The Signals Network

About

The Signals Network (TSN) is a US-based non-profit organization with international operations. Its aim is to advance the public’s interest by encouraging transparency, accountability, reporting and whistleblowing.

To support whistleblowers and hold power to account, The Signals Network is developing an end-to-end approach that includes: empowering workers to stand up to power and speak out about wrongdoing; protecting whistleblowers who contribute to published reports of wrongdoing; supporting collaborative investigative reporting on wrongdoing; and, advocating for lasting change as a result of whistleblower revelations.

The Signals Network actively supports dozens of whistleblowers across 12 countries. These courageous individuals have provided information on the biggest media stories of our time, including Big Tech data violations, government and corporate corruption, #MeToo abuses, political propaganda online, health hazards and more to a range of international media outlets, including The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, BBC, Der Spiegel and The New Yorker. We have coordinated the publication of four major investigations through media in the U.S. and across Europe that reached tens of millions of readers. In 2021, we kicked off our Tech Accountability Project (TAP) to specifically tailor our end-to-end support to tech workers and Big Tech whistleblowers. Our first major project within TAP was development of the 90-page legal section within the Tech Workers Handbook, which has received more than 50,000 views since October 2021. Recently, we provided protections for whistleblowers in Africa as part of a major report in Time magazine on Facebook’s content moderation system based in Kenya.

Ou Mission and Principles

Our mission:

We hold power accountable by empowering people who witness wrongdoing to speak out, protecting people who have shared public interest information with the press, assiting in media investigations of wrongdoing, and advocating for change in policies and whistleblower protections. Through these efforts we aim to make an EPIC impact and help shape a fairer, freer, and more democratic world.

In following our mission and reaching our vision, we will not compromise on our principles/core values:

• We aim to contribute to greater transparency and accountability as a means of public good.
• We recognize the humanity in whistleblowing and the life behind each whistleblower.
• We are an ally to individuals and groups with historically less power; we encourage diverse perspectives.
• We believe in a free press and supports its role in functioning democracies worldwide.
• We do not encourage whistleblowers to knowingly break the law .
• We value our community/network of support, including lawyers, journalists and psychosocial professionals, and recognize we must work collaboratively to reach toward our vision and be true to our mission.
• We abide by our board-approved Code of Conduct and hold our partners to account to be respectful, transparent, accountable and truthful. [A goal by end of 2022]
• We aim for as low an environmental impact as possible. We will be as light and flexible as possible in order to protect our planet.