Watchdog (research collective)

Watchdog was founded on 23 April 2019, two days after the Easter bombings occurred, by local startup mogul Bhanuka Harischandra, together with Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, Nisal Periyapperuma, Ragulan Ketheeswaran and Safra Anver. Within 36 hours, the team had created a fact-checking app.

Watchdog debunked misinformation that spread in the aftermath of the bombings, including a false claim that the water supply of the Hunipitiya region in Colombo had been poisoned by Muslims.{{cite news |date=2019-05-08 |first=Lewis |last=Isaac's |title=These are the false news stories that prompted a social media ban in Sri Lanka |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/article/these-are-the-false-news-stories-that-prompted-a-social-media-ban-in-sri-lanka/pis2aay4o |work=Special Broadcasting Service |access-date=9 July 2022 |archive-date=9 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709094338/https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/article/these-are-the-false-news-stories-that-prompted-a-social-media-ban-in-sri-lanka/pis2aay4o |url-status=live }} As the amount of misinformation was increasing significantly, Watchdog increased the scale of its operations, with Ketheeswaran recruiting volunteers to translate fact-checks to Sinhala and Tamil. Within 90 days, 25 to 30 volunteers were working for the group. At the time, the website and app had almost 52,000 users.

In January 2020, Anver left the group.{{Cite web |title=Safra Anver |url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/safraanver |access-date=9 July 2022 |website=LinkedIn}} In April of that year, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Wijeratne and Periyapperuma, by then the only two remaining members, took a sabbatical from operating Watchdog.

In January 2022, when the economic crisis was starting to have an effect, Watchdog relaunched as an open-source intelligence (OSINT) collective. Wijeratne described the new Watchdog as "a junkyard version of Bellingcat". The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) provided Watchdog with $340,000 in funding, allowing it to hire full-time staffers. Reuters used Watchdog's data to map the protests taking place across the country,{{Cite news |last=Ghoshal |first=Devjyot |last2=Jayasinghe |first2=Uditha |date=2022-04-06 |title=In stunning reversal, protests leave Sri Lanka's ruling dynasty teetering |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/stunning-reversal-protests-leave-sri-lankas-ruling-dynasty-teetering-2022-04-06/ |access-date=2022-07-09 |quote=From beachside towns in the south to the Tamil-speaking north, more than 100 demonstrations have broken out across the island nation since last week, according to the WatchDog research collective. |archive-date=9 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709092633/https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/stunning-reversal-protests-leave-sri-lankas-ruling-dynasty-teetering-2022-04-06/ |url-status=live }} and the Daily Mirror newspaper used its data to counter then-Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's claims{{Cite news |date=27 April 2022 |title="The masses and my voters are with me. They will vote for me again at the next elections. I am confident of winning. These protestors were always against me" - MR |work=Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka) |url=https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/%E2%80%99%E2%80%99The-masses-and-my-voters-are-with-me--They-will-vote-for-me-again-at-the-next-elections--I-am-confident-of-winning--These-protestors-were-always-against-me%E2%80%99%E2%80%99---MR/231-235773 |access-date=24 July 2022 |archive-date=21 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621155830/https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/%E2%80%99%E2%80%99The-masses-and-my-voters-are-with-me--They-will-vote-for-me-again-at-the-next-elections--I-am-confident-of-winning--These-protestors-were-always-against-me%E2%80%99%E2%80%99---MR/231-235773 |url-status=live }} that the unrest was reflective of a minority opinion.

• List of fact-checking websites

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://www.watchdog.team/}}

Category:Fact-checking websites

Category:Open-source intelligence

Category:2019 establishments in Sri Lanka