May 15, 2020//-Polish Press Agency and GovTech Polska have shared an open source code of the #FakeHunter software to fight the disinformation.
After the success of #FakeHunter project, its creators – PAP and GovTech have decided to share the source code with other entities online in order to fight against disinformation.
The software will be provided under open license enabling further distribution as well as copying and development. The aim of both institutions is to minimize the effects of fake news in circulation through verifying and public contradicting.
The #FakeHunter platform has been launched on April the 8th in response to a deluge of false information concerning the Covid-19 pandemic which at that time were posing a risk to human health and security.
The example of such a fake news can be made with all the offers of false treatments or even news denying the existence of the same virus, both posing the people to risk of infection enormously.
#FakeHunter is an innovative tool to fight the disinformation by engaging the Internet community. Users have the possibility to report via/through the application a questionable content and after having been verified by public verifiers and PAP experts they receive a reliable answer. All verdicts are made public in our service dedicated only for it, namely fakehunter.pap.pl
The idea of this project is to engage diverse social groups for joint fight against the growing problem of false news in circulation online. The core of the project group, which created the system, were volunteers. Thanks to them a solution has been introduced which consists of three components: a plug-in to collect the reports, a panel to verify them and a portal with all outcomes.
– The #FakeHunter project has gained the interest of Internet users. Thanks to them we receive reports on a daily basis – information about Corona Virus which rise concerns. All parts of the project has been tested and they are functioning smoothly.
So it is about time to share this application with the others who would like to engage themselves in fight against fake news. That is why we do it under an open license.
The possibility of using, copying, developing and further distribution of this tool in this difficult point of time is a part of concern for health and social security – Mr Wojciech Surmacz, the chairman of PAP, explains.
After a month since the application has been launched out of all reported contents for checking we disclosed 75 false information on the COVID-19 pandemic.
– The problem with spreading of fake news has a global character. Various attempts and initiatives engaging international community throughout the world has been developed in order to find solutions for fighting with the scale of this phenomenon.
The team who recently won the last European “hackathone” EUvsVirus 2020 in the category “Fake News”, also created the concept of a fact checking platform – Mrs Justyna Orłowska, Plenipotentiary of the Prime Minister for GovTech explains.
This shows how big is the demand for launching of tools, which enable to stand against the deluge of false news online. We designed such a solution. We build up smoothly functioning system and we offer it under open license. We would also like to encourage the others to further develop it.
The software for fact checking under open license MIT is available under this link:
https://github.com/govtech-polska
Here you can read more about the functioning of the app as well as you can download the plug-in for reporting: https://fakehunter.pap.pl/.
Polish Press Agency
