These days, people are less likely to crack open a newspaper or sit down for the evening news. Instead, millions scroll through TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, hoping to catch up on the world between dance trends and memes. The promise is instant updates, but the reality often feels messier: deepening distrust, rampant misinformation, and feeds packed with content that sometimes barely passes for news at all. Lawsuits dog the giants behind these platforms, with Meta under fire for the impact on teenagers and heated debates swirling around who ultimately controls TikTok’s fate in the US. Even the supposed “reliable” sources face skepticism—recent Pew data revealed fewer than 60 percent of American adults place much trust in national news media.
Against this noisy, uncertain backdrop, a new contender tiptoes onto the stage, hoping to disrupt the way we receive—and believe—our news. Enter SaySo, a short-form video app rolling out to iOS users in the US and Canada. Unlike the endless, algorithm-driven newsfeeds elsewhere, SaySo wants to slow things down and cut through the overwhelm. The app launched publicly after a stint in private beta that started last November, and it promises a news experience that’s more deliberate, more human, and—crucially—more trustworthy.
What does SaySo actually do? Instead of bombarding users with a random jumble of content, the platform begins by asking users to pick topics that matter to them—politics, public health, crime, or even thornier issues like racial justice. Every day, a bespoke “Daily Digest” of short videos lands in your feed, refreshed every 20 hours for a steady drip of relevant updates. Got broader interests? The Explore section invites you to dip into other creators’ content at will. Standard social features—liking, saving, commenting, sharing, and following—come built in, but curated news, not virality, stands at the center.
SaySo is betting hard on credibility. Every creator is required to cite sources within their videos. Backstage, a mix of human moderators and AI tools scan for accuracy and integrity, flagging questionable pieces before they can mislead viewers. “Nothing just goes live,” says Dion Bailey, SaySo’s Chief Technology Officer and co-founder. “All videos face a moderation queue, so we catch most issues before anything reaches the audience. If something questionable slips through and gets flagged, we step in, talk directly to the creator, and take it down if needed.” They’re also building out a community-driven annotation system—think of it as open-source fact-checking, borrowing a page from experiments on X and TikTok, where everyday users can help keep the record straight.
At launch, about 30 carefully selected creators joined the platform. Among them: Nico Agosta, who made waves dissecting congressional finances in his viral “Stocking the Capitol” series; Dr. Victoria, who tackles thorny questions around race and social change; and Isabel Ravenna, an independent journalist whose bylines include National Geographic. It’s a lineup meant to signal seriousness and diversity, not just digital showmanship.
Money talks, and SaySo is paying attention. Many early creators are partners receiving stipends right out of the gate. CEO Ramin Beheshti promises that as the platform builds its full monetization engine, creators will claim the lion’s share of future revenue—though the granular details remain under wraps for now. Notably, Beheshti knows the media business from the inside, previously steering product and tech at Dow Jones.
SaySo is the flagship effort from Caliber (formerly The News Movement), refocused since 2025 on fast-moving, social-first journalism aimed at a new generation. As Beheshti puts it, “We wanted to make something that genuinely helps people—not just add another layer to the overwhelming blur.” The early blueprint is bold: restore trust, deliver context, and put creators and users—not algorithms—at the heart of the story.
The team isn’t stopping here. UK expansion is penciled in for the coming summer, with more markets on the horizon in the following years. For those who are tired of sifting fact from fiction, hoping for clarity in a world of noise, SaySo pitches itself as a fresh answer—one designed for real people by those tired of the old, broken model.
