Youturn is a legally registered organization that is set up exclusively for the purpose of fact-checking operating in Tamil Nadu, India. The same along with the registration certificate is available for the users to view on the about us page of our website. Please find the link where the registration certificate is displayed - https://youturn.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/YouTurn-Registration-2.pdf

From March 2022, Youturn is a unit of People Awareness Educational Trust, Trust has been registered for the purpose of educating and creating awareness on fake news. All the assets has been transferred to Trust by the proprietor and trust is managed by trustee.   

The applicant is a legally registered organization, and details of this information are available on its website. It has recently been taken over by a Trust. 

1. In 2015, Social media was booming and creating a huge impact all around. Exactly around that year in Tamil Nadu, Chennai floods happened and brought people together around via social media. But at the same time, several rumors that were going rounds majorly in social media impacted society negatively. This made us fact-check the claims that are viral in social media which would have a severe impact on people if it goes without debunking. There were several claims during this critical time that were fake, myths, conspiracy stories were circulated as real news on social media. This paved a way for us to kick start fact-checking which was a need of the hour then. We got ourselves registered in 2017 officially. Our mission is to fact-check media content in a transparent, unbiased manner and to create awareness of fake news.

2. We are a team of 10 full-time employees and a team of advisors in their field of expertise (like Doctors, Polices officials, Lawyers, and IAS/IPS officers).

It is our Founder’s thought to form this organization and he plays a major role in creating a framework for fact-checking and guiding the team.

The editor takes care of the complete editorial part and manages the social media pages, Google News Initiative training, training students on fact-checking and other such events.

Our Video Editor works on creating memes (Images and Videos) for each fact-check in an easy way to reach social media (FB pages, Instagram and Twitter), followers. Sub-Editor is the one who creates and publishes all fact-checked articles.

Research Analysts assist in fact-checking the claims and gathering sources of information with the help of technology.

Expertise Advisors will be reached on a need basis to seek advice and clarity on sensitive topics (Eg: COVID-19 related fake news (on medicines and treatments) were debunked and reviewed with doctors before publishing sensitive information).

3. YouTurn’s main activity is fact-checking. Our activities revolve around fact-checking and publishing the claims that we receive, respond to those who submit a claim, suggestions or feedback, publish the same fact-checked articles in the form of Images (Memes) and videos for easy understanding, involve in Google News Initiative training, train students on fact-checking, attend fact-checking related interviews. We also create and publish general news articles apart from fact-checking and are categorized under “Articles” on the website.

Other Activities:

Youturn also created and released the Rubimath app with the help of Tech volunteers (Android mobile app which has maths tutorial video by Maths teacher - Rubi Teresa) for students to learn maths in an easy way.

https://youturn.in/articles/rubi-teacher-easy-maths.html

YouTurn Editor (Iyan Karthikeyan) also conducted self-defense classes for women safety under “Kuyili Program” at Corporate level.

4. We are on track in publishing a minimum of 15 fact-checked articles per week in Tamil and English. The major goal for us this year is to increase the volume of articles and to expand our fact-check to national level. We are also planning to publish videos in English which we have not done earlier. So our goal for this year is to reach people who do not understand Tamil and to fact check claims that is viral nationally stepping ahead to impact people nationally. 

The organisation has been set up exclusively for the purpose of fact-checking. It has now moved on beyond its original language of Tamil into fact checking in English, as well, in the hope of expanding its scope nationally.

We are constantly publishing no less than 15 fact-checked articles per week since our initiation in 2017. This link gives the complete list of fact checks that we have done so far - https://youturn.in/category/factcheck.

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

On average, 85% to 90% of our fact-checks are focussing on the claims related to issues that have an impact on society. The rest of the fact-checks are focusing on the claims related to History and Literature in order to make people understand the truths and myths.

Most of its fact checks focus on claims around issues that could impact the general public. 

