Disclose.tv

Disclose.tv is a far-right[4] fake news website[1] based in Germany.[3][4] It is known for publishing disinformation[13] and conspiracy theories.[17]

For other uses, see Disclose (disambiguation).
Disclose.tv
Homepage in April 2023
Type of site
Fake news website[1]
Available inEnglish
Founded2007[2]
HeadquartersPassau, Germany[3]
OwnerFuturebytes GmbH & Co. KG[3]
URLdisclose.tv

The website was created in 2007 as a forum focused around conspiracy content such as UFOs and paranormal phenomena. In 2021, the website announced it would be operating exclusively as a news website. Currently, it presents itself as a news aggregator on its social media platforms and website. Its official Twitter account was found by the British anti-disinformation organisation Logically to share content from other sources without attribution, noting that over half of their eight most popular tweets featured no attribution as of January 2022.[3][4]

History
Disclose.tv in November 2015

Archived versions of Disclose.tv were found as far back as March 2007 by Logically, a British anti-disinformation organisation. In its initial form, the website operated as a forum focusing on user-generated content discussing topics such as UFOs, paranormal phenomena and other conspiracy theories.[3][4] The website's name references the concept of "disclosure" in the UFO community, referring to the time they believe the government will confirm the existence of aliens and release information about them.[3]

In April 2012, Disclose.tv announced a redesign of its website.[18] During the 2010s, Disclose.tv's content became more political, with users' posts on the site casting doubt on the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and criticising "social justice warriors",[3][4] which Logically said was indicative of "the right-wing undercurrent of the community".[3]

In 2019, Disclose.tv removed its user-written articles and switched to primarily hosting forums; the website presented some of the forum posts as news articles on its social media accounts.[3] In September 2021, it removed its old versions and cleared out its Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts, and announced to its users that it would be operating exclusively as a news website. Around the same time, the website published news articles that were backdated to September 2020, and many of which were plagiarised from a combination of reliable sources and other conspiracy theory websites.[3][4]

In January 2022, after Logically sent a request for comment during its investigation of the website, Disclose.tv published an unsigned statement[19] claiming to have never heard of Logically, stating it had "lost sight" of the hateful content being posted on its Discord channel despite claiming to have moderators and bots searching for such posts, and apologising for the examples of plagiarism listed in the investigation. The statement also included Logically reporter Ernie Piper's name.[3][4] Logically noted that Disclose.tv had blocked many members of its editorial team on Twitter prior to the request for comment, despite claiming to have never heard of Logically.[3] Piper said that the statement, part of which was described as being "ironic and mocking in tone", was "not a normal way for a media organization to respond to critical coverage", and added that it was "alarming" that Disclose.tv had published his name to its followers.[4]

Influence

As of January 2022, Disclose.tv has social media accounts on Twitter (1 million followers as of 5 November 2022[20]), Telegram (438,000 followers), YouTube (12,000 followers) and Facebook (3 million followers), as well as the far-right platforms Gettr (612,000 followers) and Gab (199,000 followers).[3][4] Disclose.tv also maintained a Discord channel, which was created in September 2021. As of 11 January 2022, the channel was closed after Logically sent a request for comment the previous day during its investigation of the website.[3]

Miro Dittrich, a senior researcher for the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (CeMAS), a German extremism monitoring agency, said that Disclose.tv "[was] an exception in terms of its reach" in relation to other fringe websites, and in how it was "trying to portray itself as not being a German outlet" and reusing American far-right sources' talking points. Dittrich and Stephan Mündges, the head of the Technical University of Dortmund's Journalism Institute, said that the biggest threat from outlets like Disclose.tv was their ability to present conspiracy theories, disinformation and misleading stories as factual news.[4]

Content
Disclose.tv in June 2021

Disclose.tv presents itself as a news aggregator on its social media platforms, sharing information from other sources, frequently without attribution or links to other news websites. Logically stated that the website's continued uncritical coverage of conspiracy narratives and UFOs since its September 2021 relaunch revealed its links to pseudoscience and conspiracy theories.[3]

Dittrich stated that the website often creates content "that doesn't look like it's conspiracy-driven" and is occasionally shared by "apolitical people or people on the left who don't know its true purpose". Mündges said that it was not very common for a Germany-based website to be producing content in another language for an international audience, adding: "It is more common that items from the English-language media, for example the 'Stop the steal' narrative, are taken and translated into German".[4]

