AFP is strengthening its position as the world leader in digital verification by moving into three new countries: Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Based in Berlin and Vienna, the new German team will work alongside AFP’s German-speaking journalists to debunk and tackle disinformation being spread on social media in these three countries.
As part of an expanded partnership with Facebook, German becomes the 16th language in which AFP compiles fact check articles and publishes them on the multilingual website AFP Fact Check.
“This project is another major step forward for our international fact-checking network. It consolidates the agency’s efforts in fighting online misinformation,and validates once again our expertise in this field,” says Yacine Le Forestier, the head of AFP’s German subsidiary and AFP’s chief international editor in Germany.
Since its launch in 2017, AFP’s digital investigation unit has grown to become the only global network of dedicated journalists in this field. AFP now has more than 90 journalists investigating online content and covering 80 countries. They work in French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Polish, Catalan, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malay, Thai, Slovak, Czech, Dutch, Burmese, Serbian and German.
AFP is Facebook’s most widespread global fact-checking partner within the Third-Party Fact-Checking Program against misinformation on Facebook and Instagram. The Agency has been certified by the Poynter Institute’s non-partisan International Fact-Checking Network.
