[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] GDI was founded in 2018[15] by Clare Melford, Alexandra Mousavizadeh and Daniel Rogers,[16][17] and has received funding through a combination of charitable trusts, governmental organizations, and ad tech licensees of its dynamic exclusion list.
Contributors include the Knight Foundation,[18][15][19] Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO),[20] and Luminate Group.
[24] GDI's alleged bias was first reported by the Washington Examiner, a U.S. conservative website, which released an investigative series in February 2023 that said GDI was "part of a stealth operation blacklisting and trying to defund conservative media, likely costing the news companies large sums in advertising dollars".
[34] After the series of stories, Microsoft's Xandr cut ties with GDI and exited the political advertising space.
[41] Following UnHerd's article, UK Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch joined around 10 MPs in raising concerns about GDI and their approach to distinguishing between free speech and disinformation.