FARE_AUDIT: Fake News Recommendations - an Auditing System of Differential Tracking and Search Engine Results
FARE_AUDIT develops a privacy-protecting tool to audit search engines, aiming to enhance public awareness and empower users to identify and mitigate disinformation online.
Projectdetails
Introduction
The spread of disinformation is a serious problem that impacts social structure and threatens democracies worldwide. Citizens increasingly rely on (dis)information available online, either somewhat passively, through social media feeds, or actively, by using search engines and specific websites.
Algorithms and Information Bubbles
In both scenarios, algorithms filter and select displayed information according to the users’ past preferences. There is a real risk that algorithms might reinforce the user’s beliefs and create (dis)information bubbles by offering less divergent views, or even directing them to low-credibility content.
Efforts to Combat Disinformation
For these reasons, serious efforts have been made to identify and remove “fake-news” websites and minimize the spread of disinformation on social media. However, we have not witnessed equivalent attempts to understand and curtail the role of search engines.
Project Overview: FARE_AUDIT
FARE_AUDIT addresses this imbalance and offers an innovative tool to audit search engines that can be broadly used. It will help to:
- Better understand how browsing history influences search engine results, particularly the likelihood of being directed to disinformation.
- Create a system that democracy-promoting institutions and concerned citizens can use to identify new disinformation in near real-time.
- Breach information bubbles by simulating how search results would be different if users had a different online profile.
Privacy Protection and Future-Proofing
By relying on web-crawlers, our tool is privacy-protecting and does not require any real user data. Moreover, the proposed system anticipates the announced shift from cookie-tracking to fingerprinting and takes advantage of the expected small time overlap between both systems to learn from both and broaden its scope.
Expected Impact
Overall, we expect this novel tool to have a meaningful social impact by increasing public awareness of the role of search engines on disinformation spread, and by equipping organizations with a tool to detect and monitor disinformation, especially in political contexts.
Financiële details & Tijdlijn
Financiële details
Subsidiebedrag | € 150.000 |
Totale projectbegroting | € 150.000 |
Tijdlijn
Startdatum | 1-12-2022 |
Einddatum | 31-5-2024 |
Subsidiejaar | 2022 |
Partners & Locaties
Projectpartners
- LABORATORIO DE INSTRUMENTACAO E FISICA EXPERIMENTAL DE PARTICULAS LIPpenvoerder
Land(en)
Vergelijkbare projecten binnen European Research Council
Project | Regeling | Bedrag | Jaar | Actie |
---|---|---|---|---|
Designing Social Media Recommendation Algorithms for Societal GoodThe project aims to enhance social media algorithms by integrating civic discourse values to reduce risks to social cohesion while balancing freedom of expression through participatory design and risk assessment. | ERC Starting... | € 2.037.464 | 2025 | Details |
Measuring and Mitigating Risks of AI-driven Information TargetingThis project aims to assess the risks of AI-driven information targeting on individuals, algorithms, and platforms, and propose protective measures through innovative measurement methodologies. | ERC Starting... | € 1.499.953 | 2022 | Details |
Incentivizing Citizen Exposure to Quality News Online: Framework and ToolsNEWSUSE aims to enhance democratic resilience by developing a model and tools to sustainably increase quality news consumption among citizens, addressing low news use as a critical issue. | ERC Consolid... | € 1.993.125 | 2024 | Details |
VIrtual GuardIan AngeLs for the post-truth Information AgeThe VIGILIA project aims to develop AI-driven tools to detect cognitive biases in information processing, mitigating the effects of misinformation and enhancing trust in society. | ERC Advanced... | € 2.490.000 | 2024 | Details |
Boosting trust in online media by instantly informing users about conflicts of interestThe WiseReader project aims to develop a browser extension that reveals potential conflicts of interest in news articles, empowering users to assess the trustworthiness of news sources. | ERC Proof of... | € 150.000 | 2023 | Details |
Designing Social Media Recommendation Algorithms for Societal Good
The project aims to enhance social media algorithms by integrating civic discourse values to reduce risks to social cohesion while balancing freedom of expression through participatory design and risk assessment.
Measuring and Mitigating Risks of AI-driven Information Targeting
This project aims to assess the risks of AI-driven information targeting on individuals, algorithms, and platforms, and propose protective measures through innovative measurement methodologies.
Incentivizing Citizen Exposure to Quality News Online: Framework and Tools
NEWSUSE aims to enhance democratic resilience by developing a model and tools to sustainably increase quality news consumption among citizens, addressing low news use as a critical issue.
VIrtual GuardIan AngeLs for the post-truth Information Age
The VIGILIA project aims to develop AI-driven tools to detect cognitive biases in information processing, mitigating the effects of misinformation and enhancing trust in society.
Boosting trust in online media by instantly informing users about conflicts of interest
The WiseReader project aims to develop a browser extension that reveals potential conflicts of interest in news articles, empowering users to assess the trustworthiness of news sources.
Vergelijkbare projecten uit andere regelingen
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OpposionOpposion is een zelflerende tool voor directe feitelijke controle van online informatie, gericht op het bestrijden van nep-nieuws en het verbeteren van productreviews en educatie. | Mkb-innovati... | € 20.000 | 2020 | Details |
Project POLIGEN-AIHet project richt zich op het ontwikkelen van een betrouwbare "fact-based" chatbot om desinformatie te bestrijden en geïnformeerde beslissingen te ondersteunen, met aandacht voor technische en juridische haalbaarheid. | Mkb-innovati... | € 20.000 | 2023 | Details |
Find the fair stuff with Fairify
Fairify ontwikkelt een browserextensie die consumenten helpt duurzame alternatieven te vinden en bewust te maken van de milieu-impact van hun aankopen, met ondersteuning van AI en mogelijk blockchain.
Haalbaarheidsproject Fake Rank
Het project onderzoekt de haalbaarheid van een AI-tool die digitale inhoud labelt op kwaliteit en authenticiteit om misleiding te voorkomen.
AskADEMIC
Het project ontwikkelt een digitaal platform voor het delen van gevalideerde wetenschappelijke kennis om desinformatie tegen te gaan en maatschappelijke impact te bevorderen.
Opposion
Opposion is een zelflerende tool voor directe feitelijke controle van online informatie, gericht op het bestrijden van nep-nieuws en het verbeteren van productreviews en educatie.
Project POLIGEN-AI
Het project richt zich op het ontwikkelen van een betrouwbare "fact-based" chatbot om desinformatie te bestrijden en geïnformeerde beslissingen te ondersteunen, met aandacht voor technische en juridische haalbaarheid.