Youturn is an independent organization, a unit of People Educational Awareness Trust, that relies completely on advertising revenue, income from the articles that get published and donations. We do not have any commercial, financial and/or institutional relationship to the state, politicians or political parties in India or all over the world. We also have not received and will not receive any financial support from foreign as well as local state or political actors.

The applicant is quite independent of any political party or politicians. It has made a statement that it does not receive any funding from any political party—local or foreign. 

We are not receiving funding from local or foreign state or political sources.

This does not apply because it does not receive any funding from any political entity. 

We fact-check claims no matter if it supports or against any party or person. We also fact-check all the claims and create articles providing the sources that support the fact-checks. The sources that we refer are authenticate, hence maintaining high standards. We follow the same essential process in fact-checking any claim say political or medical or whatever category it belongs to. Also please refer to the ‘Proof Links’ column that lists the sources referred at the end of each article, and sometimes proof links are hyperlinked to the content for the users to verify it then and there. All our fact-checked articles maintain the same process and standard and the same can be checked in the Factcheck section of our webpage. Below is the list of 10 fact-checked articles published over the past year that demonstrates our non-partisanship. We have listed sample articles in which the claims were made by reputed news channel/person/authority, claims that supports and against state and national ruling political parties, religion, etc., 

1. https://youturn.in/factcheck/ground-water-payment-jalshakt.html

2. https://youturn.in/factcheck/1400-years-old-computer-carved.html

3. https://youturn.in/factcheck/chennai-mayor-priya-rajan.html

4. https://youturn.in/factcheck/curd-tryptophan-chemical-brain.html

5. https://youturn.in/factcheck/actor-surya-1-crore-irular-trust.html

6. https://youturn.in/factcheck/electric-cremation-gst-bjp.html

7. https://youturn.in/factcheck/fastag-smart-watch-scanner-robbery.html

8. https://youturn.in/factcheck/statue-of-equality-china-sterlite.html

9. https://youturn.in/factcheck/india-commonwealth-medals-bjp.html

10. https://youturn.in/factcheck/varisu-vijay-otto-poster-copy.html

The applicant uses the same standards of evidence and judgment for equivalent claims, regardless of who made the claim. 

Please refer Category – ‘Fact-Checking Methodology’ on this link - https://youturn.in/about-us

The applicant considers the reach and importance of all claims and publishes a statement on its website on how claims are selected to check. It does not concentrate its fact checking on any one side. 

Pieces of evidence related to the article are clearly explained in the article. And the same is given as links under 'Proof Liks' at the end of all the articles. Archived links of the sources are also provided in the article for the readers to view in case the link is removed later.

The applicant clearly discloses its sources so that readers could decide if the sources could have influenced the accuracy of the evidence provided. 

Youturn is an independent organization and is not affiliated or supports any party, any politician or political candidate. It also does not advocate for or against any policy positions on any political issues.

The applicant is not associated with, nor shows support for any party, politician or political candidate. 

Please refer Category ‘Policy on Political Involvement’ on this page - https://youturn.in/about-us

The applicant sets out its non-partisanship policy for its staff on the website. The policy makes it clear that staff is not to be involved in any advocacy. 

The users can access the source for the article themselves by using the links provided in the 'Proof Links' section at the bottom of the every articles. In case of any discrepancy users can report the correction through report button at the very bottom of the article.

The applicant identifies sources of all significant evidence used in their fact checks and provides relevant links so that users can replicate their work. 

Sources of evidence can be accessed from proof section which has available primary and secondary sources with a clear explanation.

The applicant uses primary sources, but also depends on secondary ones. 

We fact-check all the elements in the received claims including a minute data and explain in our article on which is true and which is not with enough sources of evidence.

The applicant checks all key elements of claims against more than one named source of evidence. 

Sources of the evidence are carefully picked and are readily available for the readers to view at the end of each fact-checks under the section 'Proof Links'

The applicant clearly identifies all sources so that readers might be aware if the interests of the sources could influence the evidence. 

Youturn is a legally registered organization, a unit of People Educational Awareness Trust, and does not belong to any media house or organization. Please refer to the attachment of the registration certificate and Trust Deed Details along with the Asset Transfer details to the trust. 

