Nigerian media organizations are finally making attempts to address the damning issue of fake news Nigeria.
16 Nigerian news organisations have joined forces to launch CrossCheck Nigeria, a new platform for verifying news on the internet.
A viral post published by a spoof account of the Al Jazeera news organisation has claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Africa is a cemetery for Africans. But there is no evidence for this claim|@AlJazeera_World @MBuhari @NGRPresident https://t.co/6cvzBQC9C2 pic.twitter.com/VByqmtgfTU
— CrossCheckNigeria (@crosscheckNG) November 29, 2018
With the Nigerian general elections holding less than 14 weeks from now, fake news is expected to significantly flood the Nigerian internet.
The new CrossCheck Nigeria collaborative space aims to block this from happening. The platforms works to identify misinformation and exaggerations that present false information to users across multiple platforms.
The platform brings journalists from around 16 organisations to collaborate on verifying the authenticity of news stories and other information floating across the Internet.
.@crosscheckNG builds on learnings from @Comprova in Brazil & @crosscheck in France, applying the same standards and processes that require participating newsrooms to review and agree each others’ work in order to publish a report. https://t.co/XR4U5B3bkN
— First Draft (@firstdraftnews) November 28, 2018
Some of Nigeria’s biggest news platforms have already signed up to join the CrossCheck Nigeria platform. They include: Punch, The Sun, Africa Check, The Nation, Guardian Newspapers, Premium Times, Sahara Reporters, Daily Trust, Channels News, Nigerian Tribune, News Agency of Nigeria, the Cable, among many others. Upcoming Nigerian news platforms will be next in line.
How Will CrossCheck Nigeria Work?
Now this is the most important part. Here’s how the platform works.
CrossCheck uses a host of technology to analyse trends and keywords on issues gaining plenty of attention on the internet. The platform lists CrowdTangle and Tweetdeck as two trend and social media watchers it’s using to identify what information users pay attention to.
Joe Igbokwe, the All Progressives Congress (APC) publicity secretary, shared three photos on November 26 claiming that they depict a Nigerian military offensive against Boko Haram. The photos are out of context|@APC @HQNigerianArmy #CrossCheckNigeria https://t.co/iQarhEa3nn pic.twitter.com/y8MYb5PVZJ
— CrossCheckNigeria (@crosscheckNG) November 29, 2018
Even more interesting, the CrossCheck Nigeria platform is designed to monitor political keywords and how they are used online. Whether its a candidate, a political party, or social issues, the platform uses “independent non-biased methodology” to check their accuracy to ensure readers and other users are not being fed exaggerated stories or outright lies.
Users themselves can also report stories they want verified. The website allows users do this by logging in. Additionally, users can also report stories using social media and by contacting CrossCheck Nigeria’s dedicated Whatsapp number.
The platform will collaboratively investigate every newly discovered trend or story from any source. But stories and information will only be certified as genuine if they are verified by at least four participating news outlets.
Once the story is verified, the platform publishes an article providing further context about the information.
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