Ecuador teams build tech to fight election disinformationCEFR A1
28 Mar 2025
Adapted from Melissa Vida, Global Voices • CC BY 3.0
Photo by Hartono Creative Studio, Unsplash
- A group in Ecuador restarted the local Hacks Hackers chapter.
- They wanted to fight election disinformation with technology.
- They organised meetings and a conference in February.
- Later they ran a hackathon at a university.
- Developers, journalists and researchers worked together on projects.
- Teams built AI tools to check news and explain them.
- Three teams won prizes and got mentoring.
- Organisers plan to keep developing the projects.
Difficult words
- restart — to start again something that stoppedrestarted
- disinformation — false information meant to mislead people
- organise — plan and run events or activitiesorganised
- hackathon — event where people build software projects together
- mentor — give advice and help to someone at workmentoring
- journalist — person who writes news for newspapers or mediajournalists
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- Would you like to join a hackathon?
- Have you ever worked in a team on a project?
- Which job would you choose: developer, journalist, or researcher?
Related articles
Reducing unsafe responses in large language models
Researchers studied how large language models (LLMs) handle safety and tested training methods to reduce unsafe outputs while keeping performance. They identified key challenges and a technique that preserves safety during fine-tuning.
Brothers build magnetic system to remove arsenic
Arsenic in Indian groundwater causes serious health problems. Two brothers from Bihar developed METAL, a chemical-free magnetic way to clean water and built the MARU unit; their startup Navmarg has treated over 300,000 litres and plans sensors and AI.
AI and Wearable Devices for Type 2 Diabetes
A meta-review from the University at Buffalo examines AI-enhanced wearable devices for Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. The study finds predictive benefits and important limits, and calls for larger, more transparent studies before routine clinical use.