Global demand for credibility has driven a record surge in applications to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles, the network’s new annual report shows. Despite mounting legal threats, online harassment and declining budgets, fact-checking organizations are “leaning into” public accountability rather than pulling back, the report says.
The network, based at the nonprofit Poynter Institute, reviewed 226 applications last year — 61 from first-time journalist groups and 165 from renewing signatories — and certified 116 of them. The roster now includes 182 verified fact-checking organizations across 57 countries, each committed to nonpartisanship, transparent funding, clear sourcing, a public methodology and an open corrections policy. First introduced in 2016, those standards have become the global benchmark for professional fact-checking.
To keep pace with the surge in applications, the IFCN rebuilt its screening process, overhauled its website and strengthened assessor training. Average review time fell from as long as 10 months to about six. Signatories with five successful renewals now follow a two-year review cycle, freeing up staff, independent assessors and the advisory board to spend more time on new applicants.
The IFCN also expanded its governance structure. Eight regional leaders joined the advisory board, with additional working groups focused on financial sustainability, harassment response and community engagement. A tighter complaints system filters out frivolous submissions, routes credible concerns directly to assessors and helps protect fact-checkers from coordinated harassment.
Since 2023, the $12 million Global Fact Check Fund has awarded nearly $6 million to 134 fact-checking organizations in 67 countries, supporting staff hires, security improvements and audience expansion. The fund reinforces the Code’s standards and shows that credible fact-checking is worth investment.
Despite retreats by some technology companies and chilling attacks on fact-checkers, the IFCN plans a full review of the Code in 2025 and 2026. The update will examine how generative AI, collaborative fact-checking and shrinking civic space are testing current standards. A self-paced online course is also in development to guide applicants through each requirement, and new automation will improve how applications are tracked and reviewed.
The report offers fact-checkers more guidance on the path to certification and a vivid portrait of community standards. For policymakers and funders, it is a snapshot of what credible, transparent fact-checking looks like and what it takes to sustain it.
Read the full report here.
Is this the “annual” transparency report, last seen in 2020? Or a different annual report?
The IFCN is moving toward decreased transparency. It cloaks its black box practices by calling it more efficient and protecting fact checkers from coordinated harassment, but the truth is the IFCN is simply making itself less accountable to the public.
The “public” complaints process? It’s not public.
Complainant sends email complaint. There’s no public record of the complaint provided by the IFCN. Maybe it goes the outside assessor. Maybe it won’t. Maybe the outside assessor will mention a complaint in an assessment. Or maybe not. It’s all under-the-table.
The IFCN asks fact-checking organizations to commit to transparency.
It’s way past time for the IFCN itself to commit to transparency. The public complaints system ought to be as public as possible, and wherever it’s not possible the IFCN should offer a public and transparent explanation for why it’s not.