Inés — Mexico's National Electoral Institute Turns a WhatsApp Chatbot Into a Permanent AI Fact-Check Line

In April 2024, as part of its "Certeza INE 2024" initiative, Mexico's Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) launched Inés, a WhatsApp-based virtual assistant that the Institute describes as one of the first AI chatbots developed by an electoral body anywhere in the world. Citizens can send suspicious text, audio or video about the elections directly to the chatbot.

Content is escalated for verification only if it makes a factual claim (not an opinion), directly concerns matters within INE's remit, and shows a high level of reach or online engagement. Flagged material is then traced by verification specialists using open-source investigation (OSINT) techniques, with Agence France-Presse (AFP) Factual as the initial verification partner under the International Fact-Checking Network, with room to add further IFCN-affiliated outlets.

Mexican press reporting from May 2026 shows the INE converted the formerly election-cycle-specific program into a permanent counter-disinformation effort, disclosing spending of more than 475,000 pesos on digital monitoring — a level of budget transparency that allows outside scrutiny, even though public reporting so far covers cost and design rather than independently verified accuracy or correction-rate figures for the chatbot itself.

Read the full analysis: https://centralelectoral.ine.mx/2024/04/26/te-presentamos-a-ines-la-asistente-virtual-del-ine-para-combatir-la-desinfomacion-sobre-las-elecciones-2024/