Digital Green Book fights misinformation targeting Black communities

The big picture: Osa was concerned that Black voices were being suppressed, diversity initiatives were under attack, "woke" was being weaponized, and book bans were raising barriers to historical knowledge.

• The Digital Green Book is a roadmap for digital empowerment.

Flashback: The name is a deliberate nod to the "Negro Motorist Green Book," the Jim Crow-era guide that helped Black Americans navigate safely through a hostile country.

• "We needed a name that instantly communicated to Black folks: This is for you; this has your best interests at heart," Osa, founder and CEO of Onyx Impact, told Axios.

Zoom in: Launched this month, Onyx Impact's platform provides tools to combat misinformation and navigate a challenging digital landscape.

• Osa, a former political strategist and financial analyst, founded the organization after working at Fair Fight Action, BlackRock and Morgan Stanley.

Friction point: Researchers and critics have documented how AI systems often reinforce the very stereotypes Black Americans have spent generations trying to dismantle.

• Last year, the Congressional Black Caucus warned that without intentional design, AI will deepen racial inequities in hiring, housing, education and finance — a phenomenon experts call "algorithmic redlining."
• A 2023 study by linguist Sharese King found that AI consistently assigned Black language speakers to low-prestige jobs and imposed harsher sentences in hypothetical cases — further entrenching bias.

Yes, and: Osa notes that social platforms don't just reflect public opinion — they shape it. Right now, they're:

• Suppressing Black voices.
• Reinforcing harmful stereotypes, biases and discriminatory practices.
• Amplifying fear and confusion through misinformation.

But the problem went deeper.

• "We are not built to see the same headline 20 times, then the responses, then the reactions to those responses," she says.
• She realized the problem wasn't just misinformation — the sheer volume of manipulated content created a false sense of consensus and urgency.
• "We've got to tell people — this isn't real life," Osa said. "Forty-two percent of your online content might be bad bots."

Zoom out: The Digital Green Book is designed to cut through the noise and give Black communities control over their digital lives.

What it offers

• Misinformation detection: Assists users in recognizing digital manipulation and disinformation in real time.

• Data control guidance: Offers clear steps to curate social media feeds and regain ownership of online spaces.
• Child safety tools: Empowers parents with strategies to shield children from the dangers of social media while fostering digital literacy.
• AI-powered knowledge base: A groundbreaking tool trained on Black media and historical sources to provide unbiased answers to questions.

State of play: Osa's team fed the model vetted Black media, historical context, and trusted sources like the NAACP and the Legal Defense Fund.

• "You don't want AI to 'figure out' what it means to be Black from the internet — you'll get a horrible product."
• The goal: lower the barriers to discernment, making it easier to identify misinformation.

Unlike traditional AI tools that pull from the open web, this system prioritizes Black-led sources and historically accurate information to prevent distortion.

What's next: Osa hopes the Digital Green Book and Onyx Impact's initiatives will boost access to Black-led news, enhance digital literacy, and protect users from manipulation.

• "We are fundamentally in an information war — and we're losing. We need to understand how to navigate mass propaganda and misinformation now more than ever."

The bottom line: Even with careful curation and bias testing, AI tools are imperfect. But Osa's mission is clear:

• "We all we got. This is about making sure we've got each other covered."