Schillings Partners Juliet Young and Hind Habib, together with the firm’s dedicated Junk News Team, have been featured in City AM’s latest investigation into the growing threat posed by disinformation and so-called ‘pink slime’ websites.

Speaking to Life&Style Editor, Steve Dinneen, Juliet explained why Schillings established the Junk News Team, and how it identifies and tracks networks of ‘pink slime operations’ or ‘junk news’ sites. These fake online news outlets, masquerading as independent local news outlets, post AI-generated or outsourced content and are often used as tactics in smear campaigns.

The City AM article highlights the growing scale of the issue, and the ever-increasing number sites: Schillings' own database now numbers more than 350 junk news sites and is growing every week. Between 2023 and 2024, the number of websites logged increased by 355 per cent.

Junk news or disinformation sites can create significant reputational, financial and compliance challenges for individuals and organisations, with Juliet explaining that "the end-game for a lot of these information operations is to create problems with banking and compliance".

Discussing the broader challenges of tackling disinformation, Hind highlighted the complexities of addressing harmful online content and the concerns many victims face when confronting organisations pursuing particular agendas.

Despite the evolving nature of these threats, Juliet stressed the importance of taking a proactive approach to online reputation management. The most effective defence, she noted, is "being proactive about owning the content about you and making sure there's a balanced set of results with accurate information."

Read the full interview in City AM here: Disinformation wars: The digital mafia weaponising online news

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