The fact-checking mandate evolves from politics to personal security

"The field of fact-checking is not static; it dynamically evolves to confront the most pressing informational threats of our era. Over the past three decades, its focus has undergone a profound transformation, shifting from the political arena to public health crises and, most recently, to the pervasive world of digital fraud. This evolution reflects a broadening understanding of where disinformation does its greatest harm."

"For much of its modern history, from approximately 1993 to 2020, fact-checking was defined by its role as a political watchdog. The work was centered on scrutinizing the claims of public officials, from presidents and governors to local mayors, with a straightforward methodology: document public statements, rigorously verify them against official records and public data, and expose any inaccuracies. The primary objective was to increase the political cost of falsehoods."

"The COVID-19 pandemic beginning in 2020 marked a pivotal turning point. The global health crisis shifted the stakes of disinformation from a threat to democracy to a direct threat to human life. In response, fact-checkers mobilized with unprecedented urgency to debunk a deluge of falsehoods surrounding the novel coronavirus, vaccines, and fraudulent cures. This period fundamentally altered public perception, demonstrating that the rigorous verification of information was an essential service for safeguarding lives and promoting sound public health decisions."

Fact-checking evolved from a primary focus on political accountability into a broader mission addressing public health and financial harms. From roughly 1993 to 2020, fact-checkers concentrated on verifying public officials' statements by documenting claims, checking official records and public data, and exposing inaccuracies to raise the political cost of falsehoods. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 reframed disinformation as a direct threat to human life, prompting urgent debunking of coronavirus, vaccine, and cure-related falsehoods and reinforcing verification as a life-saving public service. Since 2024, online scams and sophisticated financial fraud, especially in Brazil, have become a central battleground.

Read at Nieman Lab