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'ICorrect' Helps Celebrities Debunk Myths, Refute Rumors

by Amar Toor on March 28, 2011 at 02:15 PM

icorrect
Are you a celebrity? Has your name been smeared by unfounded rumors, half-truths or an inaccurate Wikipedia entry? A new site called ICorrect can help you set the record straight.

For the small annual fee of $1,000, celebs and other public figures can use ICorrect to post rebuttals to any rumors or lies that have spread across the Web. Sir David Tang, the website's founder, says ICorrect is designed to help famous people refute "obvious misinterpretations, misinformation and what some might call total lies." Once a celeb has posted a response to the site, his or her answer can be viewed by everyone else at no charge.

ICorrect launched this month, and received more than 225,000 hits during its first weekend. It has also attracted plenty of high-profile users, including Sienna Miller, Bianca Jagger, Tommy Hilfiger and Stephen Fry, whose glowing tweet about the site helped kick-start its launch.

ICorrect's staff consists of about 35 founding members (or "correctors"), who spend their days making sure the site runs smoothly. Anyone can join the site, as long as they're willing to pay the fee, and provide proof that they are who they say they are. Once they've joined, though, they can do and write pretty much anything they want -- true or false. "We're not here to police it or prove the veracity of what you post," Sir David told the New York Times, "although we do make sure you don't commit crimes by defaming people or inciting others to violence."

Members can also post their responses alongside whatever item they're looking to debunk, making it easy for visitors to get both sides of a story. "It's minimally designed to make sure that even the most stupid person can work it and understand it," Sir David explained.

But ICorrect's founder hopes that his site will one day move beyond the realm of celebrity gossip, adding that it's his "fervent desire to have NGO's and big corporations like BP" actively involved on the platform.

Tags: celebrities, DavidTang, famous, gossip, icorrect, rebuttal, rumor, SirDavidTang, StephenFry, top, Web, wikipedia

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