Journalism and Research

FactCheckEU: fact-checkers from 13 countries unite against disinformation in the European elections

Disinformation knows no borders, and sometimes the hoaxes circulating in Spain appear in identical or similar versions in other countries. That is why Maldita.es and 18 other European fact-checking outlets have launched FactCheck EU ([https://factcheckeu.info/es/](https://factcheckeu.info/es/)), an initiative to combat disinformation and fake news ahead of the European Parliament elections on 26 May.

March 18, 2019
FactCheckEU: fact-checkers from 13 countries unite against disinformation in the European elections

This is a project promoted by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), the international alliance of independent fact-checkers of which Maldita.es is a member.

Through the website factcheckeu.info, fact-checks about the European Union (EU) published by IFCN members and debunks of disinformation related to Europe and the elections will be disseminated.

We will respond to direct questions from our community and verify European assumptions

In addition, we will answer questions raised directly by our community through the Q&A section. The project is also committed to investigating the internal mechanisms of disinformation in the EU. For example: how does a false story spread from one country to another? Who creates the hoaxes?

We have also commissioned a survey conducted by the University of Exeter in 6 European countries to confront European prejudices with data in order to inform citizens of the verified reality as opposed to their assumptions.

19 partners from 13 countries in an independent EU alliance

FactCheckEU has 19 media partners from 13 European countries and 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).

All of them are signatories of the Code of Principles of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). Being a verified IFCN signatory implies a commitment to 12 different criteria in terms of transparency, ethics, methodology and impartiality. FactCheckEU is fully independent from EU institutions or other governmental actors. The platform was created by Libération and Datagif thanks to an innovation grant from the International Fact-Checking Network at the Poynter Institute. It has also received support from the Google News Initiative, a long-standing partner of the IFCN, and from the Open Society Initiative for Europe.

Here you can download the press release.