2023: Group launches Mobile App to check fake news

Ahead of the 2023 general elections, a group, Rise Networks, on Friday in Abuja launched a mobile application Run-Am to help Nigerians check fake news and disinformation before, during and after the elections.

Speaking at a news conference in Abuja, the founder of Rise Network, Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, said the mobile app “is an artificial intelligence enabled election fake news verification tool that is intended to serve all Nigerians irrespective of social class.”

She said, “We want to make sure that the ordinary Nigerian takes ownership of the mobile App. So, we are already working to ensure that Nigerians take ownership of the App. So, we are working to translate the Run- Am App into several Nigerian languages and into Pidgin English; so, there would be a Run Am 2.0.”

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According to her, the Run-Am App has three main features which include news verification, photo verification and voter’s education features.

“The mobile App has a news verification feature that enables you to verify the authenticity of any news story from any part of the country. The second feature of the Run-AM mobile App is the image verification feature. You have seen a lot of pictures on social media where someone says this happens, but when you verify you will discover it actually happened 12 years ago. How do we check this sort of thing because it is misinforming people? It is misinforming the people and also causes pockets of violence.

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“During elections, fake news is used to create voter apathy and you know when people don’t come out to vote, it’s easy to rig elections. They simply go out there and write the results because the turnout is low. Those are the kind of problems as simple or as complex as they are that the Run- Am App was created to solve.

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“The third feature is the voter education feature. You see a lot of people acting in ignorance before, during and after election and we have a responsibility of not just to use technology to drive accountability in term of fact checking information and news around election, we have a responsibility to educate the voters themselves on their rights, their responsibilities and what they should do on election day.”