Methodology

This methodology was approved at the meeting of the Board of Directors of Verify-Sy platform on November 16, 2020, and any subsequent amendments approved by the Board are bound to announce it.

• First: Definitions

The following terms, words and expressions have the meaning as follows:

1. Platform: Verify-Sy fact-checking platform of Verify Media Foundation
2. Methodology: The methodology regulating the work of Verify-Sy platform in the field of fact-finding and combating misinformation.
3. Content: All materials, information, data, statements and outputs of media institutions and alternative media websites
4. Sources: All media, in all their forms, and accounts on official social media sites, personal and public, and every party works to broadcast content that the platform submits to its verification methodology.
5. References: The entities on which the platform relies during the application of the methodology in the process of analyzing and evaluating the content and is clearly presented when applying methodology mechanism.

• Second: The methodology application mechanism

Determining Content, Determining the Source / resources, Content Analysis, Content Evaluation, Conclusion.

• Third: Priority
  
  The massive flow of misinformation in the media and social networking sites, and in light of the possibilities that remain limited in tracking, regardless of the activity of any verification platform, all of this requires setting determinants that draw the priorities on the basis of which dealings are conducted according to the methodology of the Verify-Sy platform, and the most prominent of these priorities are:
  - The importance of the material circulated in terms of content, whether political, scientific, or cognitive, even if the material did not receive a wide spread.
  - The wide spread / trend / provided that this spread has a tangible impact
  - Contents consistent with peace journalism
  - Information as soon as it is circulated within the framework of prior verification with the potential for dissemination
  
• Forth: Communicate with claim sources
  
  Communicating with the source of the allegation is a duty that Verify-Sy is committed to within the framework of commitment to the platform’s founding standards, especially integrity, and also to investigate the maximum limits of accuracy and objectivity. Communication begins with the decision or knowledge of the editor-in-chief within the following conditions:
  
  Seeking that the communication be documented as possible, in writing or recorded, for the ability to save it and refer to it and consider it as a presumption in the event of a dispute in the transfer or editing
  
  The communication should be as formal as possible, i.e., e-mail shall be given priority, if any, otherwise no means of communication shall be provided, while respecting the privacy of the source of the claim.
  
  Commitment to the utmost professionalism in communication and avoiding any form of accusation and provocation
  
  Communication is subject to all platform regulations and ethics, and the right to respond and complain is guaranteed on this basis.
  
  It is the nature of communication with the sources of the prosecution that the response is not forthcoming or it may be late, especially in conflict areas that put groups of people in trenches whose penetration is often difficult or dangerous. consideration:
  
  The first is to ensure that the message gets through
  
  The second: that waiting should not be at the expense of the requirements of publishing in a timely manner.
  
  In this case, the source is granted, as mentioned above, the right to respond or complain.

• Fifth: Content Analysis - References

1. Data and statistics from independent, impartial and credible.
2. Information received from official and unofficial institutions and personalities.
3. Responses and comments of entities and personalities related to the content.
4. The opinions of independent experts scientifically and professionally related directly to the subject matter of the content.
5. The alternative sources are required to verify their validity by two different independent sources.

• Sixth: Content analysis - Mechanisms

1. The analyst's skills and professional experience, such as investigative and technical skills, his\her ability from the standards and principles of journalistic work, his\her general culture, and his\her keenness to follow developments from their reliable sources up to date.
2. Accurate content-identification without fragmentation.
3. Determine the original content, its source and date of publication, and the sources that republished it, in whole or in part, and indicating that with date of re-publication.
4. Dealing with content for the purpose of finding facts is in the light of the terms of reference for the analysis.
5. Highlighting the proven facts in an integrated manner, in addition to the facts that contradict the content of the subject of analysis.
6. Mention the reasons and backgrounds for the sources to repost, if any.
7. Evaluation and conclusion.

• Seventh: Content evaluation
• Basic classifications

1. First degree: Red indication > High risk > Scam.
2. Second degree: Orange > medium risk > Futility.
3. Third degree: Yellow > Low risk > Confounding

• eighth: Content evaluation

C- Subcategories

• Fraud

1.  Lying:

    

   Content that is completely inconsistent with proven facts, completely authored and unfounded.

2. Misleading:

    

   Content that contains a mixture of facts and lies.

3. Conspiracy theories:

    

   Content that is keen to include hidden plans for a plot and builds on this basis to support some approach or conclusion, without clear and proven evidence or evidence.

4. Lying in the name of science:

    

   Content that invokes science through unproven evidence, incorrect "scientific theories", or seeks to misrepresent a correct scientific interpretation to attract audience interest.

    

• Futility

1. False:

    

   Content that contains false information as long as it does not affect the entire content.

2. Bias:

    

   Selective content, which includes fact-cutting or preference for specific facts removed from their general context.

3. Manipulation of facts:

    

   Content that is based on facts but is employed in an incorrect context, in order to reflect these facts.

• Confounding

1. Misleading headline:

    

   Content that includes information in which the title suggests content different from the article, such as yellow headlines aimed at attracting the audience.

2. Sarcasm:

    

   Content that uses fantasy and a satirical representation of reality, noting that in the original content and omitting it in the event of re-publication.

3. Out of context:

    

   Old, correct content that conjures up with a similar new event, so that old content appears as part of the new event.

4. Uncertain:

    

   Content that does not have enough ingredients to confirm nor for itself and categorize it within any type of evaluation.