LACK of enough human resources is affecting the capacities fact-checking organisations to tackle misinformation effectively, a report by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) has revealed.
The report titled “State of the Fact-checkers 2022” shows that most of the fact-checking organizations operate with limited staff, which may impact their capacities to cover a wide range of information and respond quickly to emerging claims or misinformation.
Part of the report read, “37.6% of organizations have 1-5 full-time employees, making this the most common staffing level. 25.8% of organizations have 6-10 employees, and an equal percentage (25.8%) have 11-20 staffers, indicating that a significant portion of fact-checking operations also maintain modest-sized teams. Only 1% of organizations reported having more than 51 workers, highlighting that large-scale fact-checking operations are rare.”
The report stated that there was growth in financial resources of many fact-checking organisations showing an enhanced capacity for tackling misinformation and fact-checking claims effectively.
“The survey shows that Meta’s Third Party Fact-Checking program is still the leading funding source for fact-checking organizations, contributing 45.2% of their total income. Grants constituted 29% of primary funding, with donations or membership subscriptions accounting for 6.5%,” the report stated.
Others are revenue from website traffic and other social media platforms such as TikTok.
The report stated that fact-checking organizations are now tackling misinformation across various public interest topics majorly bordering on political, economic, social and health misinformation.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
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