Ecuador teams build tech to fight election disinformationCEFR B1
28 Mar 2025
Adapted from Melissa Vida, Global Voices • CC BY 3.0
Photo by Hartono Creative Studio, Unsplash
A local chapter of Hacks Hackers in Ecuador was revived after conversations between Ivan Terceros, a co-founder of Openlab, a journalist and a communications consultant. The group had organised events in 2021 and planned a larger set of activities in early 2024 ahead of a presidential runoff.
On February 19 the conference "Artificial Intelligence and Disinformation during Elections" took place at the Simón Bolívar Andean University. Speakers, including Jorge Cruz Silva, Luciana Musello and Danghelly Zúñiga, discussed how AI, bots and organised networks amplify false news and how disinformation can act as a structured business.
On February 22–23 a hackathon at PUCE brought together about 60 participants — developers, data scientists, journalists and researchers — who worked on three challenges: AI-powered fact-checking, transparency in campaign funding and analysis of digital narratives. Three teams won prizes, received mentoring and later presented their projects to seek further support.
The winning projects included Goddard, VeritasAI and PillMind. Organisers plan to develop the prototypes further and continue activities through 2025 to build tools and spaces for debate on disinformation.
Difficult words
- revive — start again after a period of inactivityrevived
- chapter — local group of an organisation or network
- disinformation — false information spread to deceive people
- amplify — make something stronger or more widespread
- hackathon — event where people build tech projects quickly
- participant — person who takes part in an eventparticipants
- prototype — early model of a product or projectprototypes
- transparency — open and clear information about actions
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- Which of the three hackathon challenges would you like to work on, and why?
- Do you think events at universities help public discussion about AI and elections? Why or why not?
- How could prototypes from these projects help journalists or the public respond to disinformation?
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