First Check runs under the banner of Health Analytics Asia. It is owned and run by OW DataLeads, which is legally registered in New Delhi, India as a private limited (media) company. Our registration incorporation certificate number is U72900DL2018PTC334085. It is founded by Syed Nazakat, an award-winning journalist and media entrepreneur https://firstcheck.in/about-us/

The applicant is a team within a legally registered organization and details of the parent organisation’s registration are easily available on its website. 

1) We published our first 'fact-checked' story on July 26th, 2019 after we launched Health Analytics Asia on July 12th, 2019. The platform is dedicated to cover health-related subjects with focus on data and fact-checking. A unique aspect of our initiative is that we work and collaborate with healthcare experts in the process of story-telling. As a dedicated health fact-checking initiative, First Check is a unique, collaborative global project in terms of its format and approach. It brings together journalists, doctors and technologists to identify and combat medical misinformation, rumours and unscientific claims. From vaccines and infectious viruses to cancer drugs and lifestyle diseases, there are thousands of false health news stories, hoaxes and rumours flooding the internet - which pose serious threat to public health. 

At First Check, we debunk unscientific health claims. We investigate, research and verify dubious claims and fake information gaining momentum on social media and traditional media. We provide scientific health-related information on a wide range of public health issues.

2) The fact check team consists of 12 members. Besides our editorial team we have 49 volunteer fact-check members who are doctors, public health researchers and data scientists from 23 countries across the world. Details about our editorial team are here: https://firstcheck.in/about-us/ and details about our volunteer doctors and members can be found here: https://firstcheck.in/meet-our-fact-checkers/

3) First Check primarily focusses on fact-checking medical misinformation. DataLEADS, the parent company, runs India's largest fact-checking training network, which is funded and supported by Google News Initiative. The network has so far trained 21,000+ journalists, media educators, fact-checkers and journalism students in more than 10 languages across India, benefitting hundreds of newsrooms and universities. The network’s activities have also led to the launch of many key fact-checking initiatives, helped them become a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) and have resulted in an exponential surge in the number of fact-checking stories across languages and platforms. DataLEADS also runs Health Analytics Asia, a multimedia platform committed to putting the spotlight on the latest in health across Asia.

4) Over the course of the coming year, our goal is to further strengthen our global network of journalists, fact-checkers, researchers and doctors to combat the growing challenge of health misinformation. Our endeavour is to make First Check a platform that amplifies scientific conversations and enables powerful collaborations in this evolving public health space. We hosted the third edition of our flagship Misinformation in Medicine Summit earlier this year. The virtual event brought together 230+ participants and delegates – policy makers, government officials, WHO team members, journalists, fact checkers and health professionals – from 45+ countries. We plan to make it bigger - in terms of numbers and impact - in the next edition. 

The website focuses on debunking medical misinformation, while its parent organization runs fact-checking training programmes. It has been hosting Misinformation in Medicine meetings, which it plans to expand. 

We have been publishing one or more fact-check stories a week since 2019, except during our annual year-end break. You may find all the details in the file attached.

The applicant has published an average of one fact check a week over the past year. 

All our fact-check stories can be found here: https://firstcheck.in/fact-checked/

Most of the applicant’s fact checks focus on claims related to misinformation around health and are in the public interest. 

NIL

The applicant is not influenced by the government, a political party or a politician.

Not Applicable. 

It has made it clear that it does not receive funding from any political sources—local or foreign. 

The applicant checks claims using the same standards of evidence and judgement for equivalent claims, regardless of who made the claim. 

Fact-checking health and medical misinformation is at the heart of First Check. We focus on how bad science or lack of understanding often misleads people to seek solace in unscientific practices and home remedies, deny vaccination, fall into the trap of misleading advertisements about life-threatening diseases. With clear and unbiased fact-checking measures, we cover claims dealing with different aspects of public health and medicine: https://firstcheck.in/methodology/

In the process of fact-checking, we consider the following:

1) Is the statement, content, video or text misleading?

2) Is the content, video or social media message gaining wide popularity?

3) Is the content, video or social media message harmful?

4) Has it been already fact-checked? If yes, is there a scope to explain the science behind it which might have been missed in the earlier fact-check.

5) Would a typical person read it and immediately believe it thereby causing real-world harm?

The applicant considers the reach and importance of the claims it selects to check; it has a statement on its website about its methodology, and it does not concentrate on any one side. 

