About UsBuilding Trust | Mitigating Risks | Developing Meta-Cognition MetaFact is building a self-sustainable, user-friendly ecosystem to fight fake news, propaganda, and misinformation through the use of Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing (NLP) powered metadata, and a conversation based information distribution platform. We aim to build social media awareness across communities and help educate the next generation of professionals through the use of digital media literacy programs with a strong focus on the developing world.MetaFactMTFCT_6990bdca-30ac-11ea-b695-ecad1283ea00WE’RE A BLEND OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & JOURNALISM -- We are a team of seven at the moment, three from a journalism background and three with tech expertise, balanced by one researcher.SagarSagar, the CEO, comes from a wealth of experience in validation, content generation, and news editorial.Fact CheckersSoumadip and Pradarshi are our investigators and fact checkers, and have a background in journalism. They are responsible for most of our published fact-checks, and also handle our social media. SoumadipPradarshiSamirSamir, who has the dual role of chief editor and researcher, has over nine years of experience in research and editorial.MetaFact TechiesThen we have Praveen, who is a computer engineer with an eye for product development, Prateek, whose tech expertise is full stack development and NLP, and Minho from Seoul, who is the expert in machine learning. The three of them together comprise the tech side of MetaFact.PraveenPrateekMinhoDeveloping WorldMedia Professionals_6990bf00-30ac-11ea-b695-ecad1283ea00To fight fake news, propaganda, and misinformation._6990bf96-30ac-11ea-b695-ecad1283ea00JournalismFrom the very beginning, our idea was to strike an effective balance between journalism and technology, and by integrating people with significant domain knowledge in both fields, mediated with research and editorial experience, we were able to visualise the challenges and problems we face in a much more constructive manner.TechnologyBalanceExperienceOur skills -- METAFACT BOT 100% | MEDIA LITERACY PROGRAM 80% | METAFACT TOOL 30%VisualisationInsightWith this balance, we get input from everyone's personal experience working in newsrooms and editorial to provide insight into how we can function in that domain and what shortcomings we need to overcome there. These problems would in turn be discussed with the tech team, who would present their solutions.FeasabilityThen we would brainstorm until we found the best working solution that did not compromise on newsroom requirements while simultaneously keeping the tech constraints (if any) in mind and the feasibility of making our solutions work.Metafact AppBring people out of their information bubbles._6990c022-30ac-11ea-b695-ecad1283ea001The MetaFact app is an integral part of our media literacy and Metafixer strategy. The purposeful personalisation algorithm that is part of the app works towards bringing people out of their information bubbles by understanding their reading habits and providing them with suggestions to take different points of view into consideration when developing an informed opinion. The app will also be trained to have a conversation with the user to answer simple questions, like a normal internet search, but with more specific results. Going forward, our app and AI tool will be aligned so that if a user receives any sort of rumour based or questionable message on dark social platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram etc, they can forward it to our app, and if the said rumour/claim has already been fact checked, it will display that result in the context of the specific entities mentioned in the message. If that particular rumour has not been checked, our in-house investigators will check the story with our tool, and then send the results back to the user. As we are a social enterprise (under SDG 16 of the UN), we have decided to provide these services free of cost.Reading HabitsUnderstand reading habits._6990c0ae-30ac-11ea-b695-ecad1283ea001.1Points of ViewProvide readers with suggestions to take different points of view into consideration._6990c144-30ac-11ea-b695-ecad1283ea001.2MetafixersDevelop a community and educate them about the threats posed and the harm done by disinformation._6990c1da-30ac-11ea-b695-ecad1283ea002WhatsappTelegramCracking dark social (Whatsapp, Telegram etc) is undoubtedly going to be one of the hardest parts of fighting online disinformation. One long term solution is to develop a community and educate them about the threats posed and the harm done by disinformation. At MetaFact, we have started building such a community, which we call Metafixers. We chose fixer as the last part of the name because our members are problem solvers. Close to 90% of the content that our community members send us is from WhatsApp in the form of texts, images, and videos, which we then assign to our in-house fact checkers. We see community formation as a key strategy in the fight against disinformation. By building these communities and keeping them engaged, we develop a bulwark against the flood of false information that dark social propagates. Our current strategies utilize media literacy programs, collaborations, and awareness creation. We plan on developing more ‘meta’ strategies involving communities over time, in order to shut down false information at its source, and not just reacting to it as it disseminates._6990c270-30ac-11ea-b695-ecad1283ea00Media LiteracyProvide students with critical awareness of how to navigate online spaces._6990c306-30ac-11ea-b695-ecad1283ea003StudentsThe idea behind a successful MLP is to provide students with critical awareness of how to navigate online spaces. We in no way seek to curb their access or discourage them from being online, but rather, aim to help them understand, and if necessary question, the domains and hierarchies of the online spaces they inhabit. For generations, literacy has been referred to simply as the ability to read and write. However, in the contemporary digital age, we get most of our information through an interwoven system of media technologies that includes television, radio, the internet, newspapers, magazines, books, billboards, video games, music, and many other forms of media. The ability to read, juxtapose, and comprehend such a variety of media has become an essential skill in the twenty first century. We see media literacy as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and present media in a non-biased manner by understanding the complex messages that are received from a variety of media sources and technological bases, especially with social media becoming a primary source of information for the youth._6990c478-30ac-11ea-b695-ecad1283ea002020-01-06http://metafact.org/about.phpOwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net