The applicant details sources of funding on their website, as well as sets out the legal form in which its organization is registered. It has also provided the legal documents for the transfer of its assets to a Trust.

Please refer to Category – 'Funding' on this page - https://youturn.in/about-us

Since it has been recently taken over by a Trust, it makes a statement to that effect on its website.

Please refer to Category – ‘Team behind Youturn’ on this page - https://youturn.in/about-us .

Organizational structure is briefed under the 'Team behind Youturn' section. The team is categorized into two - 1. Management Team, 2. Editorial Team. The proprietor, Mr. Kalidasan is the one who owns the Organization. He comes under the Management Part of the Company. It's the idea of our Founder, Mr. Vignesh to start the organization and he is the advisor of the Organization. The management team has given complete freedom of decision authority to the Editorial team in order to provide unbiased fact-checks. The editorial team is lead by Mr. Iyan Karthikeyan. He is our Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief and is the sole responsible person for the editorial part, where the proprietor or Founder doesn't exercise editorial control in any way. Our Sub-Editor creates and publishes articles once it is verified by our Editor-in-Chief. Research Analysts research and fact check the claims. The Video Editors take care of the memes and video section. Sub-editor, Research Analysts, and Video Editors report to the Editor.

The applicant’s website sets out the organizational structure and explains how and by whom editorial control is exercised. 

Please refer Category – ‘Team behind Youturn’ on this page - https://youturn.in/about-us

The website details the biography of all significant staff members. 

Users can communicate with our team using the contact page for which the link is mentioned here - https://youturn.in/contact-us

Users can get in touch with the team through a form on the website as well as through the organisation’s social media. 

Please refer Category – 'Fact-Checking Methodology' on this link - https://youturn.in/about-us

The applicant has published a statement about the methodology its uses to select, research, write and publish its fact checks. 

The claims are prioritized based on the importance and the articles are published after fact-checking. What would happen if the claim seems to spread further is explained in the articles whenever needed.

Most claims that are checked are in the public interest. Claims are selected based on the reach and importance of the claims.

Relevant evidence to prove or to disprove any claim is provided in the articles.

In its fact checks, the applicant sets out evidence that appears to support the claim as well as that appears to undermine it. 

We fact-check claims the same way for all the claims regardless of who made the claim. Similarly, sources are provided in all the articles regardless of what the claim is or who made it.

The same standards are applied to evidence on equivalent claims, no matter who made the claim. 

We try to contact the person who has made the claim or whose information is in the claim whenever needed. We publish our articles with the evidence that we collect and also will attach the conversation with the person (hiding the identity sometimes) if needed. But we do not contact for all the claims since we initially look for evidence and the contact will be made only if we think is necessary. 

The applicant makes an effort to contact those who made the claim in order to seek supporting evidence, where possible.

Please refer to the section 'Submit a Claim' on this link - https://youturn.in/about-us

The applicant encourages users to send in claims. It also makes it clear what can and what cannot be fact checked.

Please refer to the section 'Corrections Policy' on this link - https://youturn.in/about-us

The applicant has a corrections policy that is easily accessible on its website. 

We are open for corrections and the policy for the same can be viewed on our website.

The policy explains how mistakes are handles and how corrections are published. 

We have made a very few corrections/updates in fact-check articles most of which are clarifying the queries or adding additional information to the articles. Below are such articles.

1. https://youturn.in/factcheck/jay-shah-pakistan-army-general-son.html

2. https://youturn.in/factcheck/uttar-pradesh-bjp-shot-dead.html

3. https://youturn.in/factcheck/tn-school-book-savarkar-lesson.html

The applicant has made corrections openly and transparently. Readers can see what needed correction and how it was rectified.

Please check the page https://youturn.in/about-us (Please check right below ‘Recognition’ part)

The applicant has a statement informing users, with a link, to contact the IFCN if they believe they are violating the IFCN code.

We are an independent organization.

The applicant has been an independent body.