IFCN awarded 35 organisations serving 45 countries with $25,000 each to strengthen the impact of their fact-checking projects.

The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) on Thursday announced grant recipients from the Global Fact Check Fund’s BUILD phase, which aims to help fact-checking organisations scale or upgrade their online presence. First Check, DataLEADS’s flagship health fact-checking initiative, was among the 35 organisations serving 45 countries that were awarded $25,000 each.

“This is a great opportunity for us, at First Check, to strengthen our fight against health misinformation. It has not always been an easy journey, but the experience of bringing together medical professionals, researchers and healthcare enthusiasts on a common platform to tackle this grave public health challenge has been truly enriching. We are grateful and excited to embark on the next phase of our health fact-checking journey,” said Syed Nazakat, Founder and CEO, DataLEADS. 

First Check, a verified signatory of the IFCN’s Code of Principles, currently has 53 medical professionals, researchers, journalists, and technologists from 24 countries as part of its unique, global volunteer network. Since its inception in 2019, the collaborative health fact-checking platform has been at the forefront of identifying and combating health misinformation, harmful rumours on social media and unscientific claims.

With the grant from the Global Fact Check Fund, First Check plans to modernise its website and build capacity to amplify its global efforts in the area of health fact-checking over the next one year. All the awardees will be funded through the first $875,000 in grants from the Global Fact Check Fund, which is run by the IFCN at the non-profit Poynter Institute and supported by a $13.2 million grant from Google and YouTube.