Letdown

Because the truth is less exciting than the lie.

We use social media's own manipulation tactics to teach you how to recognize fake news and partisan clickbait.

What is Letdown?

Letdown is an automated media literacy project that uses social media's own manipulation tactics to teach people how to recognize fake news and partisan clickbait.

We post provocative, partisan headlines on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook that look like typical rage bait. But when people click, instead of finding an article that confirms their biases, they land on an educational page that:

→Reveals the manipulation tactics used in the headline
→Shows side-by-side comparisons of how both sides spin the same story
→Teaches pattern recognition to spot future manipulation
→Exposes the financial incentives behind polarizing content

The Mission

Multi-billion dollar tech companies profit from stealing our attention and driving us apart. We're no match for their algorithms alone—but we can learn to recognize the patterns.

Non-partisan

We expose manipulation on both sides

Transparent

All tactics and funding are public

Educational

The goal is awareness, not more division

Automated

AI-powered to scale the message

Why Now?

In January 2025, Meta eliminated its third-party fact-checking program in the US, transitioning to a Community Notes model and removing policies that limited political content.

Meanwhile, AI-generated misinformation has become nearly indistinguishable from real news.

The landscape has changed—and we need new approaches to media literacy.