AP says it is “not currently doing fact-checking work for Facebook”, after Snopes said it also stopped; both leave possiblity for future collaboration open
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch : Tweets: @db and @daveleebbc See also Mediagazer Tweets: @db : There's just two left fact-checking in the US: @Factcheckdotorg & @Politifact. How long before they leave too? http://www.facebook.com/... http://twitter.com/... Dave Lee / @daveleebbc : Update: Politifact says it still plans to work with Facebook in 2019. That leaves Factcheck-dot-org (on the list of US fact checkers) - waiting to hear back from them. See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Facebook's fact-checking program began in December 2016 as an unpaid arrangement where outlets like Snopes and AP flagged stories for warning labels and lower News Feed ranking, and it has been losing partners ever since: Facebook was accused of withholding performance data from its own checkers in 2017, then broadened the workload to photos and videos in 2018.
Now the attrition is accelerating — Snopes quit this week, calling Facebook's closed, manual entry system too labor-intensive to benefit the wider web — and AP confirms it is also not currently doing the work, though both leave the door open. That leaves PolitiFact, which says it plans to continue in 2019, and FactCheck.org as the only US partners on the list.
First-order effects
- Facebook's US fact-checking bench shrinks to two named partners — PolitiFact and FactCheck.org — just as the workload per checker has grown to include photos and videos, concentrating label-and-demote coverage on fewer organizations.
Second-order effects
- The remaining partners gain leverage over terms: Full Fact's later UK experience — 96 fact-checks in six months for roughly $171k, with a public ask for more data sharing — shows what staying at the table costs and what partners will demand, pushing Facebook toward opening its entry system and metrics.
Third-order effects
- If departures keep outpacing recruitment, Facebook's outsourced-moderation-by-contract model gives way to in-house or automated labeling, converting fact-checking from a distributed editorial network into a platform-controlled function.
The trend: Platform-outsourced content verification is consolidating as partners exit over labor economics and data access, forcing platforms to internalize the moderation they once delegated.