2024-11-15T15:17:19-08:00 2023-12-31 472626541 Cook & Company A Prof Actcy Corporation One Sansome St Ste 3500 San Francisco CA 94104 990 2023-01-01 204504068 Meedan Inc MEED 4154972900 575 Market Street 4th Floor San Francisco CA 94105 Edward Bice CEO 2024-11-15 true true Douglas Cook PhDMPACPA P01521705 4156211112 2023 2024-10-15 13:58:12Z Edward Bice 7679114 false X http://meedan.com X 2006 CA To strengthen journalism, digital literacy and information accessible for global communities. 6 3 22 0 2893774 3910249 2879687 3736313 260 31371 3812 1181 5777533 7679114 369820 980891 0 1910893 2171251 17500 72901 3087193 3706641 5367906 6876283 409627 802831 3741345 4739525 486064 681413 3255281 4058112 X To strengthen journalism, digital literacy and information accessible for global communities. false false 3835242 742761 3736313 Check - Received substantial enhancements, amplifying its functionality and user experience. The introduction of multimedia newsletters revolutionized content delivery, offering users dynamic and engaging updates across various formats. Integrating multimedia resources has also improved communication between organizations and their audience by offering new formats of content. Advanced metrics provided valuable insights into the impact of these new features on user engagement, facilitating informed decision-making and strategy refinement. The incorporation of conversation history functionality and custom/manual message replies also allowed partners to better understand demands and have deeper engagement within the community. Initiated the implementation of foundational versions of new significant features, which are expected to evolve in 2024, aimed at enhancing content sharing and user experience on tiplines. This includes the introduction of sharing features and Natural Language Understanding capabilities. Sharing features will facilitate seamless content distribution among users, fostering collaboration and information dissemination. Meanwhile, Natural Language Understanding will elevate user interactions by enabling more intuitive and efficient communication between partners and their audience. Migrated all WhatsApp tiplines from a third-party service to the WhatsApp Cloud API, managed directly by Meedan. This move offers partners greater control, security, and customization options, reducing dependency on third-party platforms. Direct management ensures seamless stability, integration, scalability and access to the latest features. Implemented a new solution for automatically importing partners' content into the Check platform by supporting their integrations with the Check API, which is more stable and scalable. 1872030 222578 Check Global - The Check Global program is to date a proud network of 130 community-led organizations across North Africa Western Asia, SubSaharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and South-Asia. Launched the Syria-Turkey earthquake response partnerships to tackle crisis misinformation: Teyit, a fact-checking initiative from Turkey, received core financial support from Meedan, allowing them to continue producing critical fact-checks as well as localizing the content to make it available for Arabic-speaking communities. Fatabyyano, a fact-checking initiative covering over 19 Arabic-speaking countries, disseminated the material translated by Teyit and shared this info with its audience of more than 1 million Arabic speakers. Additionally, Fatabyyano launched Kinan, its emergency tipline, on WhatsApp and Messenger using Meedan's Check software. This is the first Check tipline for an Arabic-speaking audience. Published ?The Future is Ours? zine highlighting our partners? achievements under the Check Global program. These encompass media literacy in journalism, both online and offline, news deserts, content moderation, takedowns and the sustainability of archival records. ?Democracy at risk? is another focus area, encompassing media security and plurality as well as internet shutdowns and election monitoring. The booklet also delves into gender-related concerns, including violence against women, hate speech, LGBTQ+ issues and offline communities. Collaborated with academics at six institutions in Brazil, and with long-time partner Birmingham City University (BCU), on a pilot project titled ?Tabletop Games Against Fake News.? The effort aimed to test the use of analog games ? including board, card and role-playing games, as well as other formats ? in discussing media literacy and critical thinking. 260964 Digital Health Lab - In collaboration with PEN America, published a report detailing limitations and improvements to user reporting systems for harmful content on social media, to reduce the impacts of hate speech and harassment. Health Desk, providing explainers written by scientists, now has 449 published articles with accessible health content for journalists and fact-checkers covering urgent health topics, altogether serving 40+ newsrooms, large and small, around the world. Strengthening UNICEF?s Laaha platform, we have published a report detailing content moderation infrastructure for 2 user forums they developed in support of women and girls facing gender-based violence. Conducted qualitative interviews in collaboration with Birmingham City University detailing the impacts of vicarious trauma among fact-checkers as well as mitigation approaches, analysis of data and research publication forthcoming. We are now active members technology policy groups, the Coalition Against Online Violence and Steering Committee members of the Partnership on AI?s AI and Media Integrity Initiative, working with other stakeholders at the forefront of digital innovations to ensure they are being developed with equity, and public health harm reduction principles in mind. Completed the data collection and cleaning phases of a research study using text similarity methods to understand discrepancies between the information people need and what is available to them, examining content across languages to serve diverse communities. 