Meta is committed to supporting the long-term strength of the fact-checking industry by helping fact-checkers develop new skills, pursue innovation and scale their efforts to better address misinformation online.
We have built the largest global fact-checking network of any platform and have contributed more than $100 million to programs supporting our fact-checking efforts since 2016. This includes direct support of fact-checkers for their work on our platforms as well as industry initiatives like sponsorships, fellowships, and grant programs. We also invest significant resources to support fact-checkers during moments of crises and war.
Fighting health misinformation
Since early 2020, Meta has prioritized providing additional support and resources to fact-checkers grappling with an increasing number of hoaxes about COVID-19 as well as misinformation related to vaccines. In response:
- We launched a $1 million emergency grant program to support fact-checkers tackling COVID-19, in partnership with the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN).
- We launched a year-long health fellowship program with 10 fact-checking organizations that are part of our fact-checking program, to bring on new team members to help them combat health misinformation. Participating organizations represented countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Together, these organizations built new products and systems to better address health misinformation.
- WhatsApp invested $1 million to support IFCN's COVID-19 efforts, including the CoronaVirusFacts Alliance, in which nearly 100 fact-checking organizations in more than 70 countries produced more than 11,000 fact-checks about the COVID-19 pandemic in 40 languages, according to data collected by the IFCN. As part of this, WhatsApp also launched a $500,000 grant program to support seven fact-checking organizations’ projects fighting vaccine misinformation, in partnership with the IFCN.
- We launched a partnership with the Digital Health Lab at Meedan, a global technology nonprofit, to support fact-checkers in fighting health misinformation online. Meedan’s Digital Health Lab facilitated a series of virtual training sessions between its team of doctors, scientists and health experts and Meta’s third-party fact-checking partners.
Investing in innovation, collaboration and the future of fact-checking
Meta has funded programs that foster innovation, support industry collaboration and increase diversity within the fact-checking industry.
- We launched the Climate Misinformation Grant in partnership with the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). As part of our $1 million investment, this initiative offers funding to organizations working to combat climate misinformation and is structured to allow for collaborative partnerships between fact-checkers, climate experts and other organizations.
- We launched an Accelerator Challenge that brought fact-checking organizations together to innovate, learn from experts and one another, and collaborate on new strategies to grow and expand their reach so that more people are connected to reliable information. Participating publishers in the training program, which was led by expert coaches at Blue Engine Collaborative, reported significant increases in audience growth as a result of the lessons learned during the program.
- We partnered with IFCN to launch a Global Fact-Checking Mentorship Program to help fact-checkers scale their fact-checking efforts and increase their capacity to detect and debunk misinformation online. Meta will award a total of $450,000, to be administered by IFCN, for selected mentors to develop a mentorship curriculum for the mentee organizations.
- We funded a year-long fact-checking fellowship in the US with the National Association of Black Journalists, empowering fact-checking organizations to recruit emerging journalists.
- We launched the Fact-Checking Innovation Initiative in partnership with the IFCN to support fact-checkers creating new formats and technologies to benefit the fact-checking ecosystem at large.
Supporting election integrity around the world
Meta has provided funding support to help fact-checkers increase their capacity to promote reliable information ahead of 2022 elections in various countries, including Australia, France, India and other countries around the world.
We recognize that strong partnerships and sharing expert information on best practices and approaches play a big role in effectively addressing misinformation. That’s why we have also funded programs to facilitate collaboration among fact-checkers, including supporting fact-checkers and journalism organizations to form fact-checking consortia: virtual assemblies of journalists and independent fact-checkers who join forces to help debunk misinformation in the run-up to elections.
For more information about how fact-checkers work with Meta to reduce the spread of viral misinformation, visit FB.me/Third-Party-Fact-Checking.
MORE STORIES
/5
