"Annie Lab is a fact-checking initiative at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong (HKU Journalism) in collaboration with ANNIE (Asian Network of News & Information Educators), a not-for-profit educational organization registered in Hong Kong (a company limited by guarantee: CR number 2890935). The University of Hong Kong is a publicly funded tertiary institution. The registration certificates of ANNIE are attached.

Information about our legal status and other eligibility can be found on this page:

https://annielab.org/about/ " 

The applicant is a  distinct unit within a legally registered organization, and details of this are easily found on its website. https://annielab.org/about/

"1. We established Annie Lab in October 2019 in order to investigate false claims, misleading factoids, exaggerations, propaganda, hoaxes, rumors, questionable content, and other types of misinformation and disinformation that are being masqueraded and distributed as news. We tried to create an environment that simulates a daily working newsroom. It is a hybrid of professional news organization and student training program based on the pedagogical models developed by ANNIE and supervised by faculty members of HKU Journalism.

2. We have two full-time guiding editors, one supervising editor, and one administrative assistant, all of whom are former journalists working at HKU Journalism as faculty members. About a dozen student reporters work in the newsroom every week in rotating shifts.

3. We have been regularly publishing fact-checking articles, about two stories per week on our main website ( http://annielab.org ) and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Since Annie Lab is tied to credit-bearing journalism courses, we also train our student reporters in classrooms. We also offer internship opportunities for entry-level journalists. Through HKU Journalism and ANNIE, our lab members are also engaging in public seminars, media literacy campaigns, research projects, and other related activities in the field of misinformation and fact-checking.

4. Our short-term goal now is to expand the project and have one more full-time guiding editor in order to help students produce fact-checking videos and other audio-visually-oriented content besides text and memes."

The applicant is set up exclusively for the purpose of fact-checking. Established in 2019, the applicant has been regularly publishing fact-checking articles, about two stories per week on its main website ( http://annielab.org). The applicant has two full-time guiding editors who lead a dozen student reporters working in the newsroom every week in rotating shifts.

" We publish in three written languages. Annie Lab has published 148 stories, out of which 106 articles are in English and 42 articles are in traditional or simplified Chinese (translated stories included). In other words, we have been publishing about two stories per week since its inception in October 2019.

All of our past stories are available on our website.  https://annielab.org/2021/ "

Since its inception in October 2019, the applicant has published 148 stories, about two stories per week.  

Stories published this year can be seen at:

https://annielab.org/2021/ 

Most stories in the previous three months I've gone through tackle issues and claims that are significant and relevant to public interests.

"Annie Lab’s operation is tied to credit-bearing journalism courses at the University of Hong Kong, a publicly funded tertiary institution. All expenses are part of the university budget and the lab has no separate accounting.

However, under the collaboration agreement, ANNIE donates a certain amount of money annually to the Journalism and Media Studies Centre in order to compensate for lab-specific expenses beyond regular coursework.

ANNIE is a registered company limited by guarantee with a not-for-profit structure in Hong Kong. Its annual report will be publicly available and searchable starting from late 2021 after its first tax filing (through the Hong Kong government’s Companies Registry — CR number 2890935).

HKU Journalism accepts direct donations from external funders; in 2020-21, it received the following donations specific to Annie Lab:

ANNIE: HK$380,000 (about US$49,000)

Google News Initiative: HK$120,000 (about US$15,000)

We have no relationship with any governmental or political organization."

We have no funding from local or foreign state or political sources.

"We do not take any political position or advocate for any course of action. Every fact check by students is subject to editorial scrutiny by the faculty members at the Journalism & Media Studies Centre. In the context of Hong Kong where political polarization has exacerbated since the street protest in June 2019, we have made a conscious effort to monitor claims from a wide variety of political positions. Loosely categorized, the public in Hong Kong can be divided into two camps -- pro-establishment (pro-government) and pan-democrats (pro-democracy movement). We have checked claims from both camps with the same rigor and frequency.

