Imagine opening your favorite app after a long day, hoping for a relaxing scroll, only to be hit by a wave of aggressive comments, wild headlines, and photos that just look… off. If you live in Armenia, this is a daily headache. Digital spaces in Armenia have slowly turned into a battleground of manufactured panic, toxic arguments, and fake news that makes it hard to trust anything we see online. Of course, these problems can be found all over the world by anyone who uses social media. But the difference is that Armenian, like many other languages, is not prioritized for moderation by social media platforms.
We couldn’t just sit back and watch; That’s why the Socio Club launched the project, “Verify First: Building a resilient digital community in Armenia.” We are a team of local journalists, media experts, and video creators who decided to fight back with something simple, engaging, and highly visual. Our plan? Meet people exactly where they already spend their time: On social media. Through a series of fast-paced, 60-second Instagram reels, we are giving everyday users — especially young people, those in rural communities, and even local reporters — the exact tools they need to instantly spot lies and disinformation.
We decided to focus on three main topics: Lateral reading, reverse image search, and AI identification. Although these topics seem complex, they are actually incredibly accessible. With our reel explainers, even the most technically challenged person can understand them!
Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t speak Armenian
Let’s be honest: The big tech companies aren’t coming to save us. Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t speak Armenian, and global tech platforms don’t spend their resources building smart algorithms or hiring content moderators for a language spoken by a relatively small population.
This leaves a massive gap. Troll factories, clickbait websites, and polarizing figures exploit this lack of supervision every day. They spread manipulative stories designed to make us angry, distrust our institutions, and lose faith in our neighbors. When fake news runs wild online, it doesn’t stay behind a screen — it spills over into real life, causing real anxiety and dividing our communities. Since the tech giants aren’t fixing it, we took matters into our own hands. We decided to build a grassroots digital defense system where everyday citizens are the first line of defence.
60 seconds to smarter scrolling
Nobody has the time or patience to sit through a dry, three-hour academic lecture on “media literacy.” If you want people to learn a new habit today, you have to keep it brief and interesting. Our solution is a set of 60-second video toolkits. We took heavy, academic fact-checking concepts and translated them into quick, everyday digital habits that anyone can use right from their smartphone. We focused on three simple skills:
- Reverse image search: We show viewers how to take a suspicious photo, trace it back to its original source in seconds, and see if it’s actually an old image being used out of context to trick you.
- Lateral reading: Instead of just trusting a random article, we teach you to open a few new tabs and look up what other independent, trusted sources are saying about the story before you click “share.”
- Spotting AI artifacts: We give you a quick cheat sheet on how to spot AI-generated fakes — like weird body proportions, blurry backgrounds, or unnatural textures that prove a photo isn’t real.
Who this is for (and why it matters)
Our goal was simple: Produce six targeted reels that teach these three core skills to as many people as possible. We tailored these videos to reach the people who need them most, namely young people, people in rural communities, and professional journalists. Information often targets rural areas where alternative news sources can be harder to find, as well as young people who consume hours of digital media every day. These videos serve as an easy, friendly guide to help them spot emotional traps online. Additionally, two of our six Reels are made specifically for local reporters. Journalists are the gatekeepers of our news. If we can help them keep their reporting clean and deeply verified at the source, the trickle-down effect means a cleaner, more reliable media environment for everyone.
The crew behind the camera
Making these videos required two very different skill sets to come together. Our team is split into two groups who worked hand-in-hand. First are the journalists: They understand the deep-rooted political contexts, the mechanics of online deception, and exactly what kind of harmful narratives are currently targeting Armenia. The second are content creators: They know the Armenian social media market inside and out. They are pros at making videos that are snappy, beautiful, and impossible to scroll past.
By combining investigative minds with creative video makers, we made educational content that people actually want to watch.
Turning boring tech into fun videos
It wasn’t always easy. Our biggest challenge was taking complicated terms like “algorithmic bias” or “lateral reading” and explaining them in plain, conversational language. At first, trying to squeeze these heavy topics into a single minute without overwhelming people felt like an impossible task.
But after a lot of coffee, brainstorming, and countless script rewrites, we figured it out. We threw out the textbook jargon and focused entirely on everyday examples. The result? We made videos that anyone — even your least tech-savvy relative — can easily follow.
What’s next for Verify First?
We are already live and circulating on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. While we’ve reached a few hundred people entirely through organic searches, we aren’t stopping there. To really make an impact, we are launching a targeted ad campaign to push these helpful toolkits directly onto the screens of the people who need them most.
The end of this initial project isn’t the end of our work. These six reels are built to be timeless tools. We will keep using them in future seminars, community workshops, and NGO training sessions across Armenia
