Tools & Sites
What actually helps. Partial defences against a system built with far more resources than any individual can counter — plus tools for understanding the mechanism.
How to read this page. Tap any underlined word to see the precise term and a short definition. Expand the "Deeper" box for the evidence and contested points. The main list works on its own.
Understand first
Bad News game — getbadnews.com
A 10-minute browser game where you play the role of a fake news creator, learning six documented manipulation techniques from the inside. Developed by DROG and Cambridge University researchers. The inoculation effect is real: research shows playing it produces durable resistance to the techniques it teaches. Start here.
Inoculation (prebunking)
Building resistance to manipulation by exposing you to a weakened dose of the technique before you meet it for real — a psychological vaccine. Research led by Cambridge's Sander van der Linden shows that learning to spot the tactics (manufactured outrage, false dilemmas, scapegoating) transfers across topics, where debunking individual false claims afterwards often does not.
Sources
- Bad News — inoculation game, Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab / DROG.
EFF Cover Your Tracks — coveryourtracks.eff.org
Shows you exactly what your browser reveals to trackers — including device fingerprint uniqueness, cookies, and tracking capabilities. Not an action tool but a demonstration tool: understanding what is visible is the first step.
Reduce tracking
uBlock Origin
The most effective ad and tracker blocker available. A browser extension. Free, open-source, maintained by volunteers. Works on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari. Does not defeat RTB entirely — the auction happens at the server level regardless — but significantly reduces the data available to build your profile from browser-side tracking.
Firefox with Enhanced Tracking Protection
Mozilla's browser with tracking protection enabled by default. Not as comprehensive as uBlock Origin alone, but a reasonable default for users who want less configuration. Non-commercial, non-profit organisation.
Wikipedia — wikipedia.org
Not a primary source. Subject to errors and manipulation. Better than almost any advertising-funded alternative because its failure modes are visible and documented. The correction mechanism works publicly — every edit is recorded, every dispute is on the Talk page, every contested claim is flagged. Use Wikipedia's reference lists: the citations at the bottom of well-maintained articles represent years of editorial work identifying primary sources. Start there, not with the article text. Free, non-commercial, non-profit.
Alternative search
DuckDuckGo — duckduckgo.com
No behavioural tracking. No personalisation based on your history. Results are not identical to Google's but are adequate for most searches. Free.
Kagi — kagi.com
User-supported, no advertising model. The incentive structure differs: Kagi profits when users find it useful, not when they click ads. Paid subscription (from $5/month).
News
Reuters, BBC News, AP
Wire services and public broadcasters whose incentive structure differs from algorithmically-curated feeds. Not perfect — ownership and institutional pressures apply to all — but the correction mechanisms are more visible. Go to source directly rather than through search or social media.
Cochrane Reviews — cochrane.org
For health information specifically: Cochrane produces systematic reviews of medical evidence. Rigorous, peer-reviewed, regularly updated. Significantly more reliable than general search for medical questions.
Deeper — why every tool here is a partial defence, not a fix
Notice what these tools can and cannot do. Browser tools (uBlock Origin, Firefox protection) cut browser-side tracking — cookies, scripts, fingerprinting attempts in the page. They do not stop real-time bidding, because the auction that broadcasts a profile to bidders happens server-side, between companies, regardless of what your browser blocks. Privacy search engines stop one company building a profile from your queries; they don't change the wider ad market. The inoculation tools change you — your resistance to manipulation — not the system.
This is deliberate framing, not defeatism. Individual tools meaningfully reduce your exposure and are worth using. But the design of the system means no combination of personal settings defeats it; that is precisely why the site treats structural regulation, not individual configuration, as the complete answer. Use the tools and support the structural change.