Logically (company)

Logically is a British multinational technology startup company that specializes in analyzing and fighting disinformation.[1] Logically was founded in 2017 by Lyric Jain and is based in Brighouse, England,[2] with offices in London, Mysore, Bangalore, and Virginia.[3]

TheLogically Ltd
TypePrivate
IndustryFake news detection
Founded2017
FounderLyric Jain
Headquarters
UK
Number of locations
5
Number of employees
200 (2023)
Websitelogically.ai

History

Lyric Jain, who founded Logically in 2017,[4] said he was partly inspired by his grandmother's turn to misinformation before she died of pancreatic cancer.[5][6] A WhatsApp group that spread misinformation led her to replace "her cancer medication in favour of unproven, alternative treatments."[5] He also witnessed the spread of misinformation in Britain around the time of the Brexit referendum.[6]

An MIT grant helped launch the company.[6] Logically first operated solely from Britain, employing 30 British residents by 2019.[7] In early 2019, the company expanded to India, recruiting 40 employees who perform most of the company's fact-checking.[7] In its 2019 seed round, Logically raised $7 million.[7] In 2020, it raised another €2.77 million,[8] including from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and XTX Ventures.[9] As of 2020, Logically had 100 employees.[10]

In July 2020, the International Fact-Checking Network certified Logically as a fact-checker. The certification was renewed in September 2021 and January 2023.[11]

In June 2023, The Daily Telegraph reported that Logically was paid more than £1.2 million by the UK government to analyse disinformation terms online alongside its partnership with Facebook. Such topics included narratives pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, including "anti-lockdown" and "anti-COVID-19 vaccine sentiment".[12]

Operation

Logically says it relies on artificial intelligence to determine the accuracy of the claims it fact-checks, saying that they use "AI to run claims through a database of previously checked facts, and assign a score of how likely that claim is to be accurate, based on past claims and the credibility of its source". After this "matching process", human employees use their judgment to assess whether they believe claims to be true or false.[6]

In March 2021, Logically launched a service named Logically Intelligence (LI), which is aimed at helping governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to identify and counter online misinformation. The service collects data from thousands of websites and social media platforms, then analyses it using an algorithm to identify potentially dangerous content and organise it into narrative groups.[13]

From August 2020 to June 2022, Logically offered a browser extension to help users check the credibility of online articles and fact-check claims.[14][15][16]

Investigations

Logically helped The Guardian disprove claims by an English pastor that 5G technology was connected to vaccination tracking.[14] Logically is one of many companies hired by TikTok works to curtail disinformation on the social network.[17][18][19] The New Yorker noted its tracking of disinformation related to healthcare and the COVID-19 pandemic.[20]

In August 2021, researchers at Logically identified the prominent QAnon influencer GhostEzra as Robert Smart, an evangelical Christian from Florida.[21][22][23] GhostEzra was prominent for promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories[21][22] and sharing the neo-Nazi propaganda film Europa: The Last Battle in QAnon communities.[24][25]

The BBC has cited Logically's research in tracking the rise of pro-Russian accounts linking Ukraine to Nazi ideology following the 2022 Russian invasion of the country.[26]

In August 2023, the company reported on a Chinese disinformation campaign related to the discharge of radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. According to The New York Times, Chinese state media did not spread false information but did omit crucial details.[27][28][29]

References
  1. Cockerell, Isobel (25 March 2022). "British homegrown conspiracies get Beijing's stamp of approval". Coda Media. Archived from the original on 5 June 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022. the U.K.-based anti-disinformation research organization Logically AI
  2. Spargo, Charlie (14 July 2021). "Yorkshire AI company to help fight disinformation on Facebook". Prolific North. Archived from the original on 14 July 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  3. "Contact Us". Logically. Archived from the original on 13 January 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  4. Marr, Bernard (25 January 2021). "Fake News Is Rampant, Here Is How Artificial Intelligence Can Help". Forbes. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  5. Noone, Greg (10 June 2021). "AI vs misinformation: Fighting lies with machines". Tech Monitor. Archived from the original on 11 June 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  6. Kale, Sirin (14 August 2020). "This AI startup is tackling the coronavirus disinformation deluge". Wired. Archived from the original on 16 August 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  7. Khan, Mirza Mohammed Ali (15 August 2019). "Fact-checking platform Logically to raise $7 million in seed round". Business Line. Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  8. Ohr, Thomas (13 July 2020). "Fake news detection startup Logically raises €2.77 million to prepare for US elections". EU-Startups. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  9. "Logically Raises £2.5m in Funding". FinSMEs. 13 July 2020. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  10. Billen, Andrew (28 November 2020). "Fake news, conspiracy theories, social media rumours – meet Lyric Jain, the man sifting fact from fiction". The Times. Archived from the original on 5 July 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  11. "Logically". International Fact-Checking Network. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  12. "The AI firm that conducted 'state surveillance' of your social media posts". The Telegraph. 3 June 2023. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  13. Rodrigo, Chris Mills (1 March 2021). "Startup bets on artificial intelligence to counter misinformation". The Hill. Archived from the original on 20 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  14. Newman, Jared (3 August 2020). "This AI fact-checking startup is doing what Facebook and Twitter won't". Fast Company. Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  15. "Logically launch their fact checking Chrome Extension". Logically. 3 August 2020. Archived from the original on 1 January 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  16. "The Logically Browser Extension has been discontinued". Logically. Archived from the original on 1 January 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  17. Perez, Sarah (3 February 2021). "TikTok to flag and downrank 'unsubstantiated' claims fact checkers can't verify". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  18. Hern, Alex (4 February 2021). "TikTok to introduce warnings on content to help tackle misinformation". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  19. Hernandez, Gina (3 February 2021). "New prompts to help people consider before they share". TikTok Newsroom. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  20. Russell, Anna (10 March 2021). "The Fight Against Vaccine Misinformation". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 10 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  21. Rodrigo, Chris Mills (20 August 2021). "Researchers identify key QAnon influencer 'GhostEzra'". The Hill. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  22. "Antisemitic QAnon Leader Outed as Evangelical Floridian". Haaretz. 22 August 2021. Archived from the original on 24 April 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  23. Patterson, Dan (24 September 2021). "QAnon power vacuum on Telegram is being exploited by antisemitic extremists, ADL says". CBS News. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  24. "QAnon's Antisemitism and What Comes Next". Anti-Defamation League. 17 September 2021. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 26 March 2023. By May 20, he was posting links to neo-Nazi propaganda film "Europa: the Last Battle" and to the Wikipedia page for "crypto-Judaism."
  25. Gilbert, David (26 May 2021). "QAnon's Antisemitism Is Finally Being Displayed in Full". Vice. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  26. Devlin, Kayleen; Robinson, Olga (23 February 2022). "Ukraine crisis: Is Russia waging an information war?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 19 March 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  27. Rich, Motoko; Liu, John (31 August 2023). "China's Disinformation Fuels Anger Over Fukushima Water Release". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  28. "Fukushima: China's anger at Japan is fuelled by disinformation". BBC News. 2 September 2023. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  29. Davidson, Helen (4 September 2023). "State-backed disinformation fuelling anger in China over Fukushima water". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 1 October 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
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