The app is developed by three students. (Representational Image)
The students of Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Delhi have developed an app called WhatsFarzi ( cab roughly be translated as whatsfake). The app goes through all the internet content and amasses news on a specific topic to verify it from an authentic news portal by using a custom logarithm.
The app is also capable of verifying photos and scanning their authenticity through image tampering algorithms. “One of my students started researching on the rapid spread of fake content on Twitter and Facebook, which inspired him to develop a Google Chrome browser extension for both the platforms.
The continuous research by the team gradually gave birth to WhatsFarzi, which is now helping the vexed Indians to fight back such terrors”, said Ponnurangam Kumaraguru, associate professor at IIIT-Delhi.
WhatsFarzi is the brainchild of three students of IIIT-Delhi — Madhur Tandon (22), Suryatej Reddy Vyalla (20) and Dhruv Kuchhal (23). All three are studying B.Tech computer science.
Suryatej Reddy, a third-year student, said, “We use a knowledge graph to extract relevant information from people, organisations, locations and products available on the internet, update this graph with credible news, and store it in a secured database. We follow this process to verify textual claims.”
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
