CEO and researchers have provided expert commentary to the New York Times, Fast Company, and Axios about 5G and COVID-19 misinformation.[4][5][6]
| Formation | 2017 |
|---|---|
| Founded at | Austin, Texas |
CEO | Jonathon Morgan |
| Website | https://www.yonder-ai.com/ |
Formerly called | New Knowledge |
Yonder CEO, Jonathon Morgan, was profiled in HBO's 2020 documentary, After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News. The company's former Director of Research, Renée DiResta, was a featured expert in the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma.
According to the company's marketing material, Yonder supported both Government and Fortune 100 companies as they tried to better understand the influential groups and emerging narratives that affect organizations and discussions of their values. They often shared their intelligence with press to inform the public about which groups influence discourse on social media.
Background
editLux Capital and GGV Capital provided $11 million in capital for the company in 2018.[7]
The Hamilton68 database, which tracks disinformation on-line for the US German Marshall Fund's Alliance for Securing Democracy was built by the company.[8]
The company prepared "The Tactics and Tropes of the Internet Research Agency" for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.[9]
Two days after this report was published, a New York Times published an article showcasing the company's participation in an experiment in the 2017 Senate special election in Alabama. Renée DiResta, one of the principal authors of the Senate report on the Internet Research Agency, said that as she understood it the goal of the New Knowledge research was to investigate how Facebook's content curation algorithms rewarded "sensational news."[10] Facebook responded by suspending the personal accounts of Morgan and four others.
Democratic donor Reid Hoffman donated $750,000 to American Emergent Technologies which provided funding for New Knowledge. He disavowed any specific knowledge of the project.[11]
Media use
editRuth Reader, writing for Fast Company in April 2020, cited Yonder findings in an article on Anti Vaxxer faction involvement with narratives regarding Vitamin C and a hypothetical COVID-19 treatment saying, "In the past several years, social media has given a soap box to a previously niche group of people who are against vaccination. This group, known colloquially as anti-vaxxers, fabricates stories about the danger of vaccines in attempt to discredit them. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic has given some members of this faction an opportunity to spread more anti-vaccine propaganda, and it's starting to make its way to the mainstream."[12]
Taylor Hatmaker, writing for TechCrunch in April 2020, cited findings in a new Yonder report] in relation to 5G conspiracy theories saying, "A report on coronavirus misinformation from the company notes "the mainstream is unusually accepting of conspiratorial thinking, rumors, alarm, or panic" during uncertain times — a phenomenon that explains the movement of misinformation that we’re seeing now. While the company estimates that it would normally take six to eight months for a "fringe narrative" to make its way from the edges of the internet into the mainstream, that interval looks like three to 14 days in the midst of COVID-19."[13]
In a press release, Yonder described their new product: "Yonder Narrative alerts users when a topic is about to go viral and analyzes how internet subcultures are affecting the narrative, contextualizes the conversation, authenticates which conversations are real and helps users make a decision."[14]
Robert Windrem, writing for NBC News in 2018, cited the company's report on the Internet Research Agency in an article about Green candidate Jill Stein's 2016 campaign.[15] He also cited the company in 2019 to report increased activity on Russian bot-nets surrounding then-Democratic primary candidate Tulsi Gabbard.[16] Both candidates and media that supported the candidates have been critical of New Knowledge, given reporting about its research project during the 2017 Alabama Senate race.[17][18]
Acquisition
editIn June 2022 it was announced[19] that Yonder was acquired by technology company Primer.
References
edit- ^ "New Knowledge". New Knowledge.
- ^ "Russian 2016 Influence Operation Targeted African-Americans on Social Media". New York Times.
- ^ Sebastian Herrera (February 15, 2019). "Who is Jonathon Morgan? Austin researcher makes a name -- and finds controversy -- in cybersecurity world". Austin American-Statesman.
- ^ "Your 5G Phone Won't Hurt You. But Russia Wants You to Think Otherwise". New York Times.
- ^ Ruth Reader (2020-04-13). "Surprise, surprise: Anti-vaxxers are spreading false claims about cures for COVID-19". Fast Company. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
- ^ "Coronavirus misinformation seeds ground for digital scams".
- ^ Connie Loizos (August 28, 2018). "New Knowledge just raised $11 million more to flag and fight social media disinformation meant to bring down companies". Techcrunch.
- ^ Jim Rutenberg (January 13, 2019). "Fake News as 'Moral Imperative'? Democrats' Alabama Move Hints at Ugly 2020". New York Times.
- ^ "New Reports Shed Light on Internet Research Agency's Social Media Tactics". US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. December 17, 2018.
- ^ Scott Shane; Alan Blinder (December 19, 2018). "Secret Experiment in Alabama Senate Race Imitated Russian Tactics". New York Times.
- ^ Tony Romm (December 26, 2018). "Internet billionaire Reid Hoffman apologizes for funding a group tied to disinformation in Alabama race". Washington Post.
- ^ Ruth Reader (2020-04-13). "Surprise, surprise: Anti-vaxxers are spreading false claims about cures for COVID-19". Fast Company. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
- ^ Taylor Hatmaker. "Coronavirus Conspiracies Like That Bogus 5G Claim Are racing Across The Internet". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
- ^ Sean Czarnecki. "Yonder Launches Narrative to Counter Disinformation". PRWeek. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
- ^ Robert Windrem. "Russians launched pro-Jill Stein social media blitz to help Trump, reports say". NBC News. Retrieved 2018-12-30.
- ^ Windrem, Robert; Popken, Ben (February 2, 2019). "Russia's propaganda machine discovers 2020 Democratic candidate Tulsi Gabbard". NBC News. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ^ "Stein calls on Senate Committee to retract election interference report by cybersecurity firm caught interfering in US election" https://www.jill2016.com/
- ^ Greenwald, Glenn (February 3, 2019). "NBC News, to Claim Russia Supports Tulsi Gabbard, Relies on Firm Just Caught Fabricating Russia Data for the Democratic Party". The Intercept. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
- ^ Desk, AIT News (2022-06-08). "Primer Acquires Yonder, Adds Disinformation Analysis to AI Portfolio for Information Operations". AiThority. Retrieved 2023-12-08.
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