Checking claims from the pro-establishment camp, including the claims shared by Chinese government officials:

1. https://annielab.org/2021/06/18/false-this-photo-is-altered-taiwan-president-tsai-ing-wen-did-not-kneel-before-us-senators/ 

2. https://annielab.org/2021/05/25/false-this-simulation-video-does-not-show-japans-treated-water-from-fukushima-polluting-half-of-the-pacific-ocean-in-57-days/

3. https://annielab.org/2020/08/25/misleading-popular-coronavirus-origin-video-by-hong-kong-legislator-consists-of-unsubstantiated-conspiracy-claims/

4. https://annielab.org/2020/07/30/misleading-covid-19-vaccines-not-ready-for-clinical-comparison-or-pricing/

5. https://annielab.org/2020/06/30/misleading-this-photo-does-not-show-anti-police-education-in-a-classroom/

Checking claims from the pro-democracy movement camp:

1. https://annielab.org/2021/06/24/misleading-hong-kongs-radiation-levels-neither-exceeded-safety-limits-nor-increased-drastically-after-issues-reported-at-taishan-nuclear-plant/

2. https://annielab.org/2021/04/01/false-these-photos-are-manipulated-to-show-hong-kong-stars-holding-banners-in-support-of-xinjiang-cotton/

3. https://annielab.org/2021/03/01/false-this-picture-does-not-show-chinese-soldiers-helping-myanmars-military-destroy-the-internet/

4. https://annielab.org/2021/02/28/analysis-questions-about-carrie-lams-jab-syringe-was-filled-from-a-sinovac-vial/

5. https://annielab.org/2021/01/03/false-doj-did-not-argue-national-security-law-has-no-presumption-of-innocence/"

In the context of political polarization in Hong Kong, the applicant tries to consciously monitor claims from a wide variety of political positions. The stories the applicant chose clearly demonstrate its editorial stance of non-partisanship. The applicant applies the same standards consistently.

"We state on the page that Annie Lab does not take any political position or advocate for any course of action.

https://annielab.org/our-labels-standards/ 

Following is our methods and criteria:

- To judge something is true or false, we gather first-hand information and supporting evidence as much as possible.

- All evidence collected in the verification process will be included in the story with links, embeds, screen captures, or in other appropriate forms.

- Our story must be presented in such a way that the audience could replicate our process before reaching the conclusion.

We select potentially problematic claims by evaluating their probable harm (if not true). It is the first criterion when deciding what to fact check.

- The significance of misinformation is also assessed by its audience reach (the number of shares, comments, likes, views, etc.) in our process.

- Unless we are absolutely certain about the conclusion, we will not publish any story. "

The applicant publishes an explanation on its website to set out how it selects claims to check, here: https://annielab.org/our-labels-standards/

Verification methods and criteria are clear.

In view of what I have observed, the applicant doesn't show support for any party, any politician, or political candidate.

https://annielab.org/our-labels-standards/

The applicant explains its policies to preserve its non-partisan way of fact-checking.

"As indicated in the above sections, we are an independent fact-checking newsroom hosted at the University of Hong Kong and supervised by the faculty members of its journalism program.

The partner organization ANNIE, an educational not-for-profit entity in Hong Kong, was established by one of the faculty members to develop teaching and learning materials for news literacy education. To be exact, ANNIE is a registered company limited by guarantee with a not-for-profit structure and its annual report will be publicly available and searchable starting from late 2021 after its first tax filing through Hong Kong government’s Companies Registry — CR number 2890935.

ANNIE has not received any grants or funding but it has provided consultancy services for a fee. Its clients include Google News Initiative and Judith Neilson Insititute. It receives no funding or donation from a political or governmental entity."

The applicant is a fact-checking unit hosted at the University of Hong Kong and supervised by the faculty members of its journalism program.

 "Information is available at: https://annielab.org/about/

We state on the page: Annie Lab’s operation is tied to credit-bearing journalism courses at the University of Hong Kong, a publicly funded tertiary institution. All expenses are part of the university budget and the lab has no separate accounting.

However, under the collaboration agreement, ANNIE donates a certain amount of money annually to the Journalism and Media Studies Centre in order to compensate for lab-specific expenses beyond regular coursework.

ANNIE is a registered company limited by guarantee with a not-for-profit structure in Hong Kong. Its annual report will be publicly available and searchable starting from late 2021 after its first tax filing (through Hong Kong government’s Companies Registry — CR number 2890935).

HKU Journalism accepts direct donations from external funders; in 2020, it received the following donations specific to Annie Lab:

ANNIE: HK$380,000 (about US$49,000)

Google News Initiative: HK$120,000 (about US$15,000)"

The applicant has a page (the “Finance” section in the About US page) on their website detailing each source of funding.

"Information is available at: https://annielab.org/about/ 

Annie Lab offers a lab environment that simulates a working newsroom. It is a hybrid of professional news organization and student training program based on the pedagogical models developed by ANNIE and supervised by faculty members of HKU Journalism, all of whom are former journalists who have worked in various Asian countries.

