Civic Tech Field Guide
Sharing knowledge and productively growing the fieldThe Tech > Media > Fight disinformation - (398)
Disinformation campaigns by states, economic opportunists, and the misinformed themselves threaten to erode the common understandings, shared identities, and empirical bedrock that underlies our collective decisionmaking. While disinformation campaigns have used mass media to spread for many years, social media platforms have proven an exceptionally hospitable environment for the proliferation of falsehoods. Those looking to limit disinformation’s effect on society and bolster truth in media have likewise turned to technology to help keep up with the volume and precision of constantly evolving disinformation campaigns.
Suggested reading:
- Matt Stempeck's research into how the Code for All network has advanced its strategies for fighting disinformation in different contexts around the world (2022)
- Digital Disinformation and Vote Suppression, The Brennan Center for Justice (2020)
- Virus Experts Aren’t Getting the Message Out Renée DiResta in The Atlantic (2020)
- Safeguarding Democracy Against Disinformation Report by the German Marshall Fund of the United States (2020)
- Browser Plug-ins That Spot Fake News Show The Difficulty Of Tackling The ‘Information Apocalypse’ Can software that spots Photoshopped images help stem the tide of misinformation? The Verge (2018)
- Can an AI Fact-Checker Solve India’s Fake News Problem? An Indian startup is using an AI tool to curb misinformation. But India poses unique challenges for the technology. Undark (2019)
- Factchecking, a Quartz Daily Obsession media collage (2019)
- Fake news and fact-checking: 7 studies you should know about, a roundup from Journalist’s Resource (2020)
- The children’s storyteller helping Taiwan sort fact from fiction, a helpful deep dive into disinfo-fighting tech (and misappropriation through national ‘fake news laws’) in Asia. Al Jazeera (2020).
- CivicSpace.tech guide to Disinformation, including its relevance to civic space, opportunities, risks, and case studies (2020)
Showing 398 Results
PUSAD
IndonesiaPUSAD is a center for research on religion and democracy, they conduct research on hate speech and political disinformation.
Radar
Brazil (Brasil)Radar is a project which uses a combination of algorithms and manual research to find posts related to three themes over a wide variety of social media platforms in Brazil.
Raskrinkavanje
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина)The Raskrinkavanje.ba platform was launched by the team of the "Why Not" organization, which has many years of experience in fact-checking, through work on checking the accuracy and consistency of statements of public officials, and monitoring the fulfillment of election promises on the Istinomjer platform.
Real 411
South AfricaReal411 was created to give all citizens the power to report digital disinformation during the run up to the 2019 South African National and Provincial Elections.
Pressland is a first-of-its-kind data-intelligence platform that maps global media production in real time.
The Pro-Truth Pledge is a project of Intentional Insights, a volunteer-run educational nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit devoted to promoting science-based truth-seeking, rational thinking, and wise decision-making.
Project Certeza
Mexico City, CDMX, MexicoFirst deployed on Election Day in 2018, Project Certeza’s purpose was to identify and deal with false information disseminated, particularly through social networks but also through any other media, that could produce uncertainty or distrust in the citizenry about the electoral authority’s responsibilities as the election is happening.
The African Fact-Checking Alliance (AFCA) is a network of media and civil society organizations that work to counter misinformation. The network supports fact-checking missions to debunk dangerous content, including conspiracy theories and misinformation.
The Magnifier is the first news agency in Brazil to specialize in journalistic technique known worldwide as fact-checking and was founded on November 1, 2015.
In 2018 we launched Bot Sentinel to help fight disinformation and targeted harassment. We believe Twitter users should be able to engage in healthy online discourse without inauthentic accounts, toxic trolls, foreign countries, and organized groups manipulating the conversation.
Polétika República Dominicana
C. Josefa Perdomo 160 Santo Domingo, Dominican RepublicPolétika República Dominicana is a group of civil society organizations and movements that work in different areas, including: health, housing and habitat, taxation, citizen security, transparency, childhood and adolescence, gender, and municipality.
NGO "Ukraine-2050" is a working to counter disinformation through a media monitoring program.
BotSlayer is an application that helps track and detect potential manipulation of information spreading on Twitter.
Global Network Initative
1325 G Street NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20005GNI helps companies respect freedom of expression and privacy rights when faced with government pressure to hand over user data, remove content, or restrict communications.
The European Union developed a Code of Practice on Disinformation based on the findings of its High Level Working Group on the issue.
The Disinfo Defense League Policy Platform is a series of legislative, executive, and international recommendations addressing disinformation.
The index compiles news sites with low factual-reporting levels, as determined and documented by Media Bias/Fact Check.
Observatorio Venezolano de Fake News
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)The Venezuelan Fake News Observatory aims to educate and empower citizens in the face of a reality that is submerged daily in the misinformation produced, among other reasons, by the almost immediate viralization of falsified information that circulates, mainly, on social networks.
