EFE News Agency has a distinct team and a section for debunking who publishes on EFE Verifica’s website and sometimes on the EFE news wire service too.

EFE is a multimedia company with a worldwide network of 3.000 journalists working 24 hours a day from more than 180 cities in 120 countries. EFE has four main editing desks in Madrid, Bogotá, Cairo (Arabic) and Rio de Janeiro (Portuguese) that offer their products to customers on five continents.

It distributes almost 3 million news items that offer the Latin vision of the world in Spanish, Portuguese, English, Arabic, Catalan and Galician.

EFE is a public company founded in January 1939, and the Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), part of the Spanish Ministry of Finance, is its sole shareholder. It is currently registered under the name EFE SAU SME in the Registro Nacional de Asociaciones and its tax number (CIF) is A28028744. EFE’s company bylaws are accessible at EFE's website: www.agenciaefe.es/estatutos-de-la-sociedad

EFE News Agency (Agencia EFE) is the largest news organization of the World in Spanish language, thanks to its over 3,000 staff journalists and stringers. Founded in 1939 in Spain, it is nowadays a publicly owned news agency that distributes news stories, photographs, video and multimedia content in six languages. As part of its news services, since March 2019 it runs a fact-checking section called EFE Verifica. As requested, the applicant has presented evidence of its legal registration.

You can find all our fact-checks published since March 2019 on EFE Verifica’s website:

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/50001435

According to the assessment made of the last three months (Nov. 2019-Jan. 2019), EFE Verifica publishes on average 2-3 fact-checks per week. When events of special relevance take place, such as important political debates, more than one fact-check can be published in a day. Over the period assessed, there has been no week with at least one fact-check published.

Our fact-checking standards are ensured by EFE’s editing practices, its stylebook and Code of editorial standards and values ( https://www.agenciaefe.es/convenio-colectivo/ , 77 ff.) and by EFE Verifica’s public methodology ( https://www.efe.com/objetos_app/efe_verifica/efeverifica.html ).

Our fact-checking unit is set in Madrid, from where our team works closely with local news editors and bureau chiefs around the world. All fact-checks are overseen by EFE Verifica’s editors as well as an EFE’s editor-in-chief and a news director (International news, Spain news, Economy news, etc, depending on the issue being investigated).

All claims are assessed the same way, starting with a question and giving a factual answer, including links to evidence and sources throughout.

EFE Verifica produces mainly two different fact-checking pieces differentiated by tags at our webpage when it comes to verify:

POLITICAL FACT-CHECK (“Verificación política”: https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/verificacion-politica/50001438)

We verify political claims using the same standard for every piece. We do not concentrate our fact-checking on any one side while trying to avoid a false balance: we pick up claims made in the public sphere, mainly by political leaders and irrespective of their ideological orientation. Then we rate its relevance and impact on the public opinion so we can decide if we fact-check it.

1.- PSOE, PP, VOX, BILDU,UPN: Las falsedades del debate de investidura https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/las-falsedades-del-debate-de-investidura/50001435-4143776

2.- PSOE: ERC no apoyó todos los decretos del Gobierno de Sánchez, como afirma Lastra

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/las-falsedades-del-debate-de-investidura/50001435-4143776

3.- PP: Bildu no fue fundamental para que Sánchez llegara a Moncloa, como dice Casado

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/bildu-no-fue-fundamental-para-que-sanchez-llegara-a-moncloa-como-dice-casado/50001435-4106540

4.- Podemos: No todos tienen prohibido usar balas de goma en Cataluña, como dice Iglesias

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/no-todos-tienen-prohibido-usar-balas-de-goma-en-cataluna-como-dice-iglesias/50001435-4089462

5.- Ciudadanos: Cs no es el partido más creció en las urnas el 28-A, como asegura Rivera

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/cs-no-es-el-partido-que-mas-crecio-en-las-urnas-28-a-como-asegura-rivera/50001435-4034532

6.- Vox: Los colegios de Madrid no dan cursos que hablen de “zoofilia”, como dice Vox

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/los-colegios-de-madrid-no-dan-cursos-que-hablen-quot-zoofilia-como-dice-vox/50001435-4035194

7.- PSOE: La Comisión Europea no ha valorado el plan climático de España, como dice Sánchez

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/la-comision-europea-no-ha-valorado-el-plan-climatico-de-espana-como-dice-sanchez/50001435-4035483

8.- PP: Sánchez no ha sido condenado por la Junta Electoral, como afirma Casado

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/sanchez-no-ha-sido-condenado-por-la-junta-electoral-como-afirma-casado/50001435-4102181

9.- PSOE, PP, Cs, Podemos, Vox: Las falsedades de los candidatos en el debate electoral del 10N

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/las-falsedades-de-los-candidatos-en-el-debate-electoral-del-10n/50001435-4118879

10.- PSOE: España no es la única economía europea que seguirá creciendo, como dice Calvo

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/espana-no-es-la-unica-economia-europea-que-seguira-creciendo-como-dice-calvo/50001435-4102170

VIRAL HOAXES (“Desinformación viral”: https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/desinformacion-viral/50001440)

We verify viral hoaxes following the same methodology. We pick up the claims according to the social impact, the relevance of the topic and its sharing on social media. Then we rate its relevance and impact on the public opinion so we can decide if we fact-check it.

