Screenshot from Facebook. StandWithUs, in partnership with the Adam “Veritas” Rosen Foundation, launched a new platform on Monday to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Israel rhetoric that provides quick fact-checks to common canards on both fronts.
The site, Trustory, has been in the making for two years after StandWithUs and the Rosen Foundation concluded that there was a need for college students to have access to “bite-sized” points of information, given the nature of recent debates on social media.
“A lot of the times our students are going full-force on social media and everything has to be under 140 characters, and it’s sometimes difficult for them to get all the information they need in a digestible way,” Ron Krudo, executive director of campus affairs at StandWithUs, told the Journal in a phone interview, “so we wanted to have it available in one place.”
The site consists of two main sections: Respond and Tell Our Story. The “Respond” section is the fact-checking part of the site, and features debunking myths, such as the stereotype about “Jews and Money” as well as the idea that Israel is an apartheid state.
“There is an immense amount of misinformation about Israel, about Jews on social media,” Max Samarov, executive director of research & campus strategy, told the Journal in a phone interview. “So the ‘Respond’ section is really all about helping people correct that misinformation, correct misconceptions, break down prejudices with factual information, and with content that really pushes back on a lot of the common accusations and hot topics that tend to come up. And it’s something that we’re going to consistently add to, as well, as we get feedback; as new issues arise.”
“We see the respond section as basic people’s resource to respond to anything problematic they may see on their news feed and elsewhere.”
The “Tell Our Story” section celebrates the accomplishments of Israel and the Jewish people, including how Israel became a vibrant democracy in the Middle East and how Israel provides aid and technology to countries in need.
“We strongly believe that, as a community, we shouldn’t just be reacting to things, we should be proactively telling our story,” Samarov said, “and so that section is full of content that we think is good to educate people about regardless of the circumstances, because people should know about Israel’s story and the story of the Jewish people.”
The content on the site is a mix of original and sourced from other sites, but is completely factual and devoid of opinion.
“We’re very, very open about promoting any content on this website that we feel with benefit users in educating others,” Samarov said.
The site is also easy to navigate through its various categories and allows for users to easily share content to their own social media sites.
“Something you don’t really see on other pages is that when there is this facts and information, it’s hard sometimes to click a button and it goes automatically to your Instagram or it goes automatically to your Facebook, it’s not as user-friendly,” Krudo said, “so we tried to make sure that this site is a user-friendly platform.”
Focus groups that have used the platform have called it “a valuable tool,” according to Krudo.
“Across the board, students have expressed satisfaction and a need for this type of platform,” Krudo said.
Those that are interested in the site can check out the site http://www.trustorysocial.com/ and go the site’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.