Fact Crescendo is part of Crescendo Transcription Private Limited (CTPL). We are one of the leading facts checking organizations from India. We offer fact checking in various Indian mainstream and regional languages namely Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil, Gujarati, Bengali, Odia, Assamese and English. We also have a presence in Sri Lanka and Myanmar where we conduct fact check’s in Sinhalese, Tamil, Burmese and English.

Crescendo Transcription is a private limited company incorporated in India. Our services include fact checking, market research,language translation and transcription support services. We are a Start-Up company recognized by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade in India.

Fact Crescendo functions as an independent fact checking division and has an separate dedicated team that solely works on fact checking. We also work with various platforms to moderate content and fact-check content that is going viral and is likely to have an impact on the welfare or well-being of individuals, the general public or society.

For more detailed information on our company and operating procedures you can view the below links.

https://www.factcrescendo.com/aboutus/

https://factcrescendo.com/code-of-principles/

https://www.factcrescendo.com/ownership-and-funding-info/

Note: Please find attached our:

1. Certificate Of Incorporation

2. Self Attested letter stating that Fact Crescendo is CTPL's independent fact checking division. 

The applicant is a unit within a legally registered media organisation. Details of this are easily accessible on its website. 

• Fact Crescendo started operations in June 2018. We began the company with an intention of creating a platform to curb misinformation using regional mediums to boost awareness at the grassroots levels. There was a lot of fake news circulating in India at that point of time and there were very few organizations who were operational in the dedicated fact-checking space. With the upcoming elections in India in 2019 we understood that it was the need of the hour to create a platform that would help curb misinformation and protect society from the potential dangers of fake news.
• Fact Crescendo has a total employee strength of 28 people. The team comprises of fact-checkers, webmasters, video producers, editors, language editors, accounting and billing teams, community managers. A complete list with the names and profiles can be viewed through the following link:-  https://www.factcrescendo.com/aboutus/
• Crescendo Transcription Private Limited (CTPL) is the parent company of Fact Crescendo. Besides Fact Crescendo which is our Fact Checking division, CTPL offers services in market research ,language transcription and translations. 
  
• Our plan is to broaden our Fact Checking base by expanding our reach in additional regional Indian languages and leveraging our experience in other countries in the APAC region. This year we hope to extend our collaboration with new players in the social media space to broaden our fact checking field. We are also looking at setting up a full-fledged training vertical that would focus on training fact checkers in various Indian languages.
  

The website has been set up exclusively for fact checking. The applicant has explained the activities of the unit and the website. It has also clearly laid out its goals. 

FactCrescendo produces a large volume of fact-checks, mostly related to the viral claims trending on social platforms & claims submitted by our readers through various mediums.

In the attached spreadsheet, we have, provided some of our factchecks done in various Indian, Srilankan & Burmese languages between 19th September 2019 and 19th September 2020.

Also, the complete repository of factchecks can be viewed on our website under “Archives”

1. HINDI - https://www.factcrescendo.com/archives/ 
   
2. MARATHI - https://marathi.factcrescendo.com/archives/ 
   
3. MALAYALAM - https://www.malayalam.factcrescendo.com/ 
4. GUJARATI - https://gujarati.factcrescendo.com/ 
5. TAMIL - https://tamil.factcrescendo.com/archives/ 
6. ENGLISH - https://english.factcrescendo.com/ 
7. ODIA - https://odia.factcrescendo.com/archives/ 
8. ASSAMESE - https://assamese.factcrescendo.com/archives/ 
9. BANGLA - https://bangla.factcrescendo.com/archives/ 
10. SINHALA - https://srilanka.factcrescendo.com/archives/ 
11. SRILANKA (TAMIL) - https://srilanka.factcrescendo.com/tamil/archives/ 
12. BURMESE - https://myanmar.factcrescendo.com/archives/ 
    

The applicant regularly publishes fact checks, at least one a week, and has done so over the last year or so. 

Attached is a spreadsheet which have few of our Factchecks produced between June 2020 till Mid September 2020.

Most of the fact checks published by the applicant are in the public interest. 

This is not applicable to us – as Fact Crescendo does not have any commercial, financial and/or institutional relationship to the state, politicians or political parties in the country or countries we cover. We have not received any funding or support from foreign, local state or political actors.

You can check our ownership and funding info here - https://www.factcrescendo.com/ownership-and-funding-info/ 

You can check our commitment to non-partisanship here - https://www.factcrescendo.com/code-of-principles/

We have also attached our Financial Returns for year ending March 2020 for your reference. 

The applicant has explained that it has no financial relationships to the state or any political organisations. It has not received funding from any foreign or local state or political actors. 

This is not applicable as the organisation does not receive funding from state or political sources, local or foreign. 

