Mysore-origin British techie’s start-up to combat fake news

London, July 22

An Indian-origin entrepreneur’s UK-based start-up that uses a machine-learning algorithm to sift fact from fiction is set to combat fake news around the world, including plans for a project specifically targeted at India.

Lyric Jain, a Cambridge University engineering student originally from Mysore, set up Logically last year and has since developed the West Yorkshire-based start-up into a machine-learning platform to filter real from fiction.

The platform, which is currently going through technology trials with partners and advisers, will have its full public launch in September for the UK and the US, and hit India by October.

The aim is for the service to work as news aggregator and indicator of factual accuracy. “The Logically platform gathers the biggest news stories from over 70,000 domains and determines the credibility of the claims across each article. It does this by using a machine learning algorithm that is designed to detect logical fallacy, political bias, and incorrect statistics,” the 21-year-old techie explains. “By illuminating the quality of information across these articles, Logically provides users with a transparent and insightful view that allows them to determine how trustworthy the news they read really is.”

With a growing number of cases of fake news being exchanged over WhatsApp in India, his start-up is exploring ways for artificial intelligence to accurately assess the validity of information faster than any human can. India has over 200 million WhatsApp users and with the system being encrypted, it becomes extremely difficult for law enforcement to intervene and stop fake stories from spreading. — PTI

UP ‘Digital Armies’ to curb rumours

Lucknow: To curb lynchings and violence due to fake news on social media, the UP police will set up 'Digital Armies' of prominent residents to keep a vigil on inflammatory posts and rumour-mongering. All the 1,469 UP police stations will have a WhatsApp group comprising 250 prominent residents, who will inform the local police if they stumble upon fake news. PTI