The media startup “Buzzard” goes to schools with a news app. With it, young people should learn in class to expose conspiracy theories and burst opinion filter bubbles, as the Berlin startup announced on Monday at the start of the dpa. The app shows various points of view on current topics from newspapers, magazines, social media and web blogs from the entire spectrum of opinion in an overview and offers journalistic classifications to positions.

Ten pilot schools from several federal states are initially participating in the app, as it was said. Teachers and students can use the app in political and social studies classes. The app is free of charge for schools, and foundations are involved in the financing. Other users pay reduced 3, 50 euros per month or optionally 5, 8, 20 or 80 Euro. The first 14 days is free to use.

“The Buzzard” brought launched its first news app in May. Since the end 2016, the media startup from Leipzig, which is now based in Berlin, had been working on the project. Here, too, the aim is to show the diversity of perspectives in debates and to classify incorrect information. The idea was supported by many prominent journalists and there were also several prizes. A crowdfunding campaign found many supporters within a short time.

Bubbles and fakes on social media “Young people almost use it only their smartphone to find out about world events and many read the news mainly via social media. There, however, filter bubbles and fake news lurk, “said startup co-founder Dario Nassal. Co-founder Felix Friedrich added: “Using the example of the USA, we can see how bad the social division is for a democracy. But in this country too, during Corona, more and more people are increasingly living in their bubbles.”

Algorithms based on machine learning could hardly show users why they are viewing certain content, and certainly not play out pro and contra arguments as such, say the company founders. The content is selected and compiled by a team around the founders. A short press review, recommendations on individual perspectives and the reasons why they propose articles appear in a tile look. However, due to the amount of work involved, there is a time delay in being up-to-date.

At Buzzard, there are no suggestions for personalization based on usage behavior. Users can follow certain topics. Instead of a like button, there is an “aha effect button” that can be set by anyone who had such a moment while reading. In retrospect, readers get a list of the opened articles, so they can control themselves: Have I always followed particularly conservative media on a topic? Have I allowed counter-arguments? The function can also be switched off. ( with material from dpa ) /

(anw)