Fake News Detector Wins Rep. Gabbard’s (HI-02) 2019 Congressional App Challenge

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has named a Kailua student as the winner of the Congressional App Challenge in Hawaii’s 2nd district. Kalaheo High School’s Jasmine Cadotte submitted Fake News Detector, an app that uses artificial intelligence to create a tool that filters through the vast amount of news produced on social media and analyzes if the sources are credible. 

When asked why they were passionate about creating an app that promotes safety the students replied,“I was inspired to create this app because as a user of technology in our modern society. I am constantly surrounded by fake news that is disguised all over the internet. It can be very difficult to determine whether or not a source is reliable.” The student hopes to encourage other students to better their communities by using their computer science skills.  

Over 10,000 students registered for the 2019 Congressional App Challenge. These students created and submitted 2,177 functioning apps, marking the end of the most successful Congressional App Challenge to date. All told, 304 Members of Congress hosted Congressional App Challenges in their districts across 48 states, Puerto Rico, the Mariana Islands, and Washington, D.C.

The CAC is an initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Members of Congress host contests in their districts for middle school and high school students, encouraging them to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science. The non-profit Internet Education Foundation provides the CAC with supplemental staffing and support. In the five years of the Congressional App Challenge, the program has yielded 1134 App Challenges across 48 states. Thousands of functional apps have been created by over 25,000 students, and participant demographics surpass all industry diversity metrics.