Knowledge Work in Platform Fact-Checking Partnerships

Abstract

This article explores how platforms, news publishers, and fact-checkers describe the trade-offs they make in partnerships to counter misinformation. Using 54 interviews with these actors active in the global fact-checking field, it shows that resources and news values constitute key aspects of these partnerships. They contribute to knowledge shaping of what it means to fight misinformation (e.g., focusing on debunking, resource-allocation inequalities), and what types of misinformation matter for the public. This study highlights two kinds of problems in the growing anti-misinformation field, namely, coordination (technical, as to how to integrate different efforts by multiple actors) and cooperation (different organizations have different goals).