Check Mark and Counter Fake News with the help of users and certifiers
PREMISE
Any awareness raising activity regarding the possible penetration and diffusion of bad information is absolutely necessary. Although it is not possible to limit the freedom of speech nor to "prevent stupid people from being surprised", the research and reporting activity through online digital applications and artificial intelligence (AI) architectures placed in "listening" to information, must and can help hinder the spread of fake news.THE PROBLEM THAT SOLVES
With this project, we want to offer our contribution in order to mitigate the spread of false news, stem the spread and intervene on the most critical aspects by proposing solutions suitable for: - Carry out the centralized collection of URLs of news, data and information also of a local nature. - Filter fake news by category. - Set up an intelligent digital environment equipped with self-learning technologies, on which to make available to authorities and citizens reliable sources of information and fake news alerts regarding Covid-19.THE SOLUTION
DATABASE PREPOPULATION
System to retrieve true information from the remote source through RSS and XML feeds taken from authoritative publications that publish information divided by category online.STORAGE
Cataloging and storing on the database of links from remote sources on the web service database by dividing them by category:- COVID-19
- Italy
- From the world
- Local news
- Business
- Science and Technology
- Entertainment
- Sports
- Health
CONTROL
Control system via API that compares the searched link with the link previously stored on our database. The URLs being researched will remain stored on the DB and will have to go through a certification process before they are deemed reliable or not. We have two levels of users:- simple navigators
- browsers authenticated with Chrome (OAUTH)
CERTIFICATION
Depending on the number of searches for the same news item / URL, an accredited superior authority will verify its reliability and confirm its archiving within our database as certified news.The higher authority will also have a backend page through which it can add new links and certify them. Even the higher authority will be able to define validated automatic limits which a user will automatically become "certifier" or can perform this operation manually.
PUBLICATION
Public consultation environment consisting of a web page on the "press review" model showing a list of news items (linkable news title + summary) with a "traffic light" icon next to it indicating whether the news is verified and the degree of certified authority.
ADMINISTRATION SITE
Web environment for user administration Site URL: https://t2spekno.northeurope.cloudapp.azure.com
WEB SERVICE BACKEND
Web API with exposed methods to provide access to all links (URL) stored on the database and return the relative truth score (rating) and certification (state) of the news.- Links
- Raties
USER AUTHENTICATION
POST method
EXAMPLES OF ANSWERS
User authenticated through:- Google Token
- Google Mail
GOOGLE SEARCH
Results by Google Search | Keyword: “ covid 19 death ”
Example of response obtained from the web service by passing some URLs (with GET method)
Resul by Google Search | Keyword: “ covid 19 death ”
VERIFICATION OF NEWS
GET method
INTEGRATION
PLUGIN FOR CHROME BROWSER
The plugin (extension) for the Chrome browser makes the traffic light icon with different statuses (red, yellow, green, unverified) visible alongside each link of the Google search results:
Users have the opportunity to provide their opinion regarding the authenticity of the news by indicating their preference through the rating icons:
Optional available
Report as true
Report as false
When the news becomes certified it is no longer possible for users to make their own contribution.
TOOLS TECHNOLOGY & LANGUAGES
- SQL Server
- .NET
- C#
- JQuery
- Entity Framework
- Web API
- JavaScript
- HTML
- CSS
- Microsoft Azure
IMPACT ON CRISIS
This hackathon taught us that the team is immense and without borders: that there should be no limits and that collaboration has no political barriers. The different regions of origin of the challengers and different languages only represent opportunities for personal and professional growth and will never be an obstacle.This fabric of relationships has never tightened its links more than ever. United for a common goal, it makes us live the real belonging to the whole even better.
The software applications that thanks to EUvsVirus we have been able to develop, if completed and widely adopted, will certainly have a strong impact on society, helping quickly to counter and mitigate the spread of bad information which, unlike the "innocent gossip", is harmful to the health of the community.
Being able to promptly report fake news, involve readers / users in easily identifying and reporting dangerous news, allows us to adopt advanced artificial intelligence solutions equipped with self-learning which, thanks to the human intervention led by AI, will lead to a significant result.
VALUE OF SOLUTION AFTER CRISIS
The Truth-Teller - T2 project that we present, has for its basic structure, all the necessary characteristics to be exploited not only now in this bad emergency period, but will take on further cohesion and reputation if adopted every day on each device, declining it in every area social and disciplinary.
It must be perceived as a shield, personal protection, the "daily filter" to guarantee itself through its web integrations, impartiality and honesty of information: a solid deterrent to fake news and an integral part of every device connected to the internet.
T2 PROJECT WILL BE CONTINUED . . .
Although it is (still) incomplete and needs further additions, our project has the ambition to satisfy immediately two simple questions:
The proposed T2 solution will be completed in the near future by implementing these features:
- NOW provide your contribution to the fight against the virus through techniques and technological solutions that are an obstacle to the propagation of bad (sometimes lethal) sources of information.
- ALWAYS provide a solid deterrent to fake news by integrating T2 into every device connected to the internet.
Business plan
Ours is an economic and social project because it is mainly based on the user's reputation. Some people will have to work as certifiers at first, so that users can gain a better reputation for their ratings.The proposed T2 solution will be completed in the near future by implementing these features:
1. Administrative backend for user management and certification and for adding secure RSS feeds.
2. Blockchain to acquire ratings from users.
3. Integration with Facebook.
4. Integration with Twitter.
5. Integration with YouTube.
6. Creating plugins for Firefox, Edge and Safari browsers (currently only Google users can publish).
7. Mobile browser development.
8. Integrated Alert and Monitoring system for administrators.
9. BOT protection to allow to value the vote of unauthenticated users.
10. Activate rewards and rewards with Gamification tools.
11. Set up a forum with discussion topics.
12. Artificial intelligence algorithm (AI) server site for the daily cataloging of news that independently provides a degree of reliability of the news to facilitate the certifier.
13. Processing of the votes received, and the approval percentages expressed by users to provide a numerical indicator of preferences.
14. Restrict the user so that he can express only one preference for each news item.
Prototype
The current stage of our prototype is:
- API REST: working (estimated 98% done, some adjustment needed to Entity Framework classes and we have to reenable Google Oauth when we will finish Chrome Plugin)
- CHROME PLUGIN: not fully working (estimated 80% done, must send information to API and must be packaged, at the moment you have to install as a developer in Google Chrome)
- SERVER SIDE: working (100 % done)
Resources
A beautiful community experience, thanks!