The fact checker network should lose its main source of income and may even close shop after that Facebook parent company Meta announced that they would be terminating their contracts and moving towards 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 Check Your Fact Editor-in-Chief Jesse Stiller Fox News Digital.
“We were blindsided by this. This was completely unexpected and out of left field for us. We were not aware that this decision was being considered until Mark dropped the video overnight. We have no idea what the future of the website looks like going forward,” he added.
On January 7, 2025, Meta revealed that it would end its fact-checking program and end some content moderation policies to “restore freedom of expression” on its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.
The 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 business. (NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images)
Before the announcement, Meta repeatedly emphasized that they are committed to long-term support independent fact-checking industry to address “misinformation” on the Internet.
In a blog post from April 2022. Meta claimed to have built “the largest global fact-checking network of any platform” and contributed more than $100 million to fact-checking programs since 2016.
Meta did not respond to a question about how much money it gave to third-party fact-checkers before announcing the end of the program in early January 2025.
According to the company’s website, in early 2020, Meta began prioritizing “additional support and resources” for fact-checkers to combat “misinformation” about health.
As part of this initiative, Meta launched a $1 million emergency program in partnership with the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) to combat information on the COVID-19 pandemic.
IFCN created the CoronaVirusFacts Alliance, in which nearly 100 fact-checking organizations in more than 70 countries have produced more than 11,000 fact-checks on COVID-19 in 40 languages. Seven organizational fact-checking projects specifically focused on vaccine “misinformation.”
Meta’s announcement to restore “freedom of expression” comes after years of scrutiny of the company’s fact-checking and content moderation practices. (Nicolas TUCAT/AFP/Jason Henry/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Zuckerberg acknowledged in August that the Biden White House pressured the Meta to censor some health information during the pandemic.
In January, Zuckerberg told podcast host Joe Rogan that they were members of the Biden administration would “scream” and “swear” on its employees, requiring them to remove information, especially during the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine program.
Meta later gave IFCN a $1 million “Climate Misinformation Grant.” The grant provided funding in part to organizations working to combat “climate misinformation” and supported collaborative partnerships between fact-checkers and “climate experts.”
The company has also secured funds for fact-checkers to “increase their capacity to promote reliable information” ahead of the 2022 elections in various countries, including the US, Australia, France and India.
In the United States, Meta has partnered 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 10 partners are expected to lose their funds. It is not clear when or if Meta’s changes will affect foreign fact-checkers.
Meta and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has spoken at length about the pressure he has faced from the government, particularly the Biden administration, to censor content on their behalf. (The Joe Rogan Experience)
In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, Joel Kaplan, asserted that these fact-checkers he failed to remain neutral.
“We went to independent, third-party fact-checkers,” Kaplan said. “It became clear that there is too much political bias in what they decide to fact-check because, basically, they have to fact-check everything they see on the platform.”
Since moving away from third-party fact-checking, several of those fact-checking organizations with financial ties to the tech conglomerate have released statements criticizing 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.
For example, PolitiFact, according to its financial disclosures, earned over five percent of its revenue in 2024 from the partnership.
PolitiFact told Fox News Digital that the organization, one of the original participants in Meta’s third-party fact-checking program, will be affected by the company’s decision to end it.
META PROBLEMS BIG CHANGES TO RESTORE FREEDOM OF SPEECH ON FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that his company will adopt a new fact-checking system similar to Elon Musk’s X Community Notes. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC/Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto/Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
They also referred Fox News Digital to comments from Neil Brown, president of the Poynter Institute, parent of PolitiFact, who called Meta’s decision a “disappointing exit” that “perpetuates a misunderstanding of its own agenda.”
“Facts are not censorship. Fact-checkers have never censored anything. And Meta has always held the cards. It’s time to stop invoking inflammatory and false language in describing the role of journalism and fact-checking,” Brown said.
Lead Stories, a Facebook fact-checker that employs several former CNN alumni, he told The New York Times that he now does much of his work for TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance. Meta was previously the primary fact-checking client.
The company was shocked by Zuckerberg’s announcement, given that Lead Stories signed a new one-year deal with Meta just three weeks ago. Lead Stories has admitted that it will experience a drop in revenue after the Met cut – a reality that will result in “downsizing,” according to co-founder Alan Duke.
“Kicking fact-checkers off social platforms is like disbanding your fire department,” he told CNN in early January.
META PROBLEMS BIG CHANGES TO RESTORE FREEDOM OF SPEECH ON FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM
Meta platforms are displayed on a smartphone screen with the Meta logo appearing 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, chief content officer of Gannet Media (USA Today’s parent company), said, “Fact-based journalism is what USA Today does best.”
“We are a national news source that is trusted because we provide unbiased and relevant content for all people. Truth and facts serve everyone – not the right or the left – and that is what we will continue to deliver,” she continued.
The company did not disclose 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 respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Reuters declined to comment.