1. https://www.factcrescendo.com/clipped-video-of-rahul-gandhis-yuva-aakrosh-rally-speech-viral/
   
2. https://www.factcrescendo.com/this-objectionable-banner-was-not-raised-in-jnu-rally/
   
3. https://www.factcrescendo.com/police-did-not-attempt-a-crackdown-in-shaheen-bagh/
   
4. https://english.factcrescendo.com/2020/04/22/fact-check-up-police-killed-a-muslim-boy-for-violating-lockdown/
   
5. https://www.factcrescendo.com/idbi-manager-was-assaulted-by-congress-members-not-shiv-sainiks/
   
6. https://www.factcrescendo.com/fact-check-epileptic-patient-in-kanpur-viral-as-coronavirus-patient/
   
7. https://www.factcrescendo.com/video-from-bangladesh-is-being-shared-as-protests-held-in-west-bengal/
   
8. https://www.factcrescendo.com/congress-mla-anil-upadhyay-gives-anti-congress-comments/
   
9. https://www.factcrescendo.com/false-claims-of-a-burqa-clad-rss-member-hoisting-pakistani-flag/
   
10. https://marathi.factcrescendo.com/old-photos-of-devendra-fadnavis-shared-as-his-recent-visit-to-coronavirus-patients/ 
    
11. https://marathi.factcrescendo.com/photoshopped-image-showing-beer-bottle-on-sharad-pawars-table-goes-viral/

The applicant uses the same standards of evidence for equivalent claims, regardless of who made the claim. It follows the same process for all fact checks. 

Fact Crescendo strives to maintain superior standards across all its fact checks. We meticulously follow the same methodology for every fact check and let the evidence dictate the conclusions.

To know how we select claims to check we request you to please visit - https://www.factcrescendo.com/methodology-2/ 

As an independent fact-checking website, Fact Crescendo follows a rigorous and fair process to ensure that the unbiased truth is presented to our readers and social media followers. All such fact-checking is done from a neutral standpoint without any prejudice to either party in keeping with the guidelines of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), Our competent journalists and researchers make sure that both online tools such as reverse searches, maps, Invid., streetviews etc and offline statements (if required) are captured in the stories to give our viewers a comprehensive and factual narrative based on factual supporting evidences.

Every story is cleared for publishing by the editorial head who ensures all the required evidences are listed

The commitment that Fact Crescendo abides by are listed in our Code of Principles which can be viewed on the below link.

https://www.factcrescendo.com/code-of-principles/

Please also find attached a self-attested letter for our non-partisan policy. 

The applicant has shared its methodology on its website. It explains how it selects claims to check. The applicant considers the reach and importance of the claims its selects and does not unduly concentrate on any one side. 

• https://www.factcrescendo.com/ (INDIA)
• https://srilanka.factcrescendo.com/ (SRILANKA)
  
• https://myanmar.factcrescendo.com/ (MYANMAR)
  

The applicant indicates the background and identifies the sources it quotes. Readers can easily understand if the sources have any relevant interests. 

• https://www.factcrescendo.com/  (INDIA)
• https://srilanka.factcrescendo.com/ (SRILANKA)
• https://myanmar.factcrescendo.com/ (MYANMAR)

The applicant is not affiliated to, nor shows any support for any party or politician. It does not advocate for or against any policy positions. 

Please find attached the scanned images of three sample documents. All employees employed with Fact Crescendo are required to sign these documents as a part of our company non-partisan policy.

1. Offer Letter – This is the letter given to a “Probable Hire”, this letter informs an incumbent that we at Fact Crescendo are ready to offer him/her a job at our organization and also mentions the terms and conditions of their employment. Under point number 7 you will see that we clearly inform the incumbent as to what is expected from them when it comes to being “non-partisan”. This way we are able caution our employees from being biased or involved in political parties or advocacy organizations.

2. Appointment letter - This is given to the employee once they finish the training / induction and other formalities. On page 2 point number 8 you will see that we clearly state that, if the employee has any association with a political party his/her employment can be terminated. This way we clearly ensure that our employees are not biased or involved in political parties or advocacy organizations.

3. Employee Hand Book – This is given to all employees once they join in. On page 4, under Code of Conduct, point 2 and 3 clearly mention that employees are not permitted to associate themselves with any political organizations, and must ensure that their fact checks are completely free for any individual bias .

All the above 3 documents are signed by the employee. Apart from this as a process we conduct employee background checks-Prior to hiring, we also do a check on the incumbent’s social media accounts like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and references to check if they are associated with any political organization etc. Only after they have cleared their background check do we proceed with their employment.

