Disinformation-fighting group Tohatoha disbands after losing funding

Tohatoha chief executive Mandy Henk.

Tohatoha, a group that countered misinformation on the internet, has disbanded after losing support from its main financial backer, InternetNZ, and finding no alternative avenue for funding.

After a public spat, the two groups agreed in April last year that Tohatoha would seek an alternative source of “sustainable” funding.

But the political landscape has shifted since, with a change in Government focus, as well as cost-cutting, seeing groups like KiwiSaaS and OMGTech pull the plug on operations after losing funding. Tohatoha has now added its name to the departure list.

Last year, the group’s fight to maintain funding from InternetNZ spilled over into a public war of works on Twitter (now X).

Tohatoha said it had received its core funding from InternetNZ for the past eight years - but with its FY2024 funding in doubt, it might have to wind up operations on April 1.

In the end, the flames were dowsed in March 2023 as it was announced Tohatoha would be “additional funding” of $75,000 (taking its FY2023 total to $185,000).

The two organisations said in a joint statement the extra money was “to ensure Tohatoha can continue to operate while it looks to secure sustainable long-term funding”.

But none eventuated, and InternetNZ declined to fill the gap.

“With the current Government, we didn’t see a path to getting Government funding once InternetNZ stopped our partnership agreement, so we have shut down,” Tohatoha chief executive officer Mandy Henk said.

Her group had launched a campaign to counter climate disinformation online in May.

“The whole range of work on disinformation and community-building for a healthier internet has suffered a significant loss of funding this year,” Henk said.

She noted InternetNZ had cancelled this year’s instalment of its annual NetHui conference, while the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet had cancelled the He Whenua Taurikura, which has been previously staged each year since the Christchurch mosque shootings to discuss terrorism, including extremist content online (the DPMC cited security concerns for the decision not to stage the event).

“Partnership funding was provided to support Tohatoha while they sourced sustainable funding streams over a number of years. We have a limited amount of funding to distribute each year,” an InternetNZ spokesman said.

This year’s grants had gone to others.

InternetNZ back in the black

InternetNZ is the non-profit that administers the .nz domain, which underpins the local internet.

Its income comes primarily from wholesaling domains (local website and email addresses) to the likes of internet service providers and other retailers, which on-sell them to the public, organisations and businesses.

Its funds go toward administration, education and policy work, as well as offering grants to various non-profit advocacy, community and research groups, including SeniorNet. It also has “funded partnerships” with a number of organisations.

InternetNZ also includes the Domain Name Commission (DNC), which referees disputes over website addresses.

New-broom CEO Vivian Maidaborn has ruffled feathers with an ongoing review of InternetNZ funding, but also stabilised the non-profits finances.

Its most recent annual return for the year to March 31, 2023 says it had revenue of $14.0m, with expenses of $13.4m and a surplus of $574,000 - an improvement over a break-even 2022 after deficits of $620,000 and 830,000 in 2021 and 2020.

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.