44650 6012886 true true false false false false false false false false true false false false false false true false false true true false false true false false false true false true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true 15 0 true 22 true false false false false false false false 0 false false false false false false false X 6 3 false false false false false false false true false false false true true true true true true true true false CA X Edward Bice 4154972900 575 Market Street 4th Floor San Francisco CA 94105 Edward Bice Chair CEO 40.00 0.00 X X 170948 0 39974 Brian Fleming Senior UX Designer 40.00 0.00 150583 0 23874 Pierre Forcioli-Conti Direct. of Product 40.00 0.00 171682 0 1417 Aaron Huslage Dir Syst. Sec Eng 40.00 0.00 143228 0 16887 Dwight Knell Operations Director 40.00 0.00 X 143362 0 14255 Devin Gaffney Machine Lrng Eng 40.00 0.00 125891 0 29305 Doci Mou Sr Infrastr Eng 40.00 0.00 114789 0 29125 John Corshen Treasurer 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Hanan Heakal Secretary 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Zeynep Tufekci Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Tim Hwang Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Maria Ressa Director 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 1020483 154837 7 false true false Natalie Gyenes 575 Market Street 4th Flr San Francisco CA 94105 program services 155938 Scott Hale 575 Market Street 4th Flr San Francisco CA 94105 research 152605 Caio Sacramento De Britto Almeida 575 Market St Flr 4 San Francisco CA 94105 engineering services 148924 Saber CC Ltd 81 Oakfield Rd B12 9PY Birmingham United Kingdom UK B12 9PY programs 131883 Hood & Strong 275 Battery St Suite 900 San Francisco CA 94111 accounting services 128900 5 3910249 3910249 Program service fees 900099 3736313 3736313 3736313 31371 31371 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Other income 1181 1181 1181 7679114 3736313 32552 X 980891 980891 0 0 0 368537 145535 208238 14764 0 1479998 1391073 89623 -698 45637 39047 -1394 7984 128104 133095 3248 -8239 148975 125184 22855 936 0 56860 56860 267618 267618 0 17500 17500 0 2634598 2530596 65221 38781 0 48473 40786 7641 46 429767 411723 17539 505 0 37893 22799 14950 144 180101 167129 12034 938 0 11423 10720 700 3 0 0 6983 6399 510 74 20822 12660 8016 146 Miscellaneous 12103 -4751 16837 17 0 6876283 6012886 790496 72901 796474 191492 1125481 2926540 1451675 1062575 266349 491041 0 0 0 0 81825 53165 27553 18328 13092 9225 0 0 0 0 6449 5487 3741345 4739525 278901 451297 207163 230116 486064 681413 X 1685902 1810896 1569379 2247216 3255281 4058112 3741345 4739525 802831 X false true X true false X 2201812 2374837 2974769 2893774 3910249 14355441 0 0 2201812 2374837 2974769 2893774 3910249 14355441 3451670 10903771 200 164 37 260 31371 32032 0 0 14387473 11049486 0.75790 0.89770 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 27553 18328 9225 9225 7679114 7679114 7679114 6876283 6876283 6876283 true Central America & Caribbean 0 0 Program services See Part V 28000 East Asia / Pacific 0 12 Program services See Part V 198819 Europe/Iceland/Greenland 0 7 Program services See Part V 578789 Middle East/North Africa 0 2 Program services See Part V 322400 North America 1 26 Program services See Part V 265952 South America 0 8 Program services See Part V 488705 South Asia 0 3 Program services See Part V 182955 Sub-Saharan Africa 0 4 Program services See Part V 149034 1 62 1 62 2214654 2214654 false false false false false false Part I, Line 2 - Grantmakers Explanation For Monitoring Use of Funds Outside US The organization requires grantees to report against standards including ISA 800/805 for grantees supported under European Donor Agencies. For performance and impact reporting we require partners submit qualitative and quantitative reports. Part I, Line 3f - Method of Accounting Amounts are presented on the accrual basis of accounting. X X X true Gallagher Group LLC 750 COLUMBUS AVE 11K New York NY 10025 consulting false 17500 17500 CA true The State Univ of New Jersey 33 Knightsbridge Rd Rm C281 Piscataway NJ 08854 226001086 St Univ New Jersey 131263 0 Develop fact-checking tools Univ of Colorado Boulder 584 UCB 584 UCB Boulder CO 80309 846000555 Univ of Colorado 58957 0 Develop fact-checking tools UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST 181 PRESIDENTS DR AMHERST MA 01003 542084125 Univ Massachusetts 277311 0 Develop fact-checking tools UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT 2016-2098 HILLSIDE RD MANSFIELD CT 06269 060772160 Univ of Connecticut 147542 0 Develop fact-checking tools UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 3160 CHESTNUT ST PHILADELPHIA PA 19104 231352685 Univ of Pennsylvania 127688 0 Develop fact-checking tools 5 0 Grantmaker's Description of How Grants are Used Our organization monitors the use of grant funds in the U.S. through established procedures. These procedures include regular review of financial records to ensure compliance, tracking of expenses to budget, and communication with grantees to address any concerns or questions. We strive to maintain transparency and accountability in our use of grant funds. X false false false false false false false true false Aaron Huslage Dir Syst. Sec Eng 140400 2828 9792 7095 160115 Brian Fleming Senior UX Designer 145933 