Global MSM does some good work to collaborate on exposing a company specialising in “digging up the dirt” on 3,000 organisations and 500 people - including the profiling of RFK jr!!!

Partially funded (until 2019?) with $400,000 from USAID and also employed by Chinese Paraquat maker

From here: (h/t Sherman)

US-funded ‘social network’ attacking pesticide critics shuts down after Guardian investigation | Farming | The Guardian

“A US company that was secretly profiling hundreds of food and environmental health advocates in a private web portal has said it has halted the operations in the face of widespread backlash, after its actions were revealed by the Guardian and other reporting partners.

The St Louis, Missouri-based company, v-Fluence, said it is shuttering the service, which it called a “stakeholder wiki”, that featured personal details about more than 500 environmental advocates, scientists, politicians and others seen as opponents of pesticides and genetically modified (GM) crops.”

“Lighthouse collaborated with the Guardian, the New Lede, Le Monde, Africa Uncensored, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and other international media partners on the September 2024 publication of the investigation.”

Here is the Lighthouse reporting:

Poison PR - Lighthouse Reports

Which has this:

“Our investigation reveals that the US government funded v-Fluence as part of its program to promote GMOs in Africa and Asia. Between roughly 2013 and 2019, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) channelled over $400,000 to v-Fluence for services including “enhanced monitoring” of critics of “modern agriculture approaches” – and to build Bonus Eventus.”

Th piece references these collaborators in the investigation:

“… the Guardian US, Africa Uncensored, Le Monde, the New Lede, The New Humanitarian, ABC News Australia, and the Wire…”

“A mix of money-trails analysis and public spending record searches surfaced contracts by USAID, granted to v-Fluence, to construct a “private social network”. By looking through court records, we found a recent case accusing the firm of working with Syngenta to hide the risks of Paraquat.”

And here is a rebuttal:

v-Fluence response to Lighthouse NGO and collaborators’ claims – v-Fluence

“For more than a year now the Foundation Lighthouse Reports NGO, operating with the financial support of an AgroEcology Fund donor the Oak Foundation has been conducting an “investigation” into my work. The donor group sponsoring you is simultaneously funding similar “investigative” NGOs and activist groups seeking to block modern agriculture and harm the reputations of those who do not support their ideology – these campaigns have included the criminal destruction of public research and field trials, spurious lawsuit claims, and other advocacy attacking the credibility and motives of those working on food system solutions to sustainably meet the world’s needs.”

More from the Lighthouse:

“The US-based PR firm, v-Fluence, built profiles on hundreds of scientists, campaigners and writers, whilst coordinating with government officials, to counter global resistance to pesticides. These profiles are published on a private social network, which grants privileged entry to 1,000 people. The network’s membership roster is a who’s-who of the agrochemical industry and its friends, featuring executives from some of the world’s largest pesticide companies alongside government officials from multiple countries.”

“These members can access profiles on more than 3,000 organisations and 500 people who have been critical of pesticides or Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). They come from all over the world and include scientists, UN human right experts, environmentalists, and journalists. Many of the profiles divulge personal details about the subjects, such as their home addresses and telephone numbers, and spotlight criticisms that disparage their work. Lawyers have told us this goes against data privacy laws in several countries.”

Back to the Guardian article:

“News of the profiling and the private web portal sparked outrage and threats of litigation by some of the people and organizations profiled.”

“v-Fluence says it not only has eliminated the profiling, but also has made “significant staff cuts” after the public exposure, according to Jay Byrne, the former Monsanto public relations executive who founded and heads the company. Byrne blamed the company’s struggles on “rising costs from continued litigator and activist harassment of our staff, partners, and clients with threats and misrepresentations”.

A quick note on Syngenta, the maker of Paraquat, from Brave AI:

“Syngenta is part of the Syngenta Group, which is a Chinese company owned by Sinochem, a Chinese state-owned enterprise. Syngenta itself was founded in 2000 by the merger of the agrichemical businesses of Novartis and AstraZeneca, and was acquired by ChemChina, another Chinese state-owned enterprise,

in 2017. Despite being Chinese-owned, Syngenta maintains its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, and operates globally.”

Onwards!!!