“The Checker – AlFahes” is an Iraqi platform aimed at uncovering and correcting misleading news circulating in the Iraqi digital space. It focuses on promoting digital media literacy principles to foster a safe, free, and fair Iraqi internet community free of hate speech and disinformation.
Iraq is witnessing a significant rise in information disorder, where misleading news can spread to thousands of followers within minutes. This has led to the proliferation of many negative phenomena in the Iraqi digital space, including “hate speech, offensive comments, believing and resharing everything without verifying its source.” This has placed greater responsibility on our platform, which specializes in pre-and post-publication information verification. Despite the considerable efforts of Iraqi media outlets, journalistic endeavors alone are insufficient to combat information disorder. Even the most prominent institutions and media platforms in Iraq make mistakes from time to time, either unintentionally or intentionally, by spreading misleading news to increase interaction on their pages or for political purposes.
The Checker team adheres to the highest journalistic standards and employs various techniques to combat disinformation. It also tracks and collects news from both local and international sources, providing a unique perspective that enables the public to follow what interests them.
How did the Checker platform start
The Checker platform is one of the main projects of INSM Foundation for Digital Rights in Iraq. The platform was launched in October 2021, coinciding with the early Iraqi parliamentary elections, which saw a significant rise in the spread of misleading news in Iraq. This platform was established to fulfill the vision of INSM, which emphasizes the need to promote media and digital literacy and to confront all hate speech and falsification on Iraqi social media platforms, the harm of which has reached the extent of forced disappearances, physical elimination, and displacement of others due to information disorder in conflict areas. The Checker platform acts as a supporting arm for the parent organization, INSM, to achieve its ultimate goal of creating a “safe, free, transparent, and fair internet.”
The Checker platform is managed by an editorial team, journalists, and independent fact-checkers. No one tells us what to write about or how to assess claims. We do this independently, following best practices for news verification.
Checker does not accept donations or support from unknown sources, political parties, elected officials or candidates seeking public office, or any other source that we consider a conflict of interest.