4650 22500 1374 174457 Devin Gaffney Machine Lrng Eng 122222 3669 22500 6805 155196 Dwight Knell Operations Director 137850 5512 7166 7089 157617 Edward Bice Chair CEO 163661 7287 9478 30496 210922 Pierre Forcioli-Conti Direct. of Product 168317 3365 1417 173099 Part I, Line 7: Non-Fixed payments not listed above Bonuses are distributed on a three point scale each year (2%, 3%, or 4% of annual salary) and they are performance-based. After these calculations are made, a few are adjusted for equity purposes. The following employees identified on Form 990 Part VII Section A Line 1a received bonuses in 2023: Edward Bice ($7,287), Dwight Knell ($5,512), Brian Fleming ($4,650), Pierre Forcioli-Conti ($3,365), Aaron Huslage ($2,828), Devin Gaffney ($3,669), and Doci Mou ($2,496). Form 990, Part III, Line 4d OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 4: Gendered Disinformation - In 2023 we rolled out two cross-regional initiatives with women-led groups to document and capture gendered disinformation in their communities. The first initiative, with a focus on South Asia, aims to investigate the spread of gendered disinformation in India and Pakistan with the support of the Sexual Violence and Research Initiative. We have partnered with leaders in the fields of digital safety, fact-checking and feminist reporting ? The Quint and Chambal Media in India and the Digital Rights Foundation in Pakistan ? to define, identify, document and annotate a high-quality dataset of gendered disinformation in online spaces and to build case studies to develop a better understanding of the issue in the region. In the second initiative, ?Understanding trends in gendered disinformation during elections," we are collaborating with the Digital Rights Foundation (Pakistan) as well as with the Africa Women Journalism Project (Togo) and a new partner Ecofeminita (Argentina) to collate data from messaging tiplines hosted on our Check platform. The goal is to develop in-depth case studies across diverse countries and languages. This cross-regional approach is meant to bring feminist groups from the Larger World together to build a shared yet layered understanding of gendered disinformation in their communities and to cross-learn how technology can be adopted to address the issue. Partners learn from each other, but there is no single blueprint for rolling out the strategies. Given that gendered disinformation is a complex topic, partners have been using different strategies, including offline training, network building, localization and video tutorials. In Togo, we identified a need for offline training of volunteers, and in Pakistan, the partners have taken up targeted promotion of the tipline among their network. In Argentina, the biggest challenge was the limited time in rolling out the project ahead of the elections. With the conclusion of elections in Argentina and Pakistan, we are focusing on producing country reports that capture insights on gendered disinformation during elections. Once the Togolese elections are over, we will produce a cross-country report capturing trends of gendered disinformation across countries and languages. With insights on our work on gendered disinformation, we submitted an input into the report on gendered disinformation to the consultations of the UN Special Rapporteur?s report on Freedom of expression and the gender dimensions of disinformation. The input was sent to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 5: Research - Meedan research is a two-way bridge incorporating theoretical advancements and the latest in AI into our products while defining new research problems based on our partners' needs. Our most significant efforts in 2023 were on executing our Co?Insights project: Co?Insights is a convergence of computational social science and ethnographic inquiry with a unique platform that enables community, fact-checking, and academic organizations to work together to respond effectively and contextualize information for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. These communities are dramatically underserved by current efforts due to the variety of languages involved, the use of alternative platforms, and the limited understanding of the diverse social issues affecting the many ethnic groups within the broad umbrella of AAPI. The work on this project has been focused on understanding community needs and prototyping software. As such we?ve not had a large number of publications in 2023, but anticipate more in 2024. One publication from 2023 was Query Rewriting for Effective Misinformation Discovery (AACL 2023). Form 990, Part VI, Section A, Line 8b There are no committees authorized to act on behalf of the board of directors. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b Circulated to board, and draft approved before filing. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c At each contracting event, the Meedan Board of Directors is informed of any potential conflict of interest. If the Board determines there is a conflict of interest it will deliberate on this matter, excluding from deliberations and voting any BOD member participating in this conflicted interest. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15a The Board reviews the CEO's contract and compensation annually, utilizing Indeed and Glassdoor compensation data as a guide. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15b The Board reviews the CEO's contract and compensation annually, utilizing Indeed and Glassdoor compensation data as a guide. Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 The Form 990 is available for download on Guidestar. Other documents shall be made available upon request.