In January 2022, Logically reported that Holocaust denial, neo-Nazism and other forms of hate speech were flourishing on the website's Discord and Telegram groups. Promoting or platforming Holocaust denial is illegal in Germany, with a punishment of up to five years in prison.[3][4] Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office said that they were aware of Disclose.tv, but did not comment further on the extent to which they were monitoring Disclose.tv's channels.[4]

Prior to 2021 relaunch

In August 2016, Disclose.tv published an article falsely claiming that Edward Snowden was pronounced dead by his girlfriend in Russia.[6] In September, Disclose.tv claimed that NASA had admitted to being in contact with aliens and had not formally announced the information due to believing that everyone was already aware of it; Snopes traced the source of the claim to Waterford Whispers News, an Irish satirical news website.[21]

In May 2018, Disclose.tv published an article claiming that vaccines contain "cancer enzymes". The fact-checking website Health Feedback noted that the "enzymes" referred to in the article seemed to be nagalase, which is not in any vaccine. The claim was repeated on websites such as GlobalResearch.ca and Natural News.[22]

In October 2018, Disclose.tv published a story claiming that a Zimbabwean man had created an electric car that did not require charging. PolitiFact rated the claim "Pants on Fire", noting that the man's claims had already been reported on in 2015, and that the Zimbabwean technology news website TechZim had noted that the car was outside of the Law of Conservation of Energy.[14]

COVID-19 misinformation
Further information: COVID-19 misinformation

A study published in March 2021 in the Online Social Networks and Media journal identified Disclose.tv as a purveyor of disinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.[10]

Disclose.tv promotes anti-vaccine and anti-lockdown narratives, and misrepresents developments related to COVID-19.[3] In October 2021, the website published an article titled "German court declares Corona curfew unconstitutional", which referred to a March 2020 curfew in Bavaria that was retroactively ruled unconstitutional by the State Court.[3][4]

In July 2021, Disclose.tv published a tweet claiming that 60% of people being admitted to hospitals in the United Kingdom had received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. The claim was based on an incorrect statistic given by Patrick Vallance, the Chief Scientific Advisor for the UK; Vallance issued a statement on Twitter with the correct statistic, which was that 60% of people being hospitalized were unvaccinated.[23][24] Disclose.tv subsequently deleted its tweet.[24]

In February 2022, Disclose.tv shared on Twitter a Reuters article with the incorrect headline "Japan's Kowa says that ivermectin effective against Omicron in phase III trial".[25][11] The tweet was reshared by podcaster Joe Rogan.[25][26] Reuters subsequently corrected its headline and article to note that the research conducted by Kowa was non-clinical research;[25][11] the correction was shared by Disclose.tv, which still falsely stated that ivermectin was "effective against Omicron in phase III trial".[11]

Operation

Disclose.tv is owned by Futurebytes GmbH & Co. KG, which describes itself as a "private equity company" and is based in Passau.[3] Futurebytes is registered with the District Court of Passau and its described purpose is e-commerce, marketing and advertising.[27] Futurebytes is owned by Uwe Manfred Braun, a Cologne-based entrepreneur.[3][4] Braun has not publicly acknowledged his connection to the website.[4] In the website's imprint, Braun is named as the legally responsible person.[28]

In January 2022, Logically reported that all of the website's articles were attributed to only four writers, none of whom had links to personal websites, social media or bios, and their profile pictures were fakes generated by artificial intelligence. The writers' articles also appeared to have been written by a native German speaker.[3][4]

