Gor Tsarukyan, director of the Public Relations and Information Center, presented the new platform “Stugel.am”, designed to support the public in the fight against misinformation, providing the ability to check text, photo and video content.
“Armenpress”during the round table-discussion organized by the center, Tsarukyan mentioned that the platform was created for the general public.
“We have also invited you to present the tool prepared by us, the purpose of which is not only to support the professional community, but more to support the society by providing such a platform that will enable verification, identification and recognition of certain content,” he said, addressing the journalists.
According to him, the effective fight against misinformation requires a more active and preventive approach.
“The fight against disinformation should also have an offensive nature, so that it is possible not only to respond to disinformation, but also to prevent it,” Tsarukyan said.
He also emphasized the role of media literacy, emphasizing that there is active cooperation with civil society in this direction.
“Representatives of the civil society and our partners are quite active in this matter and support so that we can contribute to the increase of media literacy of the public with the right tools,” he said.
Tsarukyan noted that the creation of the platform stems from the 2024-2026 action plan for combating misinformation.
“We have a 2024-26 campaign against disinformation. an action plan, within the framework of which we carried out a number of activities, and one of them was the creation of this very tool, with the support of our European partners,” he noted.
According to him, recently citizens have developed a critical approach to information, but it is also necessary to provide a tool to verify this information.
He presented the main functions of the platform, noting that “Stugel.am” has three main tools.
“The first is the verification of text content, the second is the verification of pictures, and the third is the verification of videos,” he said.
According to Tsarukyan, checking of pictures and videos is carried out using modern technologies.
“In the same way as it is possible to create a generated photo or video, with the same technologies it is also possible to verify them to find out if they are real or not,” he said.
He emphasized that technologies are continuously developing and the platform must be constantly updated.
“New generation tools appear every week, and the same cognitive technologies must also be constantly updated to be able to recognize content created in new formats,” Tsarukyan said.
The director of the center noted that the platform will be open and accessible to everyone.
“The platform will be accessible to everyone and does not involve any payment. We created it with the support of an Estonian company and EU funding. This is a public good, and no commercial goal is set here,” he emphasized.
At the same time, he said, some restrictions will be applied in order to avoid abuses.
