The War On Fake News

CekFakta is a collaborative network that fights misinformation with around 6,000 fact-checkers from major Indonesian media organizations, citizens, and academics. The group holds training sessions to help journalists identify doctored images and misinformation, with the idea that participants will pass the skills on to their colleagues. CekFakta impacted 2019 presidential debates with large-scale, real-time, collaborative fact-checking that enabled a quick release of fact-checked information. The collaborative process is key to helping people find high-quality information amid so much online content.

The freewheeling discussion platform Reddit has spawned many conspiracy theories, but it also plays host to anti-disinformation activists. By striking back at those who spread propaganda and potentially harmful disinformation, forums such as r/Disinfo, rDisinformationWatch, and r/trollfare share news and research debunking conspiracy theories and unmasking disinformation campaigns. The audience for false information remains much larger, and the truth squad has not slain the propaganda dragon singlehandedly. But the anonymous, volunteer moderators see value in educating people searching for trustworthy news.

Accredited social health activists (ASHA) across India fight COVID-19 related misinformation on WhatsApp. ASHAs provide basic health care to people in their villages, which puts them on the frontline of treating COVID-19 patients and educating people to dispel the many myths about the virus and its treatments. ASHAs' local interactions often identify prevailing myths, which they quickly dispel in their face-to-face exchanges and by posting in the many local WhatsApp groups that have been created. The local groups have been an effective mode of educating people and helped ASHAs gain villagers’ trust.

11Alive, a Georgia news station, runs a program called "Verify" that helps residents get accurate information and slow the spread of disinformation. Viewers submit a form online or via an app to request any piece of information be debunked or verified. If deemed a verifiable request, a 13-member team of reporters, editors, and producers investigate it by reaching out to experts and other sources. Since disinformation spreads quickly, “Verify” uses Google Analytics and search engine optimization (SEO) to get the most exposure and gain traction when a verification article is posted.

Verificovid was started by a group of friends to combat pandemic-related misinformation in Mexico. They work with a group of government doctors to identify, track, investigate, and disprove misinformation. The group posts infographics with updated COVID-19 statistics on social media – mainly Whatsapp and Telegram – and offers medical tips via short audio messages and texts. They prioritize fast-moving misinformation that could cause the most harm and, along with sharing the truth, they investigate the origin of the misinformation and teach the public how to identify and stop fake news.

The NewsRun is “a daily newsletter that summarizes Pakistan’s major stories of the day." It’s helping Pakistani people stay on top of the news. Some Pakistani people who live in the country get overwhelmed with the daily news cycle, while Pakistani’s living abroad might have a language barrier or lack the context to understand the news. The clear, direct language of the newsletter makes the news accessible. "The way it’s written is clear and it highlights all the key points I need to know." The newsletter has thousands of Instagram followers and a “20 to 30 percent daily open rate.”

Americans often want to connect to a cause beyond writing a check. Crowdsourcing is creating new forms of philanthropy globally, giving donors more choice and a stronger connection to the projects they fund.

To combat the spread of mis- and disinformation online, Singapore passed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, which allows the government to order that corrections be added to posts containing false information or even block access to certain content. So far, 152 orders have been issued under the act, with most of the flagged content relating to public health, public order, or trust in government functions.

To combat election-related mis- and disinformation, a Google initiative called Jigsaw launched campaigns in Indonesia and Eastern Europe with videos “inoculating” viewers against false information by explaining common manipulation techniques that could be used to mislead them. Surveys showed that people who viewed the videos were up to 5 percent more likely to correctly identify attempts at manipulation.

Ahead of Nigeria’s general election, a group of 12 media platforms and civil society organizations worked together as the Nigeria Factcheckers Coalition to debunk false information targeting voters. The coalition, which provided training and tools to participating journalists, fact-checked 127 during the week of the elections.