Top 12 Rising AI Startups Fighting Fake News and Misinformation

The Omdena “Impact Tech Startups Series” is comprised of game-changing startups, stories, and thought-leadership pieces from leading impact ventures solving real-world problems.

Introduction

Fake news has been somewhat of a menace on the internet. In the last few years, misinformation has infiltrated many facets of our lives. However, with the amount of fake news and outright lies being shared on social media, it’s not hard to see why there’s been such an uproar against this information overload lately.

As a means to clamp down on fake news, tech giants like Alphabet (Google) are taking several measures on their platforms. Google is currently using ad campaigns to diffuse fake news relating to Ukrainian refugees trying to flee their war-ridden nation against the Russian government. Even more, startups are on the front line of the fight against fake news and disinformation, looking for new ways to give users accurate and trusted news.

What is misinformation on social media?

As of August 2022, an estimated 4.59 billion used social media as the main source of news – this becomes problematic when social media platforms are plagued with misinformation. Misinformation is not always just posts made by malicious actors; sometimes, it results from groups purposefully trying to seed incorrect or deceptive information for various reasons. Regardless of the intent, misinforming others can have dangerous consequences and lead startups to fight misinformation on social media. 

What is the difference between misinformation and disinformation? 

What is misinformation? According to Oxford Dictionaries, misinformation can be defined as the act of giving wrong information about something. Disinformation, on the other hand, is much more complex. It is an intentional spread of false information, usually propagated by those in power who want to undermine and control public opinion. Disinformation startups aim to combat this phenomenon through various AI tools.

How can AI detect fake news and disinformation online?

Artificial intelligence can make for a great defense against fake news and disinformation online. It has been demonstrated that machine learning algorithms that analyze content automatically can detect instances of fake or misleading news. While many companies are looking at cutting-edge technology, AI will be one tool in the fight against misinformation. Machine learning algorithms have succeeded in differentiating between factual and false information. Disinformation startups like Factmata also tackle this problem head-on with their software to differentiate fact from fiction.

12 Rising Startups Applying AI to Fight Against Misinformation

In this post, we’ll introduce you to startups across the globe looking to ensure people receive trustworthy information from credible sources so they can make informed decisions about what’s happening in their world.

1. Cyabra

Cyabra is a social search engine that monitors billions of interactions worldwide simultaneously. From this data, Cyabra proactively identifies trends so people can act accordingly before they happen. Through these observations, they can identify what people are talking about and know how it has affected them.

Country: Israel

Founded: 2018

Founders: Dan Brahmy, Ido Shraga, Sendi Frangi, Yossef Daar

Applications or Projects: 

• Cyabra App

Cyabra app is a Social Search Engine working with Government Agencies, Consumer Brands, and Organizations. 

2. Unbiased

Unbiased offers award-winning technologies to fight against the world of biased Artificial Intelligence, fake news, and misinformation. Innovations such as Unbiased Data Marketplace, Search Engine, and Social Gateway have been developed by this company.

Country: Sweden

Founded: 2018

Founders: Sukesh Kumar Tedla

Applications or Projects:

• Unbiased Data marketplace

The unbiased Data Marketplace platform is a gateway to Data Annotations, knowledge sharing, collaborations & futuristic innovation.

• Unbiased Search Engine

The unbiased search engine is not a traditional search engine like Google or DuckDuckGo. It’s a Search Engine that presents insights and analytics on various topics of user choice.

• Unbiased Social Platform

Unbiased is re-imagining social media and journalism.

3. Zefr

Zefr is a video advertising company that uses advanced technology to find an audience for content creators’ videos. Brands can create ads tailored to specific viewers or target audiences through Zefr’s software-based solutions.

Country: United States

Founded: 2008

Founders: Richard Raddon, Zach James

Applications or Projects:

• Zefr Data Solutions

A Suite of Solutions to Improve Brand Suitability in Video. Cross-Platform Brand Suitability, in Video.

• Zefr Media Solutions

Zefr’s end-to-end media solutions team brings contextual video buying and planning expertise to the entire campaign process — from customized contextual campaigns to 100’s of thousands of mid-flight optimizations to research & measurement to make marketing strategy more effective across the funnel.

4. Factmata

Factmata is an artificial intelligence company that helps businesses better understand, interpret and explain online content. Utilizing its patented technology, Factmata offers actionable moderation services for online platforms and product insights for brands.

