The demise of fact-checking organizations is simply an evolutionary pivot

Laura Ruggeri
2 min readFeb 9, 2025

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The demise of fact-checking organizations is simply an evolutionary pivot. Social media platforms and stakeholders such as Western governments have realized that this traditional approach that relied heavily on centralized, self-professed expert gatekeepers is infeasible or even detrimental when accusations of bias and censorship run rampant.

In place of a single, monolithic approach, a patchwork of solutions is taking shape — ranging from user-driven verification and AI moderation to emerging decentralized or blockchain-based frameworks.

To contain and cancel narratives that debunk Western propaganda they are increasingly resorting to non-informational responses. That is, they are fighting information operations asymmetrically, often outside of information spaces.

The harassment, surveillance, intimidation and arrest of independent journalists, sanctions on Russian media outlets, pressure on TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell the platform, the arrest and blackmail of Telegram’s Pavel Durov, the cancellation of elections in Romania on the bogus pretext of “foreign interference” in the political campaign, DoS cyberattacks etc. point to a very dangerous escalation in the West’s asymmetrical response.

Last but not least, NATO and the EU are not defunding their “disinfo specialists.” Actually, they are doubling down on their efforts to build a new Iron Curtain citing the need to “fight FIMI” (Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference) with sharper tools. The gravy train hasn’t been stopped. I quote from a recent report published by EEAS (the EU diplomatic service)

“Tangible campaigns sit behind much of the most damaging and visible information we encounter. These campaigns have people, assets, financial infrastructures, budgets and brands that can be targeted by activism and the law, by sanctions, take-down, de-listing, and exposure. When we focus on the operations that manipulate information spaces — the behaviour rather than just the content — a whole range of responses become apparent that do not require us to weaponise information spaces ourselves.”

And on the topic of AI, the EU’s DisinfoLab explains

“The explosive growth and availability of AI tools may even hold more benefits for defenders than attackers.”

Back in 2015 the EEAS created the East Stratcom Task Force. In 2017 the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, which supports the activities of NATO in this field, was set up in Helsinki to act as a single focus for the analysis of hybrid threats.

NATO built an EU-wide pipeline of researchers, university centers, journalists, fact-checkers and NGOs. They don’t need USAID funding because they are bankrolled by EU-NATO and the usual philanthropists. They employ experts in data mining and analysis to organize, aggregate and process vast amounts of digital data with the help of AI. Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU can demand social media platforms to give data access to these researchers.

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Laura Ruggeri
Laura Ruggeri

Written by Laura Ruggeri

Independent researcher & writer, based in Hong Kong since 1997. Slow and analytical on Medium, fast and furious on Telegram https://t.me/LauraRuHK

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