Please also find the link to our Nonpartisanship Policy mentioned in our Code of Principles which clearly underlines / states Fact Crescendo's policies as an organization.

https://factcrescendo.com/code-of-principles/ 

The applicant sets out its policy of non-partisanship on its site. Its employees have to sign non-partisanship clauses as part of their contracts and agreements.

Please find below the detailed description of the methodology we use, this gives all readers enough data to replicate the fact check.

You can find it here: https://factcrescendo.com/methodology-2/ 

Also, you can know more about our methodology by reading the part: Transparency of Methodology under Code of Principles.

To ensure we comply with this aspect we publish articles under 3 core headers:

1. Narrative in Social Media

2. Our Fact Check which includes our research with factual evidences, all our factchecks include an image card summarizing the factcheck claim and the facts based on evidences.

3. Conclusion which in a distinct box lines out the claim title, name of the fact-checker and the result. So that our readers can easily at one glance know the result of the fact-check.

This is done with the objective of making it simpler for readers to understand the “What,” “Who,” “When,” “Where,” “Why” & “How” of any article we publish. We include links of images, tweets, web-page, source name, source designation, source profile etc from an online archive www.archive.is where ever required or available. All this is done so that readers can easily verify the details themselves. We believe in the principle of Transparency in sources & methodology and we will continuously strive to improve our website so that readers can easily verify our information and have enough details so as to replicate our fact checks.

Please check the below articles for your reference:

Link 1: https://www.factcrescendo.com/fact-check-first-thermal-image-of-vikram-lander-released/

Link 2: https://www.factcrescendo.com/29-days-of-kashmir-shutdown-present-condition-of-people/

Link 3: https://www.factcrescendo.com/video-depicts-punjab-batala-blast/

Link 4: https://english.factcrescendo.com/2019/09/03/fact-check-jawaharlal-nehru-is-the-step-brother-of-sheikh-omar-abdullah-and-mohammad-jinnah/

Link 5: https://english.factcrescendo.com/2019/08/27/independence-day-celebration-in-london/

The applicant identifies all sources of evidence used in its fact checks. It provides links and users can replicate the fact checks. 

The applicant makes an effort to use primary sources. It does use secondary sources, too. 

The applicant checks most key evidence against more than one source. 

The applicant clearly identifies most sources and readers can easily understand whether the sources can influence the evidence provided. 

Fact Crescendo is the fact-checking section of Crescendo Transcription Private Limited (CTPL). We are a leading fact checking organization in India and offer fact checking in various Indian languages namely Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil, Gujarati, Bengali, Odia, Assamese and English. We also have a presence in Srilanka and Myanmar where we fact check in Sinhalese, Tamil, Burmese and English.

Crescendo Transcription is a private limited company incorporated in India providing fact checking, research and language translation and transcription services. We are a start-up recognized by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

Fact Crescendo is an independent fact checking division of CTPL and has a separate dedicated team solely working on fact checking. We work with various platforms to monitor content and fact-check content that is going viral and is likely to have an impact on the welfare or well-being of individuals, the general public or society.

Please check the below links for detailed information

https://www.factcrescendo.com/aboutus/ 

https://factcrescendo.com/code-of-principles/

https://www.factcrescendo.com/ownership-and-funding-info/

Please also find attached a letter stating that Fact Crescendo is a part of Crescendo Transcription Private Limited. And the company registration certificate of Crescendo Transcription Private Limited.

The applicant is a fact checking unit of a transcription services company. It has provided evidence of its legal registration as well as of the setting up of the unit.

Kindly refer to the link for our company details and funding details: 

https://www.factcrescendo.com/ownership-and-funding-info/

 The applicant has stated on its website that its funding comes from the parent organisation. It also makes it clear how it has been registered. 

Fact Crescendo is headed by a dedicated team including its founders Vinod Rathi and Rakhi Rathi. 

Please visit - https://www.factcrescendo.com/aboutus/ 

All the details of the team and their profiles are listed here.

The organization is headed by the founders Vinod Rathi and Rakhi Rathi. The editorial team is headed by Harish Nair who takes the position of the Managing Editor for Indian Languages, similarly we have Sahan Perera who heads and takes charge of Fact Crescendo Sri Lanka & Myanmar as a Managing Editor.

The names of the team members including language editors were updated in the About us section https://www.factcrescendo.com/aboutus/ post your feedback.

The link provided to the website sets out the team and its biographies, but does not provide an organisational structure that explains how and by whom editorial control is held. 

The link provided to the website sets out the team and its biographies. The editors are mentioned. 

Please visit - https://www.factcrescendo.com/aboutus/

This page has the professional biographies of those who play a significant part in our organization’s editorial output.

The applicant clearly lists out the professional biographies of its team members on its website. 