1.- Monasterio no ha tuiteado que ponga el himno a sus hijas para dormir, es una cuenta falsa

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/monasterio-no-ha-tuiteado-que-ponga-el-himno-a-sus-hijas-para-dormir-es-una-cuenta-falsa/50001435-4146559

2.- Las mentiras sobre Greta Thunberg vuelven con la COP

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/las-mentiras-sobre-greta-thunberg-vuelven-con-la-cop/50001435-4123671

3.- ¿Evo Morales con Pablo Escobar y "El Chapo"? Es un fotomontaje

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/evo-morales-con-pablo-escobar-y-el-chapo-es-u

n-fotomontaje/50001435-4110819

4.- La Casa Real no ha manipulado fotografías para ocultar un lazo amarillo

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/la-casa-real-no-ha-manipulado-fotografias-para-ocultar-un-lazo-amarillo/50001435-4118868

5.- La cercanía del 10N alienta las intoxicaciones sobre censo y voto por correo

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/la-cercania-del-10n-alienta-las-intoxicaciones-sobre-censo-y-voto-por-correo/50001435-4102877

6.- No hay pruebas de que un policía fuera herido en Barcelona por "fuego amigo"

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/no-hay-pruebas-de-que-un-policia-fuera-herido-en-barcelona-por-fuego-amigo/50001435-4100524

7.- Falsedades y manipulaciones alimentan la crispación en Cataluña

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/falsedades-y-manipulaciones-alimentan-la-crispacion-en-cataluna/50001435-4091739

8.- La gota fría inunda las redes de bulos

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/la-gota-fria-inunda-las-redes-de-bulos/50001435-4064841

9.- Un sándwich de chorizo no es la comida de los efectivos de la UME en Cataluña

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/un-sandwich-de-chorizo-no-es-la-comida-los-efectivos-ume-en-cataluna/50001435-4036001

10.- Imágenes sobre la agresión de un mena en Canet de Mar se grabaron en China

https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/imagenes-sobre-la-agresion-de-un-mena-en-canet-mar-se-grabaron-china/50001435-4035939

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We also produce pieces debunking MYTHS (https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/mitos/50001442) and EXPLAINERS (https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/explicativos/50001441) on contested issues.

Since EFE Verifica was launched, in March 2019, it has covered mainly national politics, but also verifies public statements, publishes explanatory news stories and debunks hoaxes in a number of topics, such as social issues, economics and environment. In front of all these issues, EFE Verifica does not unduly concentrate on one side of the question analyzed; on the contrary, it strives to provide unbiased and accountable information, in order to allow their users to get a clear and contextualized understanding of the issues.

EFE’s Code of editorial standards (https://www.agenciaefe.es/convenio-colectivo/ , 77 ff.) rejects any pressure from political parties over its staff members and states that working for EFE is incompatible with a job at governmental or party press offices:

“EFE rejects any pressure from institutions, political parties, economic, cultural, religious, social, ideological or other groups that attempt to alter or influence information for the benefit of their interests. In the event of these pressures, journalists may notify the Editorial Board or the Board of Directors”.

EFE’s journalists must present “significant points of view, expose the facts in context, without deliberate omissions and with the right words, without affecting their beliefs or ideologies, and act with diligence and decent methods in obtaining and treating the information”.

Furthermore, working as a journalist at EFE is “incompatible with any other job, as with any paid periodic collaboration in another journalistic, advertising, public relations company, governmental press offices and in all those that may involve unfair competition, including companies that are suppliers of products or services of EFE News Agency”.

Likewise, we are not allowed to to “have investments or direct economic interests related” to our work area. Those who participate in the informative workflow of EFE “will not be able to produce news that directly or indirectly affects their private interests or those of their families”.

EFE Verifica doesn’t support any political party or candidate nor advocate or take policy positions on any issues. That is proven by our fact-checking record and our commitment with a due balance among the main Spanish political parties.

This non-partisan way of fact-checking is also based on EFE’s Code of editorial standards and values, that highlights “impartiality, accuracy, lack of bias and honesty” as “unavoidable principles to achieve objective and rigorous information on any of the media”.

According to its internal regulations, EFE Verifica has a positive and sound policy to avoid partisanship. These rules, which are publicly disclosed, are compulsory for every manager and worker of EFE news agency. The way EFE Verifica picks the topics to be fact-checked is based on their current relevance and public interest, not in an unduly treatment of information. EFE news agency has not ever supported a candidate in any election nor advocate or take partisan positions on any issues. 

