The first two stages of pilot testing of the SocialTruth project, which aims to create a system that classifies, evaluates and certifies the reliability of news and information circulating on the Internet, were successfully completed.
SocialTruth (www.socialtruth.eu) is an interdisciplinary European research and innovation project designed and developed by a consortium of 11 partners, led by the Research University Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (RICCS) of the National Technical University of Athens.
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By analyzing and evaluating news in an automated manner and classifying it based on its credibility, SocialTruth seeks to make the dissemination of information online safer and more trustworthy.
After two years of continuous development and improvement of the system, the first stages of pilot testing were conducted by SocialTruth end users. Specifically, journalists and journalism students, educators and members of consumer institutes, among others, used the system's capabilities in over 700 different tests, which included over 500 cases of online news or articles.
The conclusions from the pilot tests as well as the comments from the end users are already being utilized for the further development and improvement of the system. The development of the system is expected to be completed soon, leading to the final stages of the evaluation next September.
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The test results are very encouraging, and they exceed initial
expectations. Specifically, the SocialTruth system accurately identified approximately
63% of the news and articles. In fact, in the case of tests involving
real news and articles, this percentage approached 90%.
The pilot tests were conducted using Digital Companion, an add-on that can be installed on popular browsers. This add-on was designed to provide a simple, understandable and enjoyable user experience.
SocialTruth uses cutting-edge technologies, such as blockchain, to ensure the accuracy and credibility of results. In the final stages of the pilot, the system will be tested by an even wider range of end users.
SocialTruth is a project funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program. The originality of the project lies in the effort to create an open, democratic and pluralistic ecosystem with easy access to verification services as well as ensuring scalability and building trust, within the framework of a fully decentralized environment.
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The SocialTruth consortium includes 11 partners from 6 European countries: three widely recognized research organizations (EPISEY – Research University Institute of Communications and Computer Systems from Greece, UTP – University of Science and Technology from Poland and LSBU – London South Bank University), three major technology solution providers from France (Thales, Expert AI and Qwant), two experienced business consulting organizations from Italy (Tecoms and Zanasi & Partners), two news and media organizations from Italy (Adnkronos and De Agostini Scuola) as well as an active consumer organization from Romania (InfoCons).
