![[20200417_Screenshot.jpg] FactRakers is a fact-checking initiative of journalism majors at the University of the Philippines Diliman.](https://i0.wp.com/www.up.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/20200417_Screenshot.jpg?resize=640%2C1091&ssl=1)
The UP College of Mass Communication Journalism Department is joining the fight against COVID-19 through fact-checking.
Initiated and supervised by Associate Professor Yvonne T. Chua of the Journalism Department, FactRakers is battling the infodemic by actively verifying COVID-related information.
Fact-checked information can be accessed through its website and social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter. They can also be retrieved through Google’s Fact Check Explorer, a tool to easily browse its database of fact checks.
Since the beginning of the Enhanced Community Quarantine, FactRakers has produced 23 fact checks on false or misleading claims circulating amid the pandemic among Filipinos on social media platforms and mobile community chats.
![[20200417_Factrakers1.jpg] Panelo’s anti-poor quote concocted—FactRakers. Read fact check here.](https://i0.wp.com/www.up.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/20200417_Factrakers1.jpg?resize=538%2C527&ssl=1)
The initiative began last year as part of the Journalism Seminar course on fact-checking (Journ 196). It won the special projects category of the Philippine Journalism Research Conference in early March.
The World Health Organization defines an infodemic an “over-abundance of information, some accurate and some not that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it.”
Infodemic poses a serious problem for public health because people are bombarded with erroneous or confusing messages on actions to take to protect themselves and others and mitigate the impact of a disease such as COVID-19. #UPFightsCOVID-19 #UPBayanihanNa
