19 March 2019

Hoaxes know no borders, especially in Europe. That’s why FactCheckNI is proud to announce the launch of FactCheckEU, a collaborative effort from 19 European fact-checking outlets to tackle disinformation and hoaxes, ahead of the 2019 European parliamentary elections in May. FactCheckNI will contribute relevant material, such as the UK’s departure from the EU.

FactCheckEU is available at factcheckeu.info. Its work will be shared in 10 different languages, and everything it publishes will be translated into English to reach a wide European public.

FactCheckEU will provide fact-checks on the EU published by its partners, debunks on hoaxes related to the elections and on statements by European political figures. But it will also answer questions asked directly by readers. The Q&A section, based on Libération’s CheckNews, will help create a direct link with its audience and reinforce trust in the media by replying to their questions directly, regardless of their partisan preferences.

FactCheckEU is also committed to looking into the inner workings of disinformation in the European Union. How does a false piece of information spread from one country to another? Who makes the hoaxes?

FactCheckEU has 19 media partners from 13 European countries in 10 languages: 20 Minutes (France), AFP Factuel (France), CheckNews de Libération (France), CORRECTIV.Faktencheck (Germany), Les Décodeurs du Monde (France), Ellinika Hoaxes (Greece), FactCheckNI (Northern Ireland), Faktograf.hr (Croatia), France 24 Observers (France), TheJournal.ie (Ireland), lavoce.info (Italy), Lead Stories (Belgium), Maldita.es (Spain), Newtral (Spain), Observador (Portugal), Pagella Politica (Italy), Patikrinta 15min (Lithuania), TjekDet (Denmark), and Viralgranskaren (Sweden).They all are signatories of the International Fact-Checking Network’s code of principles. Being an IFCN verified signatory requires committing to 12 different criteria on transparency, ethics, methodology, and impartiality.
FactCheckEU is entirely independent of EU institutions and other governmental actors. The platform was built by Libération and Datagif thanks to an innovation grant from the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter Institute. It has also received the support from the Google News Initiative, IFCN’s long-term partner, and the Open Society Initiative for Europe.

NOTES

FactCheckNI is Northern Ireland’s first dedicated fact-checking service. It publishes nonpartisan articles on the accuracy of statements by public figures, major institutions, and other attributable claims of interest to society.
FactCheckNI is guided by an advisory panel, reflecting the functions and audiences of its work, including: official statistics, journalism, law, training, education, community engagement, and public affairs.

FactCheckNI is a verified signatory of the code of principles provided by the International Fact-Checking Network. The code is a series of commitments that organisations abide by to promote excellence in fact-checking.
For further information on FactCheckNI and its work, please contact Allan LEONARD (Editor): [email protected]