Facts for Friends is a Berlin-based fact-checking platform created during the German government’s #WirVsVirus hackathon in March 2020. It presents itself as a tool to help users counter disinformation and conspiracy theories by offering concise, categorized rebuttals. Topics covered have included COVID-19, politics, the economy, business, the environment and Germany’s 2021 federal election. The platform uses slogans such as #Factfluencer and #Don’tTellMeFairyTales to promote user participation. Funding for the #WirVsVirus projects came from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (via the Prototype Fund), the Vodafone Institute, the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt and Google. No updates have been posted since August 2023.
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FactsforFriends
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), BMW Foundation...See all
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt, Google News Initiative, Vodafone Stiftung Deutschland See less
Media Lab Bayern, Digital Democracy Alliance (DDA)...See all
Media Lab Bayern, Digital Democracy Alliance (DDA) See less
Commentary:
Facts for Friends originated not as a newsroom or academic project but as a digital tool produced under the German state’s crisis-response umbrella. Conceived at the 2020 #WirVsVirus hackathon and later funded by BMBF’s Prototype Fund, it offers users arguments to deploy against allegedly false or conspiratorial claims. Its branding reveals a didactic ambition: to transform private citizens into a counter-propaganda corps. Though styled as grassroots, its state and corporate backers curate acceptable discourse according to official priorities. The site refrains from examining the causes of political distrust or the institutional failures on which disinformation thrives. Instead, it presumes that credibility can be restored by branding and repetition.
Facts for Friends originated not as a newsroom or academic project but as a digital tool produced under the German state’s crisis-response umbrella. Conceived at the 2020 #WirVsVirus hackathon and later funded by BMBF’s Prototype Fund, it offers users arguments to deploy against allegedly false or conspiratorial claims. Its branding reveals a didactic ambition: to transform private citizens into a counter-propaganda corps. Though styled as grassroots, its state and corporate backers curate acceptable discourse according to official priorities. The site refrains from examining the causes of political distrust or the institutional failures on which disinformation thrives. Instead, it presumes that credibility can be restored by branding and repetition.
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