Maldita.es and international fact-checkers from 16 other countries meet in Washington D.C. to standardize image and video verification

One of the examples presented was the alleged video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi drunk: a slowed-down video that also affected several politicians in Spain.

Fact-checkers from countries such as Spain, India, South Africa, Germany and Brazil then talked about standardization when publishing verification results. On the technological side, we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the ClaimReview system, a type of structured data used worldwide that allows search engines such as Google or Bing to display specific information in their results, as shown in the following image:

This type of data, which is very useful for tagging statements or claims, falls short when it comes to referencing manipulated images or altered videos. Therefore, during the event, all fact-checkers worked to establish a common system for naming the different alterations that can be presented in videos and images, based on the work of The Washington Post with its guide to manipulated videos.

The work and feedback generated at this international meeting will be used to develop a new type of structured data, called MediaReview, that will allow for consistent tagging of this type of disinformation around the world on Google and YouTube and other platforms that choose to adopt it. This label will allow citizens to be aware of potential disinformation and decide for themselves whether or not to consume the lie, as ClaimReview already does.