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youngsoutheastasianleaders · 5 years

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YSEALI Seeds: #BreakTheFake

#BreakTheFake Hackathon 2019 – International Software Competition to Tackle Issue of Fake News and Disinformation

“I care about the issue of fake news and disinformation because I am concerned about how certain individuals get into power using fake news as a propaganda. This trivialized the entire process of veracity - from respecting the demotics process of elections where people are able to exercise their right to vote based on full and rational decision-making down to personal level, when people are now even given mileage for faking their achievements,” Gabriel Billones Jr., Project Lead #BreakTheFake Hackathon

Truth is important. It is the foundation of public trust to the government, lest our individual relationships. This project started because it was high time for us in the Philippines to talk about disinformation. Two years ago, we had the chance to be invited in a Seminar-Pitching Competition which gives grants to young professionals who want to do something about the issue of fake news and disinformation. We won a grant after pitching the concept of a hackathon. However, the budget that we won isn’t enough to kick off a hackathon.

Last year, we got the opportunity to represent the Philippines in the 2nd APEC App Challenge 2018, where we met other competitors-turned-partners who are also interested to implement an international hackathon to tackle fake news. Then enter November, with the YSEALI Seeds of the Future Competition, when we finally had the chance to pitch this idea, leveraging our international pool of partners. With all the opportunities coming our way, we realized that there’s no better time to do the hackathon than now.

Our primary goal for this project is to put the spotlight on technological approaches in fighting the issue of fake news and disinformation. More than incentivising innovation, we want to be able to give the winners ample media mileage and put them into the map so we can better connect them with potential investors. We’re looking for a solution that will develop a synergy across the media ecosystem - the consumers of content, and the public and private sphere.

Secondly, we want to supplement existing media literacy efforts by engaging the technologists into media literacy and awareness talks. The greater goal is to close the gap between technologists and business developers and let them have a clearer understanding of the possible repercussions of the innovations that they are creating.

Thirdly, we want to be able to tap youth leaders across the ASEAN region in different capacities and engage them for future leadership opportunities under the wing of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI).

We have successfully implemented our hackathons in 3 cities, particularly Jakarta, Indonesia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Manila, Philippines. A total of 41 teams, each with 3 members, were engaged as participants of Break the Fake Hackathon - a series of 1-month long online-to-offline hackathons composed of online incubation and virtual mentoring sessions. At least 10 finalist teams per country were invited to join the Local Demo and Pitching Day in the host city.

We have found some of the most brilliant ideas from the winning teams. The winning team from Indonesia created a reference provider bot which provides relevant information pertaining to the content that is being spread in messaging app groups. Malaysia's winning team developed a social media that runs on NEM blockchain platform, allowing writers to post articles while upvoting, engaging or reviewing other posts. The winning team from the Philippines created a system that maps networks of fake news websites spreading digital disinformation. In all of the local hackathons that we have hosted, we have engaged with a rich pool of young talents as speakers, volunteers, or mentors, and introduced to them the different programs of YSEALI for their further leadership development. We have also secured partnerships with different organizations who can help take the ideas of the winning teams further, such as ABS-CBN’s digital citizenship program called ‘Bayan Mo Ipatrol Mo,’ Facebook Philippines, DevCon Philippines, MaGIC Cyberjaya, WORQ Community, and many others.

Lessons Learned and Shared Wisdom

The most significant lesson learned so far is to plan for the best and expect for the worst. I think what works for me is to zero out my expectations on anyone so that I’m forced to always create a back-up plan. In running this hackathon, I have always used my back-up plans, and my expectations were even exceeded. I love the saying from the movie “The Pursuit of Happiness”, which says that “you can only trust yourself, the cavalry ain’t coming.”

Another thing is to prioritize yourself first before even trying to be a superhero for someone else. The saying that “you can’t give to others what you don’t have yourself” couldn’t be truer. And in this case, sometimes, a healthy conflict of interest is necessary in order to create sustain yourself and your drive-in doing advocacy projects. Ask your “why” and exercise a self-reflective skepticism on whether that is enough to keep the project running. In the practical level, this means being excellent in your job first before extending that excellence to development work.

Thirdly, plan ahead. Use every resource at your disposal. Lay out your intentions clearly and communicate your vision for the project and you can seal fruitful partnerships. And always make sure that you show up.

Fourth, always believe in youth potential! The rich young talent in Southeast Asia is just amazing, and it’s a waste that we’re not using this potential to the best of our capacities. In this hackathon, we’ve highlighted that by tapping young manpower as co-organizers of this hackathon, we’re able to pull off successful events. We have engaged around 60+ volunteers in 3 countries - the very people behind the success of every hackathon that we run.

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