Newschecker
IndiaAt Newschecker, it is our aim to limit and crackdown the spread of fake news in society.
AFRICMIL
Abuja, NigeriaAFRICMIL is non-government organisation that focuses on media, information, research, advocacy and training. It aims to promote media and information literacy as a key component in the enhancement of democracy and good governance and the promotion of accountability and orderly society.
FactsMatterNg
NigeriaThe ICFJ Knight Fellowship programme in Nigeria is working with influencers and media partners to combat misinformation and fake news in the Nigerian digital media space.
Debunk.eu
LithuaniaDEBUNK (demaskuok in Lithuanian) is a unique Lithuania-born initiative uniting competing media outlets, journalists, volunteers for a single purpose – to make society more resilient to orchestrated disinformation campaigns.
Our mission is to ensure that information technology and social media play a proactive role in supporting democracy and human rights globally.
Ecuador Chequea
Quito, EcuadorData enriches public debate and therefore strengthens democracy. An informed society is capable of making conscious decisions.
Netvizz is a data collection and extraction application that allows researchers to export data in standard file formats from different sections of the Facebook social networking service.
Nepal Fact Check
NepalCenter for Media Research – Nepal (CMR Nepal) is an autonomous, research and policy-oriented, not-for-profit non-governmental policy think tank registered with Nepal Government and Social Welfare Council and is based in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.
News Integrity Initiative
CUNY Graduate CenterThe News Integrity Initative is a global consortium focused on helping people make informed judgments about the news they read and share online.
NATO Stratcom Communications Centre of Excellence
Riga, LatviaNATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence
Aggie is an open-source social and online media aggregation tool designed specifically for monitoring events in real time.
Bolivia Verifica
Bolivia (Buliwya / Wuliwya / Volívia)Bolivia Verifica is a non-profit, non-political digital media that is dedicated to the verification of false news and public discourse to fight against disinformation and improve democratic participation.
Ethiopia Check
EthiopiaEthiopia Check debunks claims and exposes fake news using its platforms on Facebook (52,000 followers), Twitter (7,000 followers) and Telegram (34,000 followers).
Social Media Hoax Slayer
Mumbai, Maharashtra, IndiaIn the last few years, the Social Media having a wider reach and faster, started polluting human minds by anti-social elements, wrong doers, pranksters etc.
"The Digital Democracy Charter outlines several guiding principles on countering online disinformation and strengthening our democracies given the new digital age." - Counteringdisinformation.org
Countering Misinformation about Armenia
Armenia (Hayastán)Monitoring of the selected talk shows, newspapers, electronic periodicals of both Russian and Armenian mass media to examine the media coverage, the possible labelling and targeted information conveyed to wide audiences in the result of the activity of Russian and Armenian news and information periodicals, TV talk shows and websites.
AFP Fact Check is a global digital verification service that tackles damaging misinformation on topics such as COVID-19 and elections.
Memo 98 is a specialist media monitoring organization, with extensive experience of delivery media analyses on behalf of international institutions as well as technical assistance to civil society groups.
The Citizen Helpdesks are a pioneering citizen feedback, dialogue and community voice platform to ensure accountability in the development process.
Never before has the need for News Literacy been more urgent.
IREX’s Learn to Discern approach helps citizens recognize and resist disinformation, propaganda, and hate speech.
Report striving to build awareness of the direct and indirect impacts of gendered and sexualized disinformation on women in public life, as well as its corresponding impacts on national security and democratic participation.
Manila Principles on Intermediary Liability
Manila, Metro Manila, PhilippinesThe Manilla Principles on Intermediary Liability define various principles for intermediary companies to follow when operating in democratic and authoritarian environments, including that: Intermediaries should be shielded from liability for third-party content; Content must not be required to be restricted without an order by a judicial authority; Requests for restrictions of content must be clear, be unambiguous, and follow due process; Laws and content restriction orders and practices must comply with the tests of necessity and proportionality
The purpose of this handbook is to increase public communicators' awareness and understanding of information influence campaigns and develop their ability to respond.
Leading up to and following the Kenyan election on August 9 2022, the Sentinel Project is expanding its previous work in the area, from Una Hakika to 15 of Kenya's highest risk counties.
Information Resistance
UkraineInformation Resistance is a non-governmental project whose main task is to counteract in the information field external threats arising for Ukraine in the main areas: military, economic and energy, as well as in information security.
InformNapalm
UkraineInformNapalm is a volunteer initiative emerged as a response to the Russian aggression in Ukraine in March 2014.
The Journalism Trust Initiative aims at a healthier information space.
USAID Media Program in Ukraine
UkraineThe USAID-funded Media Program in Ukraine will empower local media to expand Ukrainian citizens’ access to high-quality news and information.
Provides a framework for NDI's DemTech team to lead and support institutional initiatives countering disinformation and other forms of online manipulation, while strengthening and ensuring the integrity of the information space.
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