At-risk institutions
Public-sector regulators, oversight bodies, and statutory authorities currently exhibiting patterns consistent with coordinated institutional targeting — synchronised activity across discourse, press, and political channels that combines delegitimising framing of an institution’s mandate with infrastructural amplification by aligned actors. The detector is politically agnostic; it surfaces behavioural patterns, not ideology, and would respond identically to an equivalently-coordinated network from any direction of the political spectrum.
The four-stage detection model is informed by published research on democratic erosion through institutional capture (Levitsky & Ziblatt, 2018); asymmetrically polarised media ecosystems and how grievance content propagates between partisan outlets and mainstream press (Benkler, Faris & Roberts, 2018); the “oxygen of amplification” — the role of mainstream repetition in laundering fringe narratives (Phillips, 2018); and Aotearoa-specific disinformation ecologies documenting regulatory and oversight bodies as norm-setting targets (Hannah, Hattotuwa & Taylor, 2022). See the methodology page for the four-stage model, scoring formula, and admit-gate process.
| Institution | Risk score | Stages reached | Admit note |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Broadcasting Standards Authority
latest pass 2026-06-06
|
1.6
1.00× speed
|
1
2
3
4
1/4 stages
|
All four stages of the detection model fired for Broadcasting Standards Authority in this window: volume, framing, amplification, and mainstreaming. Risk score 22.0 with a 3.0× cadence multiplier. Volume: 62 items in the last 7 days, against a 3.8 prior-4-week-mean baseline (16.5x ratio). Framing: 62 of 77 framed items (81%) used the delegitimising register rather than substantive criticism. Recurring phrases include "abolition of broadcasting standards authority", "broadcasting act reform", and "broadcasting standard authority removal". Amplification: 7 coordinator orgs were active on these topics in the last 14 days. Mainstreaming: 15 mainstream press articles carrying the delegitimising frame in the last 14 days. The stages fired in tight cadence — the speed multiplier is at the upper end of the scale. See methodology for the four-stage model, scoring formula, and the underlying research. |
|
Waitangi Tribunal
latest pass 2026-06-06
|
1.4
1.00× speed
|
1
2
3
4
1/4 stages
|
3 of the four stages of the detection model fired for Waitangi Tribunal in this window: volume, framing, and amplification. Risk score 10.8. Volume: 6 items in the last 7 days, against a 1.5 prior-4-week-mean baseline (4.0x ratio). Framing: 7 of 12 framed items (58%) used the delegitimising register rather than substantive criticism. Recurring phrases include "attack on waitangi tribunal", "legislative override of waitangi tribunal", and "waitangi tribunal action". Amplification: 2 coordinator orgs were active on these topics in the last 14 days. The stages fired in tight cadence — the speed multiplier is at the upper end of the scale. See methodology for the four-stage model, scoring formula, and the underlying research. |