Two Youths developed Apps to combat Fake news

“Misinformation is sixty percent to seventy percent than the real news.” This was the assertion made by His Excellency, Dr. Mohammad Al-Momani, the Minister of Government Communications and Government Spokesperson in Jordan at the ongoing UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Week 2024 in Amman Jordan.

Dr. Mohammad Al-Momani who spoke extensively about the venomous effect of fake news to the teeming participants drawn from the United Staes of America, Armenia, Jordan, Ukraine, France, Sudan, Senegal UAE, Nigeria, Somalia and host of their countries which includes students, lecturers, academics, diplomats, thought-leaders, journalists, government representatives urged the participants to wage war against fake news.

In the bid to end fake news, two students Daniah Reaah and Mohseni Mohamati from Iraq and the United Arab Emirates have developed an application (App) called “Mahw” to tackle fake news.

While presenting their innovation to UNESCO participants during the Youths Hackathon, the duo said, “Mahw is a comprehensive solution for verifying fake news and quash dis/misinformation of any type on the digital space.”

Responding to questions during an interview with School Connect Magazine on what informed “Mahw” and how it works, Daniah Reaah who is a recent graduate of Computer Engineering said, “misleading information about my country, Iraq has made us to develop this App to combat fake news. Whenever I get news from anybody from another country about Iraq, I usually hear something like Iraq is in ruins or in shambles. I always feel pained on how the situation in my country is being exaggerated beyond proportion. Agreed, there is a war going on, but the situation is not as bad as it is being painted by those who are peddling it.”

“With this misleading information that I usually get, the idea to tackle fake news was birthed and that was how Mohseni and I came about, “Mahw”.

Oh how the App, “Mahw” works, Daniah said, it works with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and you just need to key in the location where you think the fake news is being spread and you will be able to get verification about that particular news.

Explaining further, she said “although Mahw doesn’t really work with algorithm or coding, but with artificial intelligence, yet the effect is really amazing in combating fake news. She said they just want to make it easy to use even if you are not tech-savy in computing or programming.

She also mentioned that “Mahw has been tested and the result is really effective in tackling fake and misinformation in her country, Iraq. Although Mahw has just newly been launched, she said that efforts are underway to make it accessible to everyone not only in Iraq, but also in the whole of the Arab regions.

The whizkids, Daniah and Mohsen were given a certificate of recognition for their ingenuity at the UNESCO MIL Week especially because it aligns with the theme of the conference.