Every fact check by students goes through editorial scrutiny by the faculty members at the Journalism & Media Studies Centre. Currently, we have three editors and one administrative faculty staff involved in Annie Lab every day."

"Information is available at: https://annielab.org/about/ 

- Cherry Lai / Guiding Editor

Cherry is a teaching assistant at HKU Journalism and works as one of the two guiding editors in Annie Lab. She joined the university in June 2020. Before beginning a career in teaching fact-checking, Cherry was a senior radio reporter at Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), covering healthcare policies and medical news. Cherry started her journalism career as a newspaper reporter at Mingpao.

- Purple Romero / Guiding Editor

Purple is a teaching assistant at HKU Journalism and also a guiding editor. As an experienced multimedia journalist, she has produced reports on the environment, gender issues, labor migration and foreign relations for such news organizations as Rappler, Channel News Asia, South China Morning Post and VICE. Before joining Annie Lab, Purple also worked as a member of the fact-checking team at AFP Philippines.

- Masato Kajimoto / Supervising Editor

Masato is an associate professor of practice at HKU Journalism and also the founder of ANNIE. He specializes in misinformation ecosystem research and development of pedagogical models, especially in the field of news literacy education including fact-checking. Before joining HKU, Masato worked as an online reporter and web producer at CNN International.

- Student reporters

All stories featured on our website are written by HKU students who work in shifts Monday through Friday under the editorial guidance of the faculty members. About a dozen students are involved in fact-checking every week. Each of our stories carries a byline that shows reporters’ names. For a sensitive story, however, we use “Annie Lab Team” byline for security concerns."

The applicant has a page (the “Staff” section in the About US page) on their website that details the professional biography of all those who play a significant part in its editorial output.

Information is available at: https://annielab.org/contact-us/

https://annielab.org/our-labels-standards/

On this page "Our Labels & Standards", the applicant publishes the methodology it uses to select, research, write and publish its fact checks.

In view of what I have observed, the applicant selects claims to check based primarily on the reach and importance of the claims.

"Besides the contact page ( https://annielab.org/contact-us/ ), we communicate with our users on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

However, the reality is that the majority of the requests so far have come from working professional journalists in Hong Kong and they would often message editors directly and personally. This is especially so because some of our stories are cross-posted by a local media outlet Citizen News ( https://www.hkcnews.com/triangles/blogger/ANNIE%20LAB-391 ).

Our user base is not as big as news media outlets and we have received only a handful of inquires about claims from the audience as of today. "

[Response] Thank you. We now understand this could be a language issue. The word "hotline," and "something fishy," indicate we are asking the users to send potentially problematic claims but it may not be obvious. To be crystal clear, we changed it to "Claim(s) to be checked (please provide the links, if available)" and also added another box for additional messages in the form.

[Original]

"Besides the contact page ( https://annielab.org/contact-us/ ), we communicate with our users on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

However, the reality is that the majority of the requests so far have come from working professional journalists in Hong Kong and they would often message editors directly and personally. This is especially so because some of our stories are cross-posted by a local media outlet Citizen News ( https://www.hkcnews.com/triangles/blogger/ANNIE%20LAB-391 ).

Our user base is not as big as news media outlets and we have received only a handful of inquires about claims from the audience as of today. "

The applicant encourages users to send in claims to check. 

"Every story comes with the following disclaimer, which is part of the site template.

Disclaimer: This is a student work. Although faculty members at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong have done everything possible to verify its accuracy, we cannot guarantee there are no mistakes. If you notice an error or have any questions, please email us at contact@annieasia.org.

Our correction policy is stated as follows at https://annielab.org/our-labels-standards/ 

When mistakes are made, we will correct the information in the original story with a clear indication of what has been changed. We will subsequently correct our relevant social media posts as well."

Our correction policy is stated as follows at https://annielab.org/our-labels-standards/ "When mistakes are made, we will correct the information in the original story with a clear indication of what has been changed. We will subsequently correct our relevant social media posts as well."

The Correction policy states that "When mistakes are made, we will correct the information in the original story with a clear indication of what has been changed. We will subsequently correct our relevant social media posts as well."

The Correction policy states that "When mistakes are made, we will correct the information in the original story with a clear indication of what has been changed. We will subsequently correct our relevant social media posts as well."

We are not a signatory.

The applicant is not an existing signatory

We are an independent fact-checking unit and not a part of a media company. 

The applicant states that it is an independent fact-checking unit and not a part of a media company.