Sources are clearly indicated so that the reader knows the interests of the sources. 

The applicant is not affiliated to and does not show support for any political party or candidate and does not advocate for any policy positions. 

You may like to see this: https://firstcheck.in/non-partisan-policy/

The applicant has an explicit non-partisanship policy for its staff that makes it clear that they cannot bring in their biases to their work. The policy is available on its website. 

Most sources of evidence are identified by the applicant, with adequate links provided. Readers can replicate their work and see for themselves the process through which the applicant arrived at the outcome of the fact check. 

The applicant mainly uses primary sources of evidence, but it does, once in a while use secondary sources. 

Most elements of claims are checked against more than one named source of evidence. 

The sources are clearly identified so that the reader is in no doubt about them. 

First Check is a flagship fact-checking initiative of Health Analytics Asia, which is run by OW DataLeads, an independent media organisation, registered as a private limited company in India. We do not accept donations or any support/funding from political/religious parties or from the government.

OW DataLeads Pvt Ltd is a for profit entity and gets its income from content creation, media literacy and fact-checking training, media events, and data visualisation as well as our membership programme of Health Analytics Asia.

You may check like to check the certificate of incorporation here: https://firstcheck.in/incorporation-and-partnership/

The applicant has listed out each source of funding that accounts for 5% or more of total revenue for its previous financial year. It also has the legal form in which the organization is registered.

You may like to check our parent company's 'About Us' page to know more about our ownership https://dataleads.co.in/about-us

In the About Us page, the applicant has clearly mentioned that it is a fact-checking unit of a media house that works in the area of fact-checking training.

Award-winning journalist Syed Nazakat is the founder of the organization and Jisha Krishnan is the Editor of First Check. You can find details about them here: https://firstcheck.in/meet-our-fact-checkers/ and about the editorial team here: https://firstcheck.in/about-us/

The applicant’s website sets out its organizational structure and makes it apparent how and by whom editorial control is exercised.

Here is a brief profile of all our team members, their roles and interests: https://firstcheck.in/about-us/

Professional biographies of all who play a significant role in its editorial output have been detailed on the website. 

We encourage our users to contact us via email, telephone and contact us forms which are under the 'Contact Us' section here: https://firstcheck.in/contact-us/

The applicant has a Contact Us page clearly indicated on its website for users to communicate with the team. It also has clearly visible social media handles for readers to follow or write to the team.

We have mentioned our methodology in detail on the First Check website here: https://firstcheck.in/methodology/

The applicant’s website makes states the methodology it uses to select, research and publish fact checks. 

Nearly all claims chosen by the applicant are in the public interest. Where possible the applicant explains the reason to choose the claim.

While checking claims the applicant sets out relevant evidence that appears to support the claim and evidence that appears to undermine it. 

The same standards are applied to evidence on equivalent claims, irrespective of who made the claim.

Where possible, the applicant makes an effort to contact those who made the claim to seek supporting evidence. Nevertheless, it does go ahead and continues with its fact-checks. 

Readers send us suggestions via the form on the home page of our website (https://firstcheck.in/), by email (hello@firstcheck.in), as well as on our dedicated WhatsApp number (+91 9311223145). 

We fact-check these submissions by readers. However, as we can’t feasibly check all claims, we select the most newsworthy ones based on editorial judgment, subject relevance and interest.

We only check claims that are related to public health and health-related misinformation.

We also examine impact and virality of the claims - Would a typical person read it and immediately believe it thereby causing real-world harm?

The applicant encourages readers to send in claims to check; a statement on its website makes it clear what is and what is not fact-checkable. 

If we make an error we correct it and notify it at the bottom of the article. Here is our correction policy: https://firstcheck.in/correction-policy/

The applicant’s correction policy is accessible on the organisation’s website. 

The policy clearly states what it covers, how major mistakes are handled. It has been largely adhering to the policy

There has been no correction request in the previous year. 

The applicant has said that it has had no occasion in the past year to make any corrections. 

You may like to see this: https://firstcheck.in/about-us/

The applicant is an existing signatory of the IFCN Code of Principles. On its website it provides a link to the IFCN Complaints policy page so that users can inform the IFCN if they feel the applicant is violating the code.

Health Analytics Asia has a clear and honest corrections policy, it can be read here: https://www.ha-asia.com/correction-policy/

The applicant’s parent organization, too, has an open corrections policy.