Jan 09, 2025 03:54 PM IST
Meta had informed International Fact-Checking Network that it was ending its partnerships just 45 minutes before it published a blog post about the decision.
Meta’s partnership with 10 fact-checkers in the US will officially end in March 2025, but payments to them will continue through August as part of a severance programme, Business Insider reported.
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Meta had informed the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) that it was ending its partnerships just 45 minutes before the company published its blog post about the decision, written by Joel Kaplan, who is Meta’s new head of public policy with long-standing ties to the Republican Party.
The social media giant said this was due to “changing perceptions of free speech” and a desire to “allow for more free speech”.
Meta will be replacing the fact-checkers with X-style community notes though their rollout is expected to take time.
“This seems like politics,” the report quoted Angie Holan, IFCN’s director as saying to a Meta executive who declined to confirm or deny political motivations.
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Holan expressed disappointment and said that Meta’s fact-checking program “positively influenced a whole ecosystem of fact-checking” and was never about censorship.
However, Meta will continue supporting IFCN initiatives such as their new Business Continuity Fund to give temporary financial assistance to fact-checking organizations affected by natural disasters, civil unrest, military conflicts, or state repression, according to the report.
Meta has also confirmed that a separate WhatsApp-related grant programme will continue, though it has not definitively answered whether it will continue sponsoring Global Fact, IFCN’s flagship annual conference.
This also means that some fact-checkers who relied on Meta as their main client are now facing a grim future.
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For example, Jesse Stiller, the managing editor of Check Your Fact, a Meta US fact-checking partner for five years, said that the company, which has a team of 10, is almost entirely reliant on Meta and can only last a few more months.
“Honestly, we’re done by March,” the report quoted Stiller as saying.
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