See also

References
  1. Sources describing Disclose.tv as a fake news website: [5][6][7][8][9][3]
  2. "Disclose.tv". whois.domaintools.com. Archived from the original on 27 October 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  3. Thomas, W. F. (12 January 2022). "Disclose.tv: Conspiracy Forum Turned Disinformation Factory". Logically. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022. Disclose.tv, a disinformation outlet based in Germany, is bringing fake news to a timeline near you.
  4. Schumacher, Elizabeth (8 February 2022). "Disclose.TV: English disinformation made in Germany". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  5. Allcott, Hunt; Gentzkow, Matthew; Yu, Chuan (1 April 2019). "Trends in the diffusion of misinformation on social media" (PDF). Research & Politics. SAGE Publishing. 6 (2). arXiv:1809.05901. doi:10.1177/2053168019848554. ISSN 2053-1680. S2CID 52291737. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  6. LaCapria, Kim (10 August 2016). "Snowden Pronounced Dead by His Girlfriend in Russia". Snopes. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2022. Disclose.tv and Get Off the BS are sites known for publishing outlandish fabrications and fake news in order to attract readers.
  7. Dicker, Rachel (14 November 2016). "Avoid These Fake News Sites at All Costs". U.S. News and World Report. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  8. "PolitiFact's guide to fake news websites and what they peddle". PolitiFact. 20 April 2017. Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  9. Caplan, David (6 December 2019). "Facebook refuses to take down anti-Semitic post". Audacy. Archived from the original on 8 November 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022. Disclose.TV is a website notoriously known for publishing conspiracy theories and fake news, with a particular interest in publishing UFO-related stories.
  10. Guarino, Stefano; Pierri, Francesco; Di Giovanni, Marco; Celestini, Alessandro (1 March 2021). "Information disorders during the COVID-19 infodemic: The case of Italian Facebook". Online Social Networks and Media. 22: 100124. doi:10.1016/j.osnem.2021.100124. ISSN 2468-6964. PMC 8479410. PMID 34604611.
  11. "Claims that a phase 3 clinical trial showed that ivermectin is effective against Omicron are inaccurate and based on a now-corrected Reuters article". Health Feedback. 2 February 2022. Archived from the original on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022. ...the news agency's incorrect article and headline were shared a number of times on Twitter, including by podcaster Joe Rogan (who has since deleted his tweet), Germany-based disinformation outlet Disclose.tv...
  12. Manhire, Toby (8 June 2022). "Conspiracy theorists are losing their shit over a clip of Jacinda Ardern in New York". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022. A similar clip was posted by Disclose.tv, the Germany-based disinformation firehose...
  13. Sources describing Disclose.tv's publication of disinformation: [10][3][11][4][12]
  14. Haas, Kyra (29 October 2018). "Zimbabwean inventor did not create an electric car that never needs charging". PolitiFact. Archived from the original on 7 November 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2022. The initial blog post was published in April 2018 on the conspiracy-fueled website Disclose.tv.
  15. Rothschild, Mike (20 December 2021). "Switzerland's viral 'suicide pod' reignites conspiratorial claims of 'med beds'". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022. And a post on the Telegram channel of conspiracy theory account Disclose TV...
  16. Palma, Bethania (5 January 2022). "No, 95% of Omicron Cases Are Not in Vaccinated People". Snopes. Archived from the original on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022. The post above was published on Twitter on Dec. 30, 2021, by the conspiratorial network Disclose TV.
  17. Sources describing Disclose.tv's publication of conspiracy theories: [14][9][15][3][4][16]
  18. "Conspiracy multimedia hub Disclose.tv gets a makeover: New design, new features". PR Web. 16 April 2012. Archived from the original on 20 April 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  19. "UK-based investigative reporter wants to "unmask" Disclose.tv". Disclose.tv. 11 January 2022. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  20. "Disclose.tv". Twitter. Archived from the original on 3 November 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  21. LaCapria, Kim (19 September 2016). "NASA Admits It Is in Contact with Alien Species and Just Forgot to Mention It". Snopes. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  22. "Claims that vaccines contain "cancer enzymes" are unfounded, also misleads with one-sided explanation of nagalase function". Health Feedback. 6 August 2019. Archived from the original on 5 September 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  23. Fraser, Terrence (20 July 2021). "Inaccurate data spreads about COVID hospitalizations in the UK". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 13 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  24. "The majority of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.K. are among unvaccinated people". Health Feedback. 24 July 2021. Archived from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  25. Settles, Gabrielle (2 February 2022). "Ivermectin study showed 'antiviral effect,' which is not the same as being effective against omicron". PolitiFact. Archived from the original on 9 November 2022. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  26. Gore, D'Angelo (2 February 2022). "Social Media Posts Repeat Inaccurate Reporting on Ivermectin and Omicron". FactCheck.org. Archived from the original on 19 March 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  27. "Futurebytes GMBH & Co. KG, Passau, Germany". northdata.com. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  28. "About". Disclose.tv. Archived from the original on 24 February 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
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