Civic Tech Field Guide
Sharing knowledge and productively growing the fieldThe Tech > Media > Fight disinformation - (418)
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 418 Results
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.
PolitiTruth is a non-profit game of distinguishing political fact from fiction.
Polygraph.info is a fact-checking website produced by Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
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.
Pegabot
ITS Rio - Rua da Assembléia - Centro, Rio de Janeiro - State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazila tool that brings more transparency to the use of bots in Brazil.
Observatorio Venezolano de Fake News
Bolivarian Republic of VenezuelaThe 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.
Permanent International Media Monitoring Mission on Disinformation about Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora
Ukraine (Ukrayina)NGO "Ukraine-2050" is a working to counter disinformation through a media monitoring program.
Open & Disclose
South Africa (South Africa, Afrika-Borwa, Suid-Afrika)Open & Disclose aims to provide a platform for media organisations, journalists, columnists, and commentators to make public their interests, with the aim of strengthening institutional credibility, accountability, transparency, and trustworthiness.
OwlFactor automatically calculates the quality of an article based on four factors
The Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace of 12 November 2018 is a call to come together to face the new threats endangering citizens and infrastructure.
In the age of social media, many of us ambiently consume news by reading headlines and descriptions that appear in our news feeds.
Newschecker
India (Bhārat)At Newschecker, it is our aim to limit and crackdown the spread of fake news in society.
"A grant from the Knight Foundation to PBS News Hour, the Newstracker project has tasked itself with "developing a tool that combines online news content with engagement data from social media and other sources to help journalists and others better understand the scale, scope and shape of the misinformation problem." - Counteringdisinformation.org
NewseumED.org offers free resources to cultivate the First Amendment and media literacy skills essential to civic life.
"Sponsored partly by Microsoft, Newsguard is a plugin for browsers such as Chrome, Mozilla, and Microsoft's Edge that validates news websites for users based on 9 journalistic integrity criteria." - Counteringdisinformation.org
Newscheck
India (Bhārat)Strengthening our resolve to support the fight against misinformation in India, Internews is delighted to announce that in partnership with DataLEADS and with the support of Google.org, we will be launching a new news literacy project in India aimed at empowering the general public by helping them learn how to critically assess the information they see online and navigate news.
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.
Mozilla Web Literacy Framework
Mountain View, CA, USAIn today’s digital world, knowing how to read, write, and participate online is a foundational skill next to reading, writing, and arithmetic.
"The News Literacy Project is a national education nonprofit offering nonpartisan, independent programs that teach students how to know what to believe in the digital age." - Counteringdisinformation.org
Helping the Public Navigate a Challenging Media Landscape
Namibia Fact Check
NamibiaNamibia Fact Check is an impartial initiative that aims to verify public statements and media reports.
NATO Stratcom Communications Centre of Excellence
Riga, LatviaNATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence
Nepal’s Election Commission published their electoral code of conduct in 2015, which established standards and regulations for various institutions, persons, bodies and authorities.
Name It. Change It releases research projects and studies demonstrating gender-based challenges women face from the media when they run for office.
A Field Guide to “Fake News” and Other Information Disorders explores the use of digital methods to study false viral news, political memes, trolling practices and their social life online.
Media Matters for Pakistan
PakistanMedia Matters for Pakistan is a web based initiative, designed to act as an informal watchdog over the mainstream media in Pakistan.
EDx course on media literacy. It helps us understand, analyze and create media.
Malign Creativity: How Gender, Sex, and Lies Are Weaponized Against Women Online
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, DC 20004-3027Report 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
Linterna Verde
BogotáLinterna Verde do Research on the online public debate based on areas of interest. They seek to make our work accessible, useful and actionable for civil society, the media and government.
Liga Contra el Silencio
ColombiaWe define ourselves as an alliance that involves the media, a central newsroom and a network of freelance collaborators.
Lead Stories is an innovative fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015.
Never before has the need for News Literacy been more urgent.
IREX’s Learn to Discern approach builds resilience to manipulative information by empowering those who engage with media and information to navigate it in a safe, critical, responsible, healthy, and empathy-driven way.
Easily see if a news site offers credible news or should not be trusted and is un-credible/dodgy.
Latam Chequea
Latin AmericaFaced with the “infodemic”, the spread of rumors and false content, Latin American checkers join forces to share the information we produce and, by joining forces, provide better information to our communities.
ITS Rio Curricula on Information Issues
ITS Rio - Rua da Assembléia - Centro, Rio de Janeiro - State of Rio de Janeiro, BrazilCourse at Instituto de Tecnologia e Sociedade do Rio
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.
Knowledge and Rights with Young people through Safer Spaces (KRYSS) - deploys a coordinated network of individuals to amplify positive counter-messages on social media to counter online gender-based violence and disinformation.
The International Partnership on Information and Democracy is an intergovernmental non-binding agreement endorsed by 38 countries around the world to promote and implement democratic principles in the global information and communication space
Information Resistance
Ukraine (Ukrayina)Information 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
Ukraine (Ukrayina)InformNapalm 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.
Initiative for Media Freedom
Philippines (the)The Initiative for Media Freedom (IMF) is a five-year program implemented by Internews and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
INFO/tegrity Initative
455 Massachusetts Ave, NW, 8th Floor, Washington, DC 20001Provides 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.
Get email updates
Helpful Links
Reach Out
A project of
With support from
National Endowment for Democracy
Founding Organization
Civic Hall
Technology partner
Civic Tech Field Guide