Teams from six news organizations have been selected to receive funds and mentorship for projects that combat misinformation in the lead up to Brazil’s October elections. The projects are part of Jogo Limpo (“Fair Game”), an initiative run by the International Center for Journalists and supported by YouTube Brazil.

One team will develop a bot that scans YouTube videos for potential misinformation and shares the timestamps on Twitter for journalists and others to see. Another is building a transcription service that will help journalists, free of charge, more efficiently fact-check and analyze  candidates’ speeches. Another will teach young Brazilians, through video tutorials and in partnership with influencers, how to use open-source intelligence technology to fact-check. 

Jogo Limpo will provide up to $25,000 per project  as well as three months of expert mentorship. The mentor will guide awardees from day one, helping the teams move quickly and achieve  impact.

More than 160 applications were submitted to Jogo Limpo between April 25 and May 18. An ICFJ team of four specialists reviewed the projects for innovation and creativity, and external judges chose the winners. 

“One of the greatest challenges of our time is to face disinformation,” said Silvana Bahia,  a judge and co-executive director of Olabi and coordinator of PretaLab. “Encouraging and empowering the Brazilian media ecosystem by encouraging the work of journalists is on the agenda, especially in an election year. That is why initiatives such as ‘Jogo Limpo’ are extremely relevant to society, because they inspire and foster a practice of communication based on ethics and citizen values.”

Learn more about the selected projects:

Botponto:

• Problem to solve: making it easy for journalists to fact-check YouTube videos without having to watch hundreds of hours of content.
• Project: a bot that will work through hours of YouTube videos to identify potential misinformation and share the timestamps on Twitter so that fact-checkers and other journalists can identify and call out misinformation.
• Organization: Núcleo

Escriba para jornalistas:

• Problem to solve: helping journalists spend less hours on transcription of speeches and interviews.
• Project: making “Escriba for journalists,” an innovative transcription tool, available to newsrooms for free to build a “bank of speeches” from presidential candidates, allowing for more efficient fact-checking and analysis.
• Organization: Aos Fatos

Influenciadores no TSE:

• Problem to solve: fighting the false claims that electoral fraud is a widespread phenomenon in Brazil.
• Project: training influencers in partnership with the Brazilian Superior Electoral Court and equipping them with tools to counter misinformation about the electoral process.
• Organization: Redes Cordiais

Inteligência Coletiva: treinando jovens para usar ferramentas abertas de investigação jornalística

• Problem to solve: Combatting disengagement by reaching young Brazilians and encouraging them to play a role in the Presidential elections.
• Project: disseminating short tutorials on social media, via influencers, to teach young Brazilians how to fact-check electoral disinformation using Open Source Intelligence Technology
• Organization: Instituto Vero

Jogo Limpo and Elections2022: Amazon fact-checking:

• Problem to solve: combating misinformation spread by presidential candidates.
• Project: bringing together journalists and interns to fact-check information about the Amazon spread by the presidential candidates.
• Organization: O Liberal

RELOAD Eleições:

• Problem to solve: improving young audience´s knowledge of the Brazilian electoral process.
• Project: creating video content tailored to young audiences with the goal of fighting misunderstanding and misinformation
• Organization: Agência Pública

The solutions will be presented at an event to be held in August.