Emily Mineault: A finalist at the 2026 CWSF wins the support of parents for her app

Emily developed an app called SmartScrolling, which uses AI to help the app detect misinformation on social media platforms. Emily was one of 390 students who recently competed at the CWSF in Edmonton, Alberta. Several parents and attendees expressed support for the app and are anxiously waiting for its launch. Emily shared more about her project and her thoughts from the Canada Wide Science Fair with BioEndeavor.

I created this app because misinformation is everywhere online and many people have difficulty finding whether something posted on social media is real or fake. When I first started looking at project topics, I focused on issues that I saw were prominent and important in today’s world. Something I found to be incredibly concerning was the amount of misinformation I saw on social media, as well as how almost nobody ever seemed to point out that it was misinformation. I decided that for my science fair project, I was going to create something that could detect misinformation on these platforms. Misinformation detection and prevention matters to me because I think that it is incredibly important for people to not be misled online. Social media is different from regular news platforms in the sense that anybody could say anything online and label it as "real news," even if the information is false. I hope that my project can make the world a better place by helping people detect misinformation and debunk it. I am working to turn the app into a pop-up widget that appears when you are scrolling through social media that you can use to help you verify information.

In the future, I hope to push SmartScrolling out into the world, as I want it to be a trust-worthy app that people can rely on to detect misinformation online.

I think that science fairs and research are really important for youth as they provide opportunities to truly help change the world.