Customer story
Al Jazeera
Sanad, Al Jazeera's fact-checking agency, put 24/7 verification in journalists' hands over WhatsApp — and now resolves a fifth of all requests automatically, no agent required.
Sector
Media
Channels
Headline
20% of requests resolved automatically
The challenge
Fact-checking on deadline, from anywhere in the world.
Al Jazeera, a Qatari media organisation operating in 70 countries, runs its own fact-checking agency, Sanad, which supports hundreds of journalists with fast, accurate verification. Those journalists need quick answers from remote parts of the world — but the way they reached the editorial team kept getting in the way.
- Email was too slow. Verifying a quote or statistic meant finding a laptop with internet, uploading images, drafting an email, and waiting — too much back-and-forth to fact-check on the go.
- Responses were all manual. Every request needed a live agent on weekdays during working hours, while journalists work around the clock.
- Technology was a barrier. Many field reporters work from remote areas on limited bandwidth, so they needed something faster, automated, and mobile-friendly.
The solution
24/7 verification over WhatsApp.
Sanad introduced WhatsApp Business as a new way for journalists to send and receive communications with Al Jazeera newsrooms — built on the Bird API, integrated directly with the team's internal systems and databases. The benefits were immediate.
“Misinformation on social media and other platforms can lead to damaging consequences. By automating key pieces of Al Jazeera's communication with journalists, we've been able to successfully fight the spread of fake news stories.”
Khaled Attia, Head of Communications, Sanad at Al Jazeera
How it works
Search, verify, and resolve in seconds.
- Daily newsletters with wider reach. Sanad sends two daily newsletters over WhatsApp, plus real-time alerts about falsified news so journalists are instantly aware of the latest misinformation.
- 24/7 search and fact-check. Journalists search topics and keywords, and check claims by sending links, images, or text. Anything not in the database is routed to a specialist team for verification.
- Faster first response. A WhatsApp bot identifies each reporter on first contact and logs requests by name; tailored flows answer common questions and return ticket-status updates in real time instead of waiting on a human.
The results
Sanad's fastest-growing channel.
WhatsApp became Sanad's fastest-growing way to communicate with journalists and handle inquiries. Fact-checking requests over the channel grew 173% year over year, 44% of active journalists now use the service, and 20% of all requests are handled automatically — letting the team provide immediate help no matter where a reporter is.
20%
Of all fact-checking requests now resolved automatically over WhatsApp.
173%
Year-over-year growth in fact-checking requests via WhatsApp.
44%
Of active journalists fact-check through the WhatsApp service.
“Now they can leverage our database on their own, confirming news sources in seconds without ever waiting for our team to respond.”
Khaled Attia, Head of Communications, Sanad at Al Jazeera
Carry-forward reference from bird.com. Metrics and named quotes reported by Al Jazeera.
Put support in the channel they already use.
WhatsApp, bots, and flows wired to your own systems — resolving requests in seconds. A test API key is yours immediately.