Fact check a speech or information automatically in real time

An analysis published by BuzzFeed this week revealed that during the last month of the U.S. electoral campaign, erroneous information, disinformation and other fake news reached a larger audience that cross-checked information published by the traditional media. And particularly on Facebook. Barak Obama was deeply concerned by this during his last press conference in the company of Angela Merkel: “An explanation of climate change from a Nobel Prize-winning physicist looks exactly the same on your Facebook page as the denial of climate change by somebody on the Koch brothers’ payroll. If we can’t tell the difference between serious arguments and propaganda, we have a problem.”

A threat to the exercise of democracy…

Full Fact, an English charity, is working to develop Facts, a fully automatic fact-checking app based on open data.

For the moment, the app – which has obtained €50,000 in funding from Google – still requires human intervention and covers only information concerning the United Kingdom. Its use is reserved to journalists, in particular to directly fact check statements made during parliamentary speeches. But the technology should quickly go beyond these barriers and become available to private individuals.

 We like: Live fact-checking that allows clarifying debates that have a major impact and pointing out propaganda or conspiracy theories that influence the most poorly informed in a way that is dangerous for democracy.

 We were inspired by: Implementing a fact-checked label on the social networks and digital publications for information that is given by the media, private individuals… or brands.

#factchecking #opendata