Meedan is forming a coalition of news outlets, fact-checkers, independent media, tech platforms, and civil society groups to tackle online mis/disinformation and deceptive content in the lead up to, during and after the U.S. 2024 election.

The state of American elections is currently in turmoil, with looming concerns for the upcoming 2024 elections. Coordinated disinformation, harassment targeting minority groups and the proliferation of misinformation in languages other than English are growing concerns. Compounding these problems, major platforms have significantly reduced funding for media organizations, and the influence of large language models on public opinion and voting behavior is becoming increasingly evident. 

Through its program, the coalition aims to exchange information with the country’s most overlooked voters by connecting journalists and fact-checkers with trusted community organizations situated within news deserts, non-English populations and immigrant communities across the country. 

The coalition will focus on combating political mis/disinformation on social media platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger and Viber. Messaging apps, which serve millions of Americans, have been shown to act as major vectors for the spread of misinformation and harmful content that causes real-world impact during elections.

Participating coalition partners will get resources to distribute their reporting and fact-checking to voters on these messaging channels through Meedan’s Check software. 

Check not only enables the identification of emerging misinformation narratives but also provides valuable insights into what audiences, particularly voters, are most eager to know. Meedan has supported most of the large-scale election monitoring projects around the world over the past decade. We currently support more than 75 global partners working in 27 languages to communicate with and engage audiences through crises and current events.

Collaboration is at the heart of this initiative. Partners will have the opportunity to work closely with community organizations that are dedicated to delivering trustworthy and accurate information to local audiences across the U.S. 

In 2024, our technology, partnerships, and programs will provide support to election coalitions around the world. This includes the Indonesia general elections in February and June 2024, with 192 million registered voters, the India general elections in April and May 2024, with 838 million registered voters, the Mexico general elections in June 2024, with 89 million registered voters, the Brazil municipal elections in October 2024, with 156 million registered voters, and the U.S. presidential election in November 2024, with 130 million registered voters.

‍Get in touch if you have questions or if you are interested in joining the coalition.

Keywords

Disinformation‍

Intentionally-created or disseminated false information often used to mislead, create divisions, elicit emotional responses, or for political ends. 

Misinformation

False or inaccurate information that may spread regardless of the intention of the source disseminating the content.

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