 | |
| Formation | 2 March 2014; 11 years ago (2014-03-02) |
|---|---|
| Founders | Margot Gontar Oleg Shankovskyi Yevhen Fedchenko (chief editor[1]) Ruslan Deynychenko |
| Purpose | Fact-checking |
| Headquarters | Kyiv,Ukraine |
Official languages | Russian,English,Spanish,Italian,Romanian,Bulgarian,French,Dutch,Czech,German[2] |
| Staff | 15 (2022) |
| Website | www |
TheStopFake website is a project of Ukrainian mediaNGOMedia Reforms Center. It was founded in March 2014 byUkrainian professors and students with the stated purpose of refutingRussian propaganda andfake news.[3][4][5] It began as a Russian- and English-languagefact-checking organization, and has grown to include a TV show broadcast on 30 local channels, a weekly radio show, and a strong social media following.[6]
StopFake was founded as a volunteer effort, but by 2017 included paid employees on its team. It is largely funded by grants.[7] It has received praise from other media outlets. In 2014 it received aBOBs award fromDeutsche Welle and aFree Media Pioneer Award from theInternational Press Institute.
The organization grew out of an online discussion between faculty and alumni ofNational University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.[8] Margot Gontar (at that point a recentmaster's graduate of the Mohyla journalism program), Oleg Shankovskyi, Ruslan Deynychenko,[2] and Yevhen Fedchenko (a professor of journalism at Mohyla Academy) co-founded the organization in 2014.[9][8][5][10] The website StopFake.org went live on 2 March 2014.[11] It was founded shortly after theinvasion and annexation of Crimea by Russia.[7]
In its first four months of operation, its website averaged one and a half million visitors per month.[12]
In November 2016, the organization became a partner in theFirst Draft News network.[2]
StopFake opposes the spread of disinformation by Russia,[3][13] focusing on information disseminated on social media.[14] including through the use of digital tools.[15] It producesStopFake News, a weekly television show hosted by co-founder Gontar only about fake news, and holds the standard that "[i]f fact checkers cannot prove that a story published or broadcast by another news media outlet is false, it will not be featured in the weekly airing".[5]
Following the allegations ofRussian influence in the 2016 United States presidential election, StopFake began to gain international recognition.[4] The site has been financed by crowdfunding, readers' contributions, the Renaissance Foundation,National Endowment for Democracy,National Democratic Institute,German Marshall Fund, the Foreign Ministry of theCzech Republic, theForeign Ministry of the United Kingdom, theBritish Embassy in Ukraine, and theSigrid Rausing Trust.[16][17][2][18] In 2022Fortune described it as operating on a "shoestring budget".[7]
StopFake started as a volunteer effort, but it had 26 paid staff members by 2017.[8][12][5]CBS News reported in February 2022 that it was run by volunteers and journalism students.[19] In April 2022The Washington Post reported that it had 15 employees.[20]
In July 2020, StopFake signed an agreement with National TV and Radio Council on cooperation in monitoring and analyzing disinformation. StopFake is also a third-party fact checker forFacebook.[21][22] Stopfake is part of the International Fact-Checking Network, run by thePoynter Institute, which sets editorial standards for fact-checking organisations.[20]
Olga Yurkova, the founder and editor of StopFake, was included in the 2016New Europe 100 list chosen by theFinancial Times,Google,Res Publica andVisegrád Group. The list recognises central and eastern Europe's brightest and best people.[23] StopFake won the "Best Project in Russian Award" inDeutsche Welle's 2014BOBs awards.[24]
The New York Times wrote in 2017 that StopFake "is highly respected in journalistic circles here in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, for its specialty of debunking fake news", and it "reported some of the biggest nonstories of the war" in Ukraine.[5] Also in 2017,Politico stated that "the journalism school crew behind StopFake have emerged as the 'grand wizards' of the fake-news-busting world".[4]Freedom House described it as a "gold standard" in exposing fake news, said that its work has become "a model in other Central and Eastern European countries".[7]
In 2020,The New York Times reported that despite its commitment to neutral fact-checking, as per Facebook's policy, StopFake was accused of bias in its work.[25]
In 2020, theZaborona website published a report, co-authored by Ukrainian journalistEkaterina Sergatskova [uk], which accused StopFake of having links with Ukrainian far-right and neo-Nazi groups, such asS14.[26][25][27] The report included that Marko Suprun, host of StopFake's English-language video program, had been shown in social media photographs at a gathering with two musicians from Holocaust-denying white power bandSokyra Peruna [uk] and another controversial bandKomu Vnyz.[25][27] The report also stated that the director and founder of StopFake, Yevhen Fedchenko, had tweeted in defence of S14 on one occasion, spoken against freedom of the press and supported the websiteMyrotvorets.[26][25][27] Following this Sergatskova was subjected to online harassment from commentators and hard right figures, including death threats and posting of her personal information, and she left Kyiv, reporting fears for her life.[26][28][29] The threats were condemned by StopFake.[25]
StopFake said the accusations in the article were untrue, calling theZaborona article a part of a campaign of slanderous "information attacks" against the project team.[30] StopFake said that the use of the photographs to allege far-right connections were employing "guilt by association".[25] StopFake has subsequently signed a statement by media workers calling for a defence of Sergatskova from death threats.[26][31][32] Ukrainian Foreign MinisterDmytro Kuleba supported StopFake, saying that his ministry observed co-ordinated, systematic attempts byRussia to undermine the reputation of the fact-checking project.[33] The Media Reforms Center complained to Ukraine'sIndependent Media Council (IMC) about Zaborona. IMC ruled that the Zaborona story violated three principles of the journalistic code of ethics and "groundlessly and biasedly discredits the StopFake project as a fact-checker, misleading the readers about the mechanism of interaction between the fact-checkers andFacebook".[34][35][36]
During the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, StopFake received attention for its role in combating disinformation.Fortune described it as a "vital force" in protecting Ukraine's efforts against propaganda and disinformation.[7][20][37] In 2022, StopFake was one of seven Ukrainian outlets that was awarded the Free Media Pioneer award by theInternational Press Institute[38][39] and theLibrary of Congress announced it would digitally archive the website as a record of Russian propaganda during the war.[40]
The report on the country's efforts to tackle Russian misinformation highlights the StopFake project, a collaborative effort to tackle fake stories 'produced mainly by the Russian media'
Each fact-checking undertaking has its specificity. In Ukraine, StopFake.org focuses on social networks, which function as one of the main sources of information for citizens, and evaluates the veracity of the images disseminated, currently closely related to the war in the country.
Sergatskova co-authored an investigation alleging links between neo-nazi groups and StopFake, a Ukrainian NGO working as a Facebook fact-checking partner. [...] Mr Suprun, the Canadian husband of Ukraine's former health minister, was shown sharing platforms with former C14 members and other far-right figures, including one convicted of a racially-motivated murder. Yevhen Fedchenko, director of StopFake and the journalism school at Kyiv's Mohyla Academy, has also previously tweeted in defence of C14.
