Properly funding academic research and independent investigative journalism could offer much higher return on investment than $b military hardware. "From data I have observed, some disinformation campaigns appear to be funded in the billions of U.S. dollars, backed by some of the wealthiest people on Earth and some government treasuries. In contrast, our work, which I consider to be among the foundational pillars to preserving global democracy and countering systemic corruption, is relatively funded by governments like it is a grade school bake sale. This must be fixed with urgency. Academics and independent journalists need significant funding to better understand, expose, and inform policy about narrative-led corruption. I hope the discussions in our meetings will help articulate the gravity of the risks we face and the commitment to and quality of work from this community. I hope that this, in turn, can inspire governments and others who value evidence-based policy, collaborative government, and democracy to properly fund this work, while they still have the ability to do so. As some experts will discuss in these meetings, information corruption and cognitive manipulation fuel existential threats. Our work should be considered important enough to fund as if it were part of fundamental societal or sovereign defence. Our work could potentially offer greater societal defence in this moment than some billion-dollar military hardware. In fact, some of our research could inform policy or actions that could reduce the need to deploy the military hardware we have already spent billions on. So, I think there is a high return on investment to properly fund our work."
"...disinformation campaigns appear to be funded in the billions of U.S. dollars.
...In contrast, our work...is relatively funded by governments like it is a grade school bake sale.
This must be fixed with urgency."
youtu.be/fEv6n--Em6Q
