A network of fact-checkers is in danger of losing an important source of income and could even close down afterwards Facebook parent company Meta announced that it would be terminating their contracts and moving to a system closer to X’s Community Notes.
“We don’t have much time left. At this rate, we’ll be done in a few months,” said Jesse Stiller, editor-in-chief of Check Your Fact. Fox News digital.
“We were caught off guard by this. This was completely unexpected and out of left field for us. We were not aware this decision was being considered until Mark dropped the video overnight. We have no idea what the future looks like for the website. ” he added.
On January 7, 2025, Meta revealed that it would end its fact-checking program and lift some content moderation policies to “restore free speech” on its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.
Fact-checkers told Fox News Digital that Meta’s decision to end its third-party fact-checking program will have a significant economic impact on their businesses. (NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images)
Prior to the announcement, Meta repeatedly emphasized that they were committed to the long term independent fact-checking industry to tackle “misinformation” online.
In an April 2022 blog post: Meta claimed it had built “the largest global fact-checking network of any platform” and has contributed more than $100 million to fact-checking programs since 2016.
Meta did not respond when asked how much money it had given to third-party fact-checkers before announcing the end of the program in early January 2025.
According to the company’s website, Meta began prioritizing “additional support and resources” for fact-checkers in early 2020 to combat “misinformation” about health.
As part of this initiative, Meta, in partnership with the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), launched a $1 million emergency grant program to address information about the COVID-19 pandemic.
IFCN created the CoronaVirusFacts Alliance, in which nearly 100 fact-checking organizations in more than 70 countries produced more than 11,000 fact-checks on COVID-19 in 40 languages. Seven organizational fact-checking projects specifically targeted “misinformation” about vaccines.
Meta’s announcement to restore “free speech” comes after years of investigation against the company’s fact-checking and content moderation practices. (Nicolas TUCAT/AFP/Jason Henry/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In August, Zuckerberg admitted that the Biden White House had pressured Meta to censor certain health information during the pandemic.
Zuckerberg told podcast host Joe Rogan in January that members of the Biden administration are members would “scream” and “curse” to its employees and demanded they remove information, especially during the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine program.
Meta later gave the IFCN a $1 million “Climate Misinformation Grant”. The grant partially provided funding to organizations working to combat “climate misinformation” and supported collaborative partnerships between fact-checkers and “climate experts.”
The company also provided funding to fact-checkers to “increase their capacity to promote credible information” ahead of the 2022 elections in several countries including the US, Australia, France and India.
In the United States, Meta worked with the following third-party fact checkers: AFP – Hub, Check Your Fact, Factcheck.org, Lead Stories, PolitiFact, Science Feedback, Reuters Fact Check, TelevisaUnivision, The Dispatch and USA Today.
All ten of these partners are expected to lose their funding. It is unclear when or if Meta’s changes will impact foreign fact-checkers.
Meta and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg spoke at length about the pressure he received from the government, especially the Biden administration, to censor content on their behalf. (Joe Rogan experience)
In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, Meta Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan claimed that these fact-checkers failed to remain neutral.
“We went to independent, third-party fact-checkers,” Kaplan said. “It has become clear that there is too much political bias in what they fact-check, because they can essentially fact-check everything they see on the platform.”
Since the shift away from third-party fact-checking, several of these fact-checking organizations with financial ties to the tech conglomerate have issued statements critical of Zuckerberg and Meta’s claims of political bias.
Previously, these groups were often paid for each published fact check using Meta’s platforms and tools.
PolitiFact for example, according to its financial disclosures, earned more than five percent of 2024 revenue from the partnership.
PolitiFact told Fox News Digital that the organization, one of the original participants in Meta’s fact-checking program, will be affected by the company’s decision to shut it down.
META ISSUES MAJOR CHANGES TO RESTORE FREE SPEECH ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that his company would implement a new fact-checking system, similar to Community Notes on Elon Musk’s X. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC/Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto/Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
They also pointed Fox News Digital to comments from Neil Brown, chairman of PolitiFact’s Poynter Institute, who called Meta’s decision a “disappointing copout” that “perpetuates a misunderstanding of his own program.”
“Facts are not censorship. Fact checkers never censored anything. And Meta was always in control. It’s time to stop using inflammatory and false language when describing the role of journalists and fact checking,” Brown said.
Lead Stories, a Facebook fact-checker that employs several former CNN alumni, told The New York Times that it now does much of its work for TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance. Meta was previously the fact checker’s most important customer.
The company was shocked by Zuckerberg’s announcement, as Lead Stories signed a new annual contract with Meta just three weeks ago. Lead Stories admitted that sales would decline after cutting ties with Meta – a reality that will result in a “staff reduction,” according to co-founder Alan Duke.
“Removing fact-checkers from social platforms is like disbanding your fire department,” he told CNN in early January.
META ISSUES MAJOR CHANGES TO RESTORE FREE SPEECH ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM
Meta platforms are displayed on a smartphone screen and the Meta logo appears in the background in Chania, Greece, on August 9, 2024. (Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Kristin Roberts, the chief content officer of Gannet Media (USA Today’s parent company), said, “Fact-based journalism is what USA Today does best.”
“We are the nation’s trusted news source because we provide unbiased and essential content for all people. Truth and facts serve everyone – not right or left – and that is what we will continue to deliver,” she continued.
The company has not provided any information about its financial relationship with Meta.
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TelevisaUnivision, Lead Stories, Factcheck.org, AFP – Hub, The Dispatch and Science Feedback did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Reuters declined to comment.
