Be it propaganda about the Ukraine war or conspiracy myths about COVID-19 – the fact-checking teams of the news agencies dpa, AFP and APA as well as the non-profit independent newsroom CORRECTIV will join forces to combat false claims and disinformation campaigns on the web.
Until now, the fact checks could only be found on the respective websites of the organisations – since February 23, they have been bundled on the new online platform of the German-Austrian Digital Media Observatory (GADMO), making it easier for citizens to obtain comprehensive information. The archive goes back to November 2022, and new fact checks are added daily, which can be filtered by categories such as health, environment, economy and politics, as well as by the respective fact check organisation.
The GADMO team will also offer learning materials to promote media literacy, which will be made available on the website.
“False claims are deliberately spread on the web to influence social debates. But the effects reach far beyond the Internet. That’s why it’s important to join forces to educate people about disinformation, promote media literacy and research how manipulated content spreads and how you can recognize it,” says Christina Elmer, professor of digital and data journalism at the Institute of Journalism at TU Dortmund University and one of the GADMO coordinators. “Our new website makes visible what is being created in the GADMO project day by day – and we are very pleased to now be able to offer the public a central point of contact. We are convinced: in the race against disinformation campaigns, this will definitely give us a few meters ahead.”
The German-Austrian GADMO is the largest association of fact-checking teams and researchers in the German-speaking world: the aim of the project, which was launched on November 1 and is headed by the Institute of Journalism at TU Dortmund University, is the coordinated fight against false claims and disinformation campaigns on the Internet. Under the motto “Facts against Fakes,” the leading fact-checking organizations in the German-speaking world – the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa), the Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Austria Presse Agentur (APA) and the independent research network CORRECTIV – are working together for the first time. They are cooperating closely with researchers from the Institute of Journalism and the Faculty of Statistics at TU Dortmund University and the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology. The researchers identify and analyse disinformation campaigns, develop AI-powered tools to better detect fakes, and check whether digital platforms and social networks are doing enough in the fight against disinformation. Technical partner is the Athens Technology Center.
