Through ICFJ's Disarming Disinformation initiative, journalists teamed up to follow the money behind disinformation across borders and platforms, exposing the powerful actors who fund and organize false narratives.
Investigations published to date:
Akhil Ranjan, India
This 20-minute documentary film covers a spike in scripted YouTube videos posted by right-wing activists disguised as public opinion “vox pop” videos in the run-up to the 2024 national election in India. The videos actually feature party operatives and other ruling party-affiliated officials posing as average citizens.
Daniela Mendoza, Mexico
The investigation looks into how fake recruiters, human traffickers, “legal advisers,” influencers and “migration coaches” create fake content aimed at those hoping to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Money lost to these scams, the investigation found, ranges up to $20,000 per person.
Dheeshma Puzhakkal, India
This report analyzed the political ads run by proxy pages on META supporting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India as well as the ruling parties in the five South Indian states.
- Unseen Hands: Facebook Ads, Funding, and Election Disinformation in South India (Language: English)
- Political advertising as a social media platform - spending crores of rupees in Telugu states (Language: Telegu)
- Social Media During Elections: Billions of Ads and Fake Campaigns (Language: Malayalam)
- Campaign ads published by political parties with neutral identity through meta ads for 2024 elections in Tamil Nadu! (Language: Tamil)
- Political parties in Karnataka have poured in money to advertise on Meta (Language: Kannada)
Fabiana Cambricoli, Brazil
This investigation (O Estado de S. Paulo, Brazil) revealed how a Brazilian organization known for promoting ineffective COVID-19 treatments is now spreading disinformation about other vaccines with the backing of companies selling alternative therapies and pro-Bolsonaro businessmen who are under investigation related to the events of Jan. 8.
- Associação de médicos condenada por propaganda pró-cloroquina agora aposta em discurso antivacina (Language: Portuguese)
James Okong’o, Kenya
This story investigated six bloggers in Kenya and Nigeria who were hired by political parties and figures to run large scale political disinformation campaigns seeking to discredit political opponents during the 2022 and 2023 general elections in the two countries.
La Silla Vacia, Deutsche Welle, and Revista Questão de Ciência, Latin America
This investigation revealed how a Mexican company pays Telegram and social media users $5 to $20 to spread electoral disinformation in Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico, another (led by Nadia Pontes, Deutsche Welle) how climate change deniers spread misinformation in Brazil, and another (led by Jaqueline Sordi, Revista Questão de Ciência) looked into how one of the largest online publishers of health misinformation in Brazil is promoting false cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and diabetes.
- Likes por dinero: así operaron campañas de desinformación en Latam (Language: Spanish)
- Jolivi: o lucrativo e obscuro mercado das falsas curas (Language: Portuguese)
Laura Galaup, Spain
The investigation focused on the emergence of a new far-right political agitator in Spain: Daniel Esteve, the leader of Desokupa. For almost a decade, Desokupa has been carrying out extralegal evictions and has amassed significant political influence in the country.
- La fórmula Desokupa: Racism, social agitation, and disinformation
- El lucrativo negocio de Desokupa, al descubierto
- Las oficinas ‘antiocupas’ en los nuevos gobiernos autonómicos no son una prioridad
Luis Fakhouri, Brazil
A U.S.-Brazil reporting team led by Luis Fakhouri of Palver revealed political candidates allied with former President Jair Bolsonaro who organized buses for his supporters to go to the Brazilian Congress in Brasilia on January 8, 2023, the day a mob attacked several federal buildings. Reporters from Lupa also found an increase in current misinformation spreading on WhatsApp to promote a coup in Brazil.
- Candidatos bolsonaristas derrotados nas eleições organizaram ônibus para o 8 de janeiro (Language: Portuguese)
- Cinco meses após o 8 de janeiro, mensagens golpistas voltam a crescer no WhatsApp (Language: Portuguese)
Madeleine May, US
This CBS investigation found that Elon Musk used X to amplify election-related conspiracy theories, fueling voter distrust ahead of the 2024 U.S. election. The piece showed that over 55% of Musk’s posts on election security contained misleading or false information.
Marco Dalla Stella and El Clip, Central America
The investigation showed how “digital reputation” companies have used bogus copyright claims to get Google to take down website pages their clients want removed, effectively erasing their clients’ shady pasts from view.
Mohammed Tolba, Jordan
This ARIJ Investigation looked online disinformation campaigns driven by oils-producing Gulf countries countries that aim to undermine narratives around climate change - in direct contradiction to these governments' public policy positions.
Nitsan Yasur, Israel
This investigation looked into anonymous pro-ruling party propaganda in local elections in Israel, carried out using fake Facebook accounts operating in a coordinated manner.
Olivia Sohr and Pablo Fernández, Latin America
Chequeado’s Argentina-based Olivia Sohr and Pablo Fernández led a reporting team from Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru and the United States in investigating how two U.S.-based organizations are spreading gender disinformation in Latin America. The investigation looked into how groups like theirs have spent $40 million in the region to spread misinformation about abortion, conspiracy theories and more.
- Desinformación de género: cómo se articulan los grupos que difunden falsedades sobre el tema en América Latina (Language: Spanish)
Ronald Rodrigues, Czech Republic
This story looked into how ultraconservative actors and far-right political parties spread anti-LGBT+ disinformation narratives (similar to Russian propaganda narratives) for political gains in the last parliamentary elections in the Central European countries of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
- How the ultra-right used homophobic disinfo in Czech and Hungarian elections
- Part 1 focusing on the Czech Republic and Hungary
- How a Slovak priest, Russian bikers, and a Polish lobbyist fuelled anti-LGBTI hate
- Part 2 focusing on Slovakia and Poland
- Who is playing the premier league of anti-LGBTQ conspiracies in the V4 countries? From a Slovak priest to Orbán's propagandists
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We exposed corruption and human rights abuses working in a cross-border network supported by ICFJ.
— Lisseth Boon, Venezuela