Odil, the French-speaking platform that relays initiatives to fight disinformation
Odil, the French-speaking platform for initiatives to combat misinformation.
© Odil
Text by: Dominique Desaunay Follow
3 mins
Odil is the name of the online platform created by the International Organization of La Francophonie.
It brings together all the initiatives of French-speaking actors around the world who are mobilizing against disinformation on the Web and social networks,
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Odil
brings together fact-checking initiatives in the French-speaking world in order to give them more visibility on a global scale.
At the end of 2019, a first phase of this online system already provided direct support to 19 initiatives to combat disinformation mainly linked to the Covid-19 contagion.
And in November 2021, the OIF launched a call for projects for an overall envelope of 200,000 euros with the aim of creating international collaborations on local initiatives in Africa to fight against particularly intense fake news during this pandemic period.
Getting to reach isolated populations
The Odil platform wishes to extend its action beyond a simple inventory of fact-checking mechanisms that have been put in place by journalists' associations.
The Odil platform intends to open up to research projects to fully understand the mechanisms of the circulation of false information in order to be able to determine their real influence according to the regions in which they spread.
The organization also wants to intensify its media and information literacy programs throughout the French-speaking world and cover both urban and rural areas.
Isolated populations are the first victims of false information, reminds us Bertrand Levant, project manager "fight against misinformation" at the OIF.
"
Disinformation is a complex phenomenon, which is why we have decided to strengthen the capacities of fact and information checkers in the French-speaking world, but also to support public policies in the fight against disinformation, to intensify media and information literacy and finally to use research projects to understand how the phenomenon of fake news works.
Some projects seem remarkable to us today.
For example,
TogoCheck
or even The volunteers of the EMI in Côte d'Ivoire.
These projects have developed actions that make it possible to transcribe the false information that has been uncovered in local languages.
They are then put on the air after verification to be broadcast on community radios in rural areas, because these media are particularly listened to, and it is not at RFI that I will learn the importance in this case that the radio has for particularly isolated populations
,” explains Bertrand Levant.
place of exchange
Technically, the Odil platform was developed by Check First.
Already positioned in the French-speaking world, the Finnish company connects established newsrooms, from France to the Central African Republic via Belgium and the Ivory Coast.
The Odil platform, which is expanding day by day, allows Internet users to listen to reports from the field through a series of
podcasts
, to consult
an interactive map on the public policies
that have been carried out in recent years.
The new version of the site offers a highly secure and private communication room to create a link between actors from different backgrounds bringing together researchers, journalists, developers, geeks, activists, teachers in order to exchange best practices to fight against misinformation. .
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To read also: Artificial intelligence to fight against online misinformation
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