Let’s face it – you must have seen clickbait, sensational headlines, and articles that makes you question their credibility. Most of us are stuck in loop of finding the authentic information. Feels overwhelming? Meet Alex Fink who set out to solve this problem with Otherweb, a public benefit corporation focused on improving the quality of information people consume.
Instead of endless content aimed at grabbing attention, Otherweb does something refreshingly different: it prioritizes quality over quantity. It’s not just another news aggregator. It’s a solution to a growing problem—how to find trustworthy, relevant news in a world flooded with distractions.
What’s Wrong with the News Today?
Before diving into how Otherweb is fixing things, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Most of us know the news world has changed dramatically in recent years. Gone are the days when you could trust that what you read in the newspaper or saw on TV had been rigorously fact-checked. Now, much of the news we consume is tailored around a single goal; money-making through engagement.
It’s not accidental at all. News outlets and social media platforms rely on engagement metrics like clicks and shares to make money. And what gets clicks? Sensational headlines. Unfortunately, this means the content isn’t always credible which results in making people have trust issues with media.
Alex Fink saw this happening and realized there was a better way. He wanted to build a platform that didn’t just chase clicks but focused on giving people the kind of information they really need. That’s how Otherweb was born.
At its heart, Otherweb is about trust. Fink believes that when people have access to good information, they make better decisions—not just for themselves but for their communities and the world at large. This philosophy drives everything the platform does.
So, what makes Otherweb different than the traditional methods of delivering the news? it combines AI and human oversight to ensure that the information you see is accurate. Alex believes people should figure out whether something is worth consuming before they consume it. “People should figure out whether something is worth consuming before they consume it,” Fink explains. “This is true of food, and it is also true of information online.”. This is true of food, and it is also true of information online.
The problem of misinformation isn’t limited to one country or culture. From fake news spreading on social media to biased reporting in mainstream outlets, people everywhere are struggling to find news they can trust. Otherweb grew from 0 to 14.5 million monthly active users in 2 years. It is currently one of the largest independent news platforms, serving 53 different countries and 37 metro areas in the US with local, personalized, high-quality news.
Otherweb’s ability to curate high-quality content has made it especially appealing to a global audience.
Alex Fink’s work isn’t just about creating another tech product; it’s about restoring faith in journalism and the idea that credible information can be a force for good. Otherweb isn’t perfect, and it’s still evolving, but it’s already showing us what’s possible when technology is used to serve people rather than profits.
Otherweb’s rise isn’t just a story about a tech platform—it’s a story about hope. Alex believes misinformation is an ill-defined term that doesn’t help us fix the fact that people are misinformed. Disinformation exists and we should certainly expose it and filter it out. But the bigger issue on the internet is junk – it is everywhere, and we are drowning in it.
Thanks to Alex Fink’s vision, Otherweb isn’t just changing how we get our news; it’s revolutionizing the concept of how we think about information itself. And that’s a shift the world desperately needs.