Our Principles

Our principles start with the two core foundations of journalism: fairness and impartiality. These concepts are at the very core of our work, influencing every aspect of our culture, our recruitment and our conduct.

1. Be impartial

We define impartiality as freedom from any conflict of interest, or vested interest, that would alter the outcome of our research or introduce bias in our data. We investigate disinformation, misinformation and hate speech regardless of where it comes from. We are non-partisan, have no affiliation to political campaigns and are subject to no state control or influence. Our employees represent the company, and so they must be judicious in their use of social media and use common sense. We require our employees to declare any potential conflict of interest in any research they are asked to undertake.

2. Be independent

We observe the following active principles in defending our independence and impartiality:

• We do not accept funding from political parties, or partner with campaigns seeking to influence the outcome of electoral contests.
• We do not work with government agencies, unless the goal of the partnership is to foster more effective public communications on matters of public interest (e.g. public health campaigns).
• We do not work with law enforcement agencies or state intelligence services.
• We do not provide data to public bodies, unless that data is fully accountable through FOI legislation.
• We do not engage with publishers or media organisations who are not accountable to codes of professional conduct or public accountability.

3. Promote diversity

At Kinzen, we seek to reflect the global diversity of internet culture. We work hard to ensure our analysis of harmful content accurately reflects the context in which it spreads. A key criteria for recruitment to our editorial network is a deep understanding of, and sensitivity to, the language, culture, politics and identities which define the nuances of harmful content in place where it matters most.

4. Reduce bias

Data we gather is filtered through two layers of expert review, to reduce the potential for unconscious biases creeping into our detection models. Our Policy team has also developed actionable policies that aid the data review process, and calibration mechanisms for our experts to mitigate for bias. We continue to build relationships with outside groups and researchers in an effort to improve the independent oversight of our work.

5. Set industry standards

We apply the utmost rigour to our research and strive for the highest professional standards. Plagiarism, fabrication and falsification are not tolerated. Staff must obey the law in their work at all times. We do not gather data through deception or unethical behavior. Protecting the mental health of our team is critical. We provide free and confidential counselling services to everyone who works with Kinzen.

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