Tech 4 Peace Country Iraq Established 2016 Website https://t4p.co/w Reach Local Languages Arabic and English Purpose To check news content published online through social media sites Methodology Tech 4 Peace utilizes a news verification mechanism. It has a privacy policy, a correction policy, and a transparency policy. Nature of work Fact-checking, awareness campaigns, conducting training in verification and digital security, and so forth Social media presence (as of January 2022) Facebook: more than 1,188,000 followers (https://www.facebook.com/Tech4Peace/?ref=page_internal) Twitter: more than 169,000 followers (https://twitter.com/iQTech4Peace) Instagram: more than 614,000 followers (https://www.instagram.com/tech4peace/) YouTube: more than 19,000 subscribers (https://www.youtube.com/c/tech4peace) In terms of the weaknesses of fact-checking platforms in the region, Abdel-Haq highlighted that there is little cooperation among some platforms. Some platforms even compete with one another. He added: “Competition is necessary, but integration is the most important element.” TECH 4 PEACE The Tech 4 Peace platform was established in 2016 to refute and discredit false news and rumors that were circulating extensively in Iraq as a result of the difficult political and security conditions that the country was experiencing, especially due to ISIS’s occupation of many cities in the country. A great deal of fake and misleading news was spread by ISIS and its supporters on social media and different online platforms at that time, with the aim of gaining people’s support and encouraging them to affiliate with the terrorist organization. The platform has grown, and so have its audience and projects. It started with a small team, which developed into a larger team of employees and volunteers. From fewer than 6,000 followers on social media sites, its following has grown exponentially, as is detailed in Table 3. The platform maintains impartiality in a country that is rife with political rivalry by not exempting any political party from the fact-checking process. Besides issues of funding, security risks constitute one of the most prominent challenges facing the platform and its administrators. Security concerns have forced them to conceal their identities and I N FO R M ATI O N D I SO R D ER IN THE GLOBA L SOUTH to operate confidentially. The director of Tech 4 Peace, Aws Al-Saadi, confirmed that the platform and its staff members are subjected to threats and extortion; they face legal complaints and numerous obstacles in terms of security and their daily administration and operation (interview, July 2021). In addition to obtaining funding and legal protection, the platform needs to develop its operating mechanism and to obtain accreditation by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). Thus far, only two institutions in the region have obtained this accreditation, namely Fatabyyano from Jordan and Fact-o-meter from Lebanon; several other organizations are in the process of becoming IFCN-verified signatories. As for the weaknesses of fact-checking platforms in the region, Al-Saadi noted: “The checking and publishing processes are very slow. This is in addition to the fact that some platforms steal content from others.” Table 3: Overview of the operations of Tech 4 Peace SIDQ Sidq is the only fact-checking platform in Yemen, in addition to one new initiative called “Fact Yemen.” The country has been ravaged by years of civil war, which makes it the perfect environment for the spread of mis- and disinformation. The team of ten people and twenty volunteers that make up Sidq work secretly in order to protect themselves. Sidq’s website is inactive, but its social media accounts are very active in publishing corrections of fake news and rumors spread through Middle East and North Africa – 35