Below the profile of each team member their Email ID's are mentioned, this way anyone who wants to get in touch with anyone in the team can reach out to them immediately.

https://www.factcrescendo.com/aboutus/ 

The applicant encourages users to communicate with the editorial team. It lists out the email addresses of each member of the team so that readers can get in touch with them directly. 

Please visit - https://www.factcrescendo.com/methodology-2/ 

The applicant has a section on its website where it clearly explains it methodology. It explains how it selects, researches, writes and publishes fact checks. 

The applicant has checked most claims in the public interest. It checks claims based on the reach and importance of the claims and does, occasionally explain the reason for choosing the claim to check. 

In most of its fact checks, the applicant provides evidence that appears to support the claim as well as to undermine it. 

The applicant applies the same standards to evidence in equivalent claims, regardless of who made the claim. 

Where possible, the applicant has contacted the person who made the claim to seek supporting evidence, but has nevertheless gone ahead with the fact check. 

Readers can contact us or submit claim/news or even correction requests through these channels:

1. Comment Form in each post we publish on our website is provided at the end of the fact-check and at the start of each story there is a "Leave a comment" icon.

2. Contact Us Form on our 'Contact Us' Page.

3. Submit For Fact Check' Page (this page encourage users to send in claims to check, while making it clear what readers can legitimately expect will be fact-checked and what isn’t fact-checkable, the time frame for us to fact check the claim, the total number of user requests etc) - https://www.factcrescendo.com/factcheck/ 

4. Email us at info@factcrescendo.com / appeals@factcrescendo.com

5. Fact Checking Hotline / BOT: We have a Fact Crescendo WhatsApp number +91-9049053770.

6. Readers are invited to forward a new story or a message on various Fact Crescendo social media handles, that they would like to get fact-checked or corrected.

Our Social Media handles are listed on our website and are as below

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrescendoFactCheck/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FactCrescendo

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPhvZQreCvgcLCCr80jVM7A

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/factcrescendo/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/factcrescendo/

Overall, any reader can contact Fact Crescendo through multiple contact channels.

The applicant encourages users to send in claims to check, in various ways. It does so through the Contact Us page, as well as through a button that appears on the Home Page and at the end of each fact check. It also has a Submit for Fact Check page. The applicant provides a time frame for them to fact check the claim and indicates that the reader might want to read its policies to see what might be fact-checked and what might not be. 

Please visit - https://www.factcrescendo.com/correction-submission-policy/ 

The applicant has a section on its website that clearly states its corrections policy. 

https://www.factcrescendo.com/correction-submission-policy/ 

The policy sets out clearly what may or may not be corrected, as well as how major mistakes are handled. 

There have been only one correction that was made during the last year, in lieu of new evidences shared by one of our readers our story was corrected and due credits given to the reader. The correction was made public which is listed under

https://www.factcrescendo.com/correction-page/  

Where the applicant has made a mistake, it has made the correction quite transparently, explaining its mistake. Users can see both the original and the corrected versions. 

You can see this towards the end of both our policies at –

https://www.factcrescendo.com/code-of-principles/ 

https://www.factcrescendo.com/methodology-2/ 

The applicant makes it very clear on its website that if they believe the applicant is violating the IFCN code, they make inform the IFCN. It provides a link to the complaints page of the IFCN website. 

Fact Crescendo is the fact-checking section of Crescendo Transcription Private Limited (CTPL). Crescendo Transcription is a private limited company incorporated in India providing fact checking, research and language translation and transcription services. Fact Crescendo is the unit which does fact checking in CTPL. Please find attached the link to honest and open corrections policy of Fact Crescendo, our corrections page also enlist the corrections we have done since our inception.

Link to honest and open corrections policy - https://www.factcrescendo.com/correction-submission-policy/

Link to corrections page - https://www.factcrescendo.com/correction-page/ 

FactCrescendo is not a part of any Media company.

The parent company ”Crescendo Transcription Private Limited” (www.crescendotranscriptions.com) is an IT services company that specializes in providing support services to Market research companies related to Transcriptions & Translations.

FactCrescendo is an independent vertical of Crescendo Transcription Private Limited with a dedicated team of editors, fact-checkers, researchers producing fact-check articles.

Hence please find attached the link to honest and open corrections policy of Fact Crescendo, our corrections page also enlist the corrections we have done since our inception.

Link to honest and open corrections policy - https://www.factcrescendo.com/correction-submission-policy/

Link to corrections page - https://www.factcrescendo.com/correction-page/ 

The applicant has not provided a link to the parent company's corrections policy. Not sure if this criterion is applicable in this case. The applicant may please clarify. 

The applicant's parent company is not directly related to the media. Hence this criterion does not apply to it.