BBS Burgdorf
Finalist for the region West
Conspirex – A technical solution against fake-news
Website: www.conspirex.de
The problems that lead to an ever louder voice of fake-news are on the one hand the ever decreasing trust in politics, on the other hand the denial of vaccines, but also the ever increasing hatred on the internet, which is expressed especially through social media. The pandemic in particular has made us even more aware of the problem with fake news. Our goal is to filter fake news so they don’t reach you and your family members. Especially in the pandemic, the voice of Fake News was and even is today extremely present through social media. Through conspiracy theories like: „Bill Gates mixing chips into the vaccine“, such voices become more present.
Therefore, we, the team behind „Conspirex“ have made this problem our task in order to offer a sustainable solution in the future to make fake news less audible.
We developed a DNS server based solution. A DNS, or Domain- Name-Server redirects traffic through the internet. In the subsequent search query, the system verifies whether the search query can be shown to the user or not. A panel of independent people checks whether the search query contains fake news. With our small device, which can be purchased for a one-time fee of 30,- Euro.
We make a big difference in the use of social media, the internet and your daily life.
Their YES! topic
The Economics of Fake News: Free Opinion, False Belief and Censorship?
by Gerhard Riener
Intentional distortion of facts, whitewashing, defamation of opponents through misinformation. We encounter discussions about these phenomena in the media repeatedly, and alleged facts also lead to heated debates among friends and acquaintances.
But why do people believe obviously false information? What moves other people to exploit this belief to their own advantage? These are profoundly economic questions that can be addressed with the tools of modern behavioural economics research.
To what extent is this phenomenon new?
Which actors can influence the spread of fake news?
Why do people believe obviously false information?
How should the state’s role be shaped, what approaches does the state have, and what dangers does it face?
