Born from the mind of Wikipedia's creator, it relies on user collaboration to defeat fake news and hate speech
That fake news is a problem for all social networks (but also for instant messaging platforms) is a well-known fact. For some time now, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (but also WhatsApp, which has limited the possibility of forwarding messages in series) have been looking for a way to curb the spread of fake news, but without being able to get to the bottom of the issue.
An attempt in this sense has also been made by Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales, American computer scientist who, among other things, helped develop and create Wikipedia. Since about a month, in fact, Wales has launched WT:social, a social network that "marries" a completely different model compared to the other social networks. "The current social networks - said the creator of Wikipedia - are based on a business model linked to advertising. This leads to addiction, being glued to a site and being transported into hate speech and radicals, not into caring for the human side." That's why Wales is committed to creating a platform where users can share real, verified news.
How Wt:social works, the platform against fake news
The base from which Wales took his first steps is WikiTribune, a collaborative platform born in 2017 from the prolific mind of the creator of Wikipedia. On WikiTribune, users can write news freely editable by other subscribers, who can make corrections, additions, and more. This information can then be verified by everyone, so that it creates an "ecosystem" that is self-sustaining and self-monitoring and in which it is almost impossible (or almost) that fake news spread.
In fact, Wt:social is an evolution of WikiTribune: a platform without advertising, where you can collaborate and cooperate with other users to write real news and verifiable. Initially, access to Wt:social will be subject to the payment of a monthly subscription (12 euros) or annual (90 euros), so as not to overload the servers. In a second moment, when the infrastructure will be strengthened, paywalls will be eliminated (and advertising will never be inserted) and only who will want to pay by way of voluntary and personal contribution.
An idea that seems to have already met the favor of many Internet users. In a month of life, says Wales, the platform has already 25 thousand members, of which 23,500 arrived in the last week.