FACTUAL | Fact-Checking Climate Changes

• Priority Area Boosting Fact-checking Activities in Europe
• Funding Round / Action Types 1st Funding Round – Urgent Actions
• Year 2022
• Country Portugal
• Project Status Ongoing

The project Factual | Fact-Checking Climate Changes sought to contribute, in a decisive and straightforward way, to tackle pressing disinformation-related issues on a very important topic of great public interest – Climate Change, while supporting EDMO’s activities. During the project, Factual seeks to understand how fake climate news might influence individuals’ policy-relevant beliefs and decisions and guarantee reliable and rigorous scientific information to its public, through methodic fact-checking activities. The factual project was led by Polígrafo, a leading Portuguese fact-checking newspaper.

Factual focused on conducting several high-profile studies on misinformation, fake news, and technological tools, crucial for the accuracy and success of the remaining activities of the project.

The project stood out for its innovative method of information analysis and distribution. Regarding information analysis, the project aimed to include new technologically intensive tools, namely Artificial intelligence, to build the project as innovative and efficient as possible. The tools developed during the project were designed to be replicated by the fact-checking community.

In regards to communication, Factual gave priority to differentiated forms of communication delivery, through comic strips, Tv programmes, social media videos, and podcasts. The project also had a powerful component of dissemination in social networks, namely in new media such as Tiktok, Twitter and Instagram, where different sorts of content was broadly disseminated.

The Factual also carried out several activities of civil society education, by conducting workshops and Media Literacy activities for the younger audiences, in order to empower the new generations to tackle the challenge of misinformation.