The EFCSN, in association with other European stakeholders, has announced the launch of a project to improve the capacities of European fact-checking organisations to tackle crisis situations. It is called FactCRICIS: European Fact-Checking Response in Climate Crises, co-funded by the European Union.
FactCRICIS will support fact-checkers to identify and debunk disinformation campaigns related to climate change and other crises, fostering more rapid, impactful and coordinated responses within and across European borders.
For the project, the EFCSN and 21 of its member organisations will work alongside the research and technological expertise of the Germany-based university TU Dortmund, the Spanish fact-checking and technological development organisations Newtral and Maldita.es, the science and technology-focused fact-checking organisation Science Feedback, and Bulgaria-based AI and data management company Ontotext.
The project’s goal is to establish a comprehensive package of practical resources—combining cutting edge AI tools with climate expertise—designed to bolster the preparedness of European fact-checkers to respond to climate mis/disinformation and foster cross-border collaboration.
“The past couple of years have shown that crisis situations serve as a hotbed for mis- and disinformation. Europe needs a media system that is able to react to this cross-border challenge immediately whenever it arises. That’s why we are enhancing the capacities of European fact-checkers through FactCRICIS”, said Carlos Hernández-Echevarría, Chair of the EFCSN Governance Body.
One outcome of the project will be a comprehensive database of climate related mis- and disinformation and corresponding fact-checks enriched with sophisticated metadata to provide first-of-their-kind insights into false claims about climate change and related policy issues.
Initially the database will be used by fact-checking organisations part of the EFCSN in a pilot program to test and improve the database. The European public will be able to access the database through a public website.
In the meantime, you can subscribe to the EFCSN newsletter to stay up to date with key mis/disinformation trends identified and fact-checks produced using the database tools as well as other EFCSN project updates.
FactCRICIS is a joint project of the European Fact-Checking Standards Network with its partners TU-Dortmund, Maldita, Newtral, Science Feedback and Ontotext and EFCSN’s participating member organisations, co-funded by the European Union (LC-02869427).
Read more about the project on the project page. Sign up for the EFCSN newsletter or follow the EFCSN on X, Threads, and LinkedIn for regular updates.
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.
