There's an App for That: Political Ads - KWQC-TV6 News and Weather For The Quad Cities -

There's an App for That: Political Ads

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They are the words and images designed to sway your vote. Hundreds of millions of dollars is being spent on those ads you're seeing on TV or the Internet this election cycle. So what exactly are they trying to tell us? Who should you believe? How do you know what the truth is?

An app could hold the answer. Creators say all you have to is download the Super Pac App to your iPhone, then hold it up to your TV or computer. It can identify a political ad just by its sound, then use a handful of websites to track the ad's truthfulness and funding sources. You can find out which group paid for an ad, how much money it has raised and spent, and of course more information about the claims the ad makes. Are they based in fact? You can also vote on each ad yourself, deciding if you love it, think it's fair or fishy, or if it fails.

The app was invented by two students at an MIT Media Lab. It was funded by a grant from the Knight Foundation, which promotes journalism to promote democracy. Creators say that's what it is all about. And while the app doesn't work for all ads yet, their goal is to make that happen, to make for transparency in the upcoming election.