ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (August 20, 2025) — The world’s fact-checking journalists will convene in Lithuania’s capital city of Vilnius for the 13th annual GlobalFact summit in June 2026.
Presented by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at Poynter, GlobalFact is the world’s largest and most impactful summit for professional fact-checking. Every year, fact-checkers come together to address industry-wide challenges, exchange best practices and build collaborative solutions to improve our shared information ecosystem.
Each day of the summit features keynote presentations, interactive learning sessions and networking events to help fact-checkers build business operations, audiences and impact. Discussions are centered on universal challenges fact-checkers face today, such as navigating artificial intelligence, upholding information integrity and investigating online disinformation campaigns.
The 2026 conference will be organized in collaboration with Delfi, Lithuania’s leading news media platform. Delfi is home to Melo detektorius (“Lie Detector”), a fact-checking unit with a proven track record in combating disinformation. In addition to publishing verified fact-checks, the team leads media literacy initiatives and develops innovative AI tools, combining rigorous journalism with cutting-edge technology to safeguard the public’s right to accurate information. Melo detektorius is certified by both the IFCN and the European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN).
“Lithuania is on the frontline of the global fight for facts. Its journalists and fact-checkers navigate a complex information environment with remarkable skill, confronting persistent and coordinated disinformation every day,” said IFCN director Angie Drobnic Holan. “We are so proud to partner with an organization as sophisticated and resilient as Delfi. Bringing GlobalFact to Vilnius will allow the world’s fact-checkers to learn from their vital work in a beautiful and historic city where information integrity is paramount.”
“We are deeply honored to partner with IFCN to bring together the global community of fact-checkers and allies of their mission in Vilnius next year,” said Aistė Meidutė, editor of Delfi’s fact-checking unit Melo detektorius. “Throughout its history, Lithuania has proven itself a tireless defender of democratic values and press freedom. Today, as the world faces unprecedented challenges of disinformation — exacerbated by the rise of authoritarian regimes — it is more important than ever to demonstrate unity and determination in safeguarding the public’s right to reliable, fact-based information.”
Since 2014, more than 4,000 people have attended GlobalFact in cities around the world, including London, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Rome, Cape Town, Oslo, Seoul, Sarajevo and Rio de Janeiro, with additional participants joining virtually.
Numerous industry-leading projects and fact-checking advancements have originated through past GlobalFact summits, including International Fact-Checking Day, the IFCN’s Code of Principles and partnerships with major tech companies.
In anticipation of the 2026 conference, the International Fact-Checking Network is launching GlobalFact Virtual, a new year-round webinar series that brings the collaborative spirit and knowledge-sharing of the annual conference to fact-checkers worldwide. Sessions will cover fact-checking methodology, digital investigations, artificial intelligence, regional case studies and collaborative problem-solving, all in an engaging, participatory format accessible regardless of location or travel constraints.
GlobalFact will also be using a new permanent website for the conference to be launched soon at https://globalfactconference.org.The dates for the in-person GlobalFact 2026 will be finalized in the coming months. Registration and speaker submissions will open early next year.
Media and Contact:
Angie Drobnic Holan
Director, International Fact-Checking Network
aholan@poynter.org
+1-727-410-1770
About the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at Poynter
The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at Poynter was launched in 2015 to bring together the growing community of fact-checkers around the world and advocates of factual information in the global fight against misinformation.
We enable fact-checkers through networking, capacity building and collaboration. The IFCN promotes the excellence of fact-checking to the verified signatories to the IFCN Code of Principles — more than 140 organizations from 65 countries covering over 80 languages — through advocacy, training and global events.
Our team monitors trends in the fact-checking field to offer resources to fact-checkers, contribute to public discourse and provide support for new projects and initiatives that advance accountability in journalism. In 2021, the IFCN was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Learn more at poynter.org/ifcn.
About The Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute is a global nonprofit working to address society’s most pressing issues by teaching journalists and journalism, covering the media and the complexities facing the industry, convening and community building, improving the capacity and sustainability of news organizations and fostering trust and reliability of information. The Institute is a gold standard in journalistic excellence and dedicated to the preservation and advancement of press freedom in democracies worldwide. Through Poynter, journalists, newsrooms, businesses, big tech corporations and citizens convene to find solutions that promote trust and transparency in news and stoke meaningful public discourse. The world’s top journalists and emerging media leaders rely on the Institute to learn new skills, adopt best practices, better serve audiences, scale operations and improve the quality of the universally shared information ecosystem.
The Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership, the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), MediaWise and PolitiFact are all members of the Poynter organization.
Support for Poynter and our entities upholds the integrity of the free press and the U.S. First Amendment and builds public confidence in journalism and media — an essential for healthy democracies. Learn more at poynter.org.
About Delfi and Melo detektorius
Delfi has been Lithuania’s leading online news website since 2000, reaching over 1.4 million users monthly and 500,000 daily with timely, multilingual coverage in Lithuanian, Russian and English. Its other channels include DELFI TV and a broad social-media presence. The company underscores its commitment to democratic values through its membership in the Lithuanian Responsible Business Association (LAVA).
As a co-host of GlobalFact 2026, Delfi brings deep experience in journalism, event production and public engagement. Delfi’s in-house fact-checking unit Melo detektorius (“Lie Detector”) — a certified signatory of both IFCN and EFCSN — regularly publishes fact-checks in various formats and delivers comprehensive reports on disinformation trends, produces educational content, provides trainings, and pilots AI-driven tools to help citizens identify and resist manipulation. Beyond daily news, Delfi runs large-scale projects and events that strengthen media resilience and civic life, including LOGIN (the Baltics’ landmark innovation conference), EBIT (an executive forum), HR Week, Tvari Lietuva (Sustainable Lithuania), Saugu (national security awareness), and youth and education initiatives such as Best Class Day Ever. Delfi is also an experienced partner in European projects and has led investigative and media-literacy work to promote information integrity across the region.