Country: United Kingdom

Founded: 2017

Founders: Andreas Vlachos, Dhruv Ghulati, Sebastian Riedel

Applications or Projects:

• Narrative Monitoring

Narrative Monitoring is Social Media Listening combined with traditional Media Monitoring. The technology can identify and understand the individual opinions being shared online, whether a tweet, Reddit post, blog article or news article.

5. Blackbird AI

Blackbird is a company that specializes in Information Integrity solutions and has been helping enterprises, and national security organizations see the story behind the story for an authentic information ecosystem.

Country: United States

Founded: 2014

Founders: Naushad UzZaman, Wasim Khaled

Applications or Projects:

• MEDIA SECURITY CENTER

The Media Security Center is powered by insights from leading institutions combating misinformation and disinformation. Developed with leading global Public Relations firm Weber Shandwick, it is designed to help clients navigate a volatile media landscape with bespoke solutions that protect reputations and commercial interests.

• CONSTELLATION DASHBOARD

The only purpose-built platform that has redefined how organizations detect, measure, and mitigate disinformation and information-driven risk provide the user’s complete picture for critical decision-making.

• RISK INTELLIGENCE ENGINE

Blackbird AI Risk Intelligence Engine API integrates into user native systems. Users can bring the power of the Constellation Dashboard to their command center and applications.

• RISK INTELLIGENCE OPS

Blackbird’s Risk Operations is an extension of a team on the outside that can be embedded to move rapidly in the moment of crisis and deliver actionable risk intelligence.

6. Trust Lab

Trust Lab develops software for social media platforms that helps in detecting misinformation, hate speech, and harmful content.

Country: United States

Founded: 2019

Founders: Tom Siegel and Benji Loney

Applications or Projects:

• The Trust Lab System

Trust Lab’s comprehensive Content Safety metrics report measures and quantifies risk in sensitive verticals and visualizes findings using statistically sound metrics and insightful explanations.

7. Factually Healthy

Factually Health uses AI to fight the deluge of health information and misinformation on the Web and empower with credible health knowledge.

Country: Canada

Founded: 2018

Founders: Lina Forcier, Genevieve Poliquin and Lucas Nogueira.

Applications or Projects:

• The Factually Health Platform

The platform provides medical information that is scored for healthcare organizations and patients. The platform uses AI technology to analyze the web and generates a credibility score for every search result. The score provided by the technology is based on content from forums, commercial bodies, and more which assist healthcare organizations with reputation management.

8. Terciv

The Terciv blockchain platform was designed to tackle the global epidemic of fake news and purposeful misinformation.

Country: United States

Founded: 2017

Founders: John Terrero

Applications or Projects:

• The Terciv Platform

Terciv is a decentralized platform for authentication of the origin of news articles and other forms of published content on the web. Provides a platform for content creators/publishers to certify the authorship of their content. Uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and NLP to identify misinformation shared on the web. Offers Terciv Coin to provide access to in-platform services.

9. The NewsRoom

The Newsroom fights misinformation and fosters plurality online. They use AI to assess articles’ trustworthiness and provide news context.

Country: Portugal

Founded: 2020

Founders: Jenny Romano, Pedro Henriques

Applications or Projects:

• The Newsroom Mobile App

Uncovering the context behind the news.

• Chrome Plug-in

Assessing the news

11. Nobias

Nobias provides software tools that help protect consumers from deceptive or misleading content on the internet.

Country: United States

Founded: 2017

Founders: Tania Ahuja

Applications or Projects:

• The Nobias Finance Platform

The Nobias finance platform helps investors make informed decisions before they invest their money. The company uses AI to research, source, collate, process, analyze and present information in an easy-to-digest format so investors can be better informed.

11. iShield.ai

iShield is creating AI models that integrate with content publishing workflows to tackle unconscious bias, micro-aggression, and toxicity in enterprise content, thus fostering a more inclusive enterprise. 

Country: United States

Founded: 2021

Founders: Kesavan Kanchi Kandadai, Anand Pikle

Applications or Projects:

• iShield System

AI assistant for bias-free communications. With this platform, users can create content and conversations free of unconscious bias and represent the diversity of target audiences.

12. DeepHound

Deephound is developing a fast screening, top-class, Intelligence service for companies to prevent and mitigate risks faster and with fewer efforts thanks to the Artificial Analyst, a combination of open-source intelligence.

Country: United Kingdom

Founded: 2018

Founders: Alessia Gianaroli, Marco Menichelli, Rosbeh Zakikhani

Applications or Projects:

• Deephound Intelligence Suite

Deephound Intelligence Suite is a personal assistant in information search and analysis. From Journalism to Intelligence, finding and analyzing information from the web has never been easier.

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