building citizen networks rather than social networks
We are building Agora, an open-source platform aimed at enhancing civic participation and combatting censorship and computational propaganda in a privacy-preserving way.
Computational propaganda refers to the "use of algorithms, automation, and human curation to purposefully distribute misleading information over social media networks" (Woolley & Howard, 2018). It exacerbates societal divisions, creates confusions, and manipulates electoral outcomes, thus undermining democracies.
Core Technical Innovation
based on Verifiable Credentials and Zero Knowledge (ZK) proofs, that allows users to have granular control over their identities and data on social media. This solution not only is resistant to bots or fake accounts but also maximizes user privacy.