Just a PR Effort for Platforms?:Exploring Tensions Between European Fact-Checkers and Tech Giants

This paper investigates tensions in how professional fact-checkers across Europe reflect on and portray partnerships between fact-checking organizations and big tech companies such as Meta, Alphabet, and TikTok. Drawing on 12 qualitative interviews across 12 European countries, we explore the intricacies of how fact-checkers collaborate with big tech and, additionally, how they perceive their role, their relationship to tech companies, and the role of tech companies in combating mis- and disinformation.<br/><br/>The relationship between fact-checking and tech companies has become increasingly tension-ridden in recent years, culminating in December 2024 with Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that Meta would end its Third-Party Fact-Checking Program starting in the US due to proclaimed bias among fact-checkers (Kaplan, 2025). Until now, Meta has been the main funder of independent fact-checking organizations globally (Jingnan &amp; Bond, 2025), lauding their partnerships by stating that "fighting misinformation takes a multi-pronged approach from across the industry (...) We are committed to fighting this through many tactics, and the work that third-party fact checkers do is a valued and important piece of this effort” (Lee, 2019).<br/><br/>Many fact-checking organizations initially joined the Third-Party Fact-Checking Program after its launch in 2016 with optimism and enthusiasm (Bengtsson et al., 2024). They saw it as an opportunity to be given access to algorithmic systems that could monitor the vast ocean of unsupported claims on social media platforms (what had so far been an impossible task for the human fact-checkers) as well as being awarded primacy on Meta’s platforms to circulate fact-checks to a broader audience than what would otherwise be possible (Bengtsson et al. 2024).<br/><br/>Our analysis shows how professional fact-checkers in Europe, on the one hand, defend their partnerships with tech companies such as Meta, Alphabet, and TikTok, while, on the other hand, reflect critically on the fundamental limitations of such partnerships. Moreover, the study finds that fact-checkers struggle with navigating fundamental questions about knowledge production, the conceptualization of the citizen, free speech, and democracy, and whether they work from the same or fundamentally different ideas than tech companies. The paper ends by discussing the addressed concerns and ideas for future development strategies in a European context.