5/27/22, 7:10 PM Faster facts: The rapid expansion of fact-checking – News in Asia Asia’s fact-checking landscape is not only shaped by individual government efforts. Tech platforms, which tend to be the primary vehicles of misinformation, have significant influence on the region’s fact-checking industry too. Facebook works with at least 20 organisations through its Third-Party Fact-Checking (3PFC) program in 13 countries in the region, injecting significant funding into the industry. 16 USD 0 Paid to the United Kingdom’s Full Fact by Facebook for 96 investigations USD 0 Paid to France’s Libération newspaper by Facebook for 290 investigations While no 3PFC partner in Asia has openly disclosed how much they are getting paid to provide fact-checking services to Facebook, their counterparts in Europe have provided insights on this. In 2019, the United Kingdom’s Full Fact reported having received USD 171,800 from Facebook for 96 fact-checking investigations over a six-month period. In 2018 France’s Libération newspaper was paid USD 245,000 for 290 investigations. 17 While agreements will likely differ across markets and organisations, these two examples suggest Facebook’s remuneration to fact-checkers could be substantial. This is important given the annual budgets of fact-checking outlets generally tend to be small. The latest survey by the International FactChecking Network (IFCN) at Poynter indicates that of 80 organisations globally, more than 60% operate on an annual budget of less than USD 100,000, and half of those operate on a budget of less than USD 50,000. 18 Meanwhile 40% of organisations have four or fewer fulltime staff. In Asia, among the 40 outlets researched for this chapter, two-thirds have fewer than 10 staff when considering both full-time and parttime employees. Numerous editors from different 3PFC organisations said the money they make through their program with Facebook makes up a significant share of their revenue. A project leader from a non-profit outlet that recently signed the 3PFC agreement with Facebook expressed concern that the organisation would become too dependent on a single source of income from the tech platform. This dilemma was shared by another fact-checker, who outlined the tension between dramatically reducing the reach of disinformation using Facebook’s algorithms on the one hand – thus fulfilling their journalistic mission – and, on the other hand, allowing the scope of their work to be determined by a private tech company – a realistic possibility given the substantial revenue resulting from the partnership. Lack of financial resources was a recurring theme expressed by many fact-checkers in the survey. Those who are not in the 3PFC program are exploring opportunities to work with Facebook despite the potential quandary they may face in the future. To become a 3PFC partner, Facebook stipulates that fact-checkers need to be a verified signatory of IFCN’s Code of Principles. Organisations must go through a rigorous assessment process on non-partisanship, funding transparency and methods of factchecking. 19 Worldwide, verified signatories include fact-checking divisions of well-known news outlets like Associated Press, Reuters and The Washington Post, as well as smaller online media and civil society organisations. The largest fact-checking organisation in Asia is an international news wire, Agence France-Presse (AFP). Called the ‘digital investigation unit’, its dedicated fact-checking team has more than 90 journalists covering 80 countries globally. 20 In the region, it serves as a 3PFC partner in 11 countries and regions, 21 working in at least six languages. 22 In Asia, 26 organisations had IFCN signatory status as of November 2020 (of which 20 outlets work with Facebook). But many other outlets and initiatives in the region also declare on their websites that they adhere to the international guidelines set by IFCN. https://newsinasia.jninstitute.org/chapter/faster-facts-the-rapid-expansion-of-fact-checking/ 6/13