At EFE Verifica, we use public reliable sources and make them available to our readers so they can replicate our investigation. This is a policy reflected in our methodology (https://www.efe.com/objetos_app/efe_verifica/efeverifica.html) and supported by EFE's rigourous sources policy in the Code of editorial standards and values ( https://www.agenciaefe.es/convenio-colectivo/ , 77 ff. )

First, we try to contact the person or the institution behind a claim to ask them about the data used to support it. Then, we check the claim with EFE’s archive and with official and reliable available data (gathered by the Government, NGO, independent institutions…). When facing a complex issue we also get in touch with independent recognised experts on the field.

In the case of viral disinformation, we also name and illustrate the online tools that we use to carry out visual verification, such as Google Reverse Image Search, Tin Eye or Yandex. We locate the author of footage and pictures or witnesses to verify the authenticity of the material.

Finally, we write a report in which we name and link to all the sources of the data used to fact-check political statements or debunk viral disinformation content.

All our sources must be on the record. We can only use off the record information for our personal context but not to support a fact-check. We follow EFE’s sources policy as stated in its Code of editorial standards:

“When the identification cannot be explicit, the attribution of sources must be as accurate as possible. In no case may information be disseminated without attribution of sources or totally inaccurate, unless the journalist witnesses the facts. (...) If the source speaks ‘off the record’ the journalist may not publish the obtained without being confirmed by a different source”.

EFE Verifica consistently backs its fact-checks with numerous and diverse links to reliable sources of data, so that the readers can check by themselves the truthfulness of the analyses. Following EFE’s sources policy as stated in its Code of editorial standards, off-the-record or non-attributed content is never used to back fact-checks.

EFE Verifica is part of the activity of EFE (see Criterion 1a) and has no independent sources of funding. Our production relies on the work of EFE’s staff journalists.

EFE resources are both funds from Spanish government aimed to support public interest journalism in Spain and abroad (EFE has been declared as a Services of General Economic Interest, SGEI, by the European Commission) and commercial (around 40 %). EFE’s annual accounts are accessible here: https://www.agenciaefe.es/cuentas-anuales/  

EFE Verifica is a branch of EFE News Agency, a publicly-owned corporation bound to the Spanish government through the State Society of Industrial Participations (Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales, SEPI). Its funds come both from the State's general budget and the commercialisation of news services. On its website information about its annual account funding can be found.

However, when this assessment was performed (Feb. 2020), the last economic information available was referred to the year 2017, long before EFE Verifica was created. In addition, the financial information was hardly accessible, as it was only avaliable in awkward PDF files. We kindly invite the applicant to publish more updated financial information, in a more convenient and easy-to-use format.

See ‘¿Quiénes somos?’: https://www.efe.com/objetos_app/efe_verifica/efeverifica.html 

EFE Verifica provides detailed, easy-to-reach information about its staff members.

See ‘Contacta con nosotros’: https://www.efe.com/objetos_app/efe_verifica/efeverifica.html 

Internet users can send easily their comments, ideas or corrections to EFE Verifica, using different means of contact, which include email and social media (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram). For social media interaction they use a specific hashtag (#EFEVerifica). These means of contact are clearly accessible both in EFE Verifica's homepage and in its 'contact us' page.

See ‘¿Cómo verificamos el discurso público?’, ‘¿Y la desinformación viral?’, and ‘¿Por qué no usamos etiquetas?’: https://www.efe.com/objetos_app/efe_verifica/efeverifica.html 

EFE Verifica explains in detail its fact-checking methodology. This information is clear and easy-to-find.

See ‘Contacta con nosotros’: https://www.efe.com/objetos_app/efe_verifica/efeverifica.html

Our readers can reach out to us on EFE’s official profiles on social media by using the hashtag #EFEVerifica. They can also send us direct e-mails (verifica@efe.com). 

As indicated in the assessment of criterion 4b, readers can easily reach EFE Verifica by different means of contact. They are encouraged to send claims, in case an error has been detected in any fact-checks.

See ‘Correcciones”: https://www.efe.com/objetos_app/efe_verifica/efeverifica.html 

EFE Verifica fully discloses its corrections policy. This policy has a strong commitment to transparency and is consistent with the corrections policy of the parent organization.

This is the only correction made since March 2019, when we started our work: https://www.efe.com/efe/espana/efeverifica/las-falsedades-de-los-candidatos-en-el-debate-electoral-del-10n/50001435-4118879 

Where a correction had to be made to fact-checks, EFE Verifica has provided a clear correction statement in that same page. In addition, the EFE Verifica has a public page listing the corrections made since its creation. By the time this assessment was performed (Feb. 2020), just one correction had to be published.