The About Us section of the program website (https://www.factcheck.ge/en/about-us) sets out information that FactCheck Georgia is a program of Georgia’s Reforms Associates (GRASS), a non-partisan, non-governmental policy watchdog and think tank (https://grass.org.ge/en). GRASS is legally registered at the National Agency of Public Registry. Please find the registration document attached below.

The About Us section on FactCheck Georgia’s website outlines the mission of the parent organisation and the date it was established (https://grass.org.ge/en/grass-is-gundi). In addition, the About Section includes links to relevant information about the parent organisation, such as the information about the founders (https://grass.org.ge/en/grass-is-gundi/damphudzneblebi), as well as the board members (https://grass.org.ge/en/grass-is-gundi/board). 

FactCheck Georgia is the special unit and fact-checking project within Georgia's Reforms Associates (GRASS), non-government and non-profit organization legally registered in Georgia. This is confirmed by the copy of Registration Certificate that was added to the application. All required information is published on https://www.factcheck.ge/en/about-us 

Established in 2013, FactCheck Georgia (https://factcheck.ge/en) is a program piloted and implemented by Georgia’s Reforms Associates (GRASS) which offers readers verified, evidence-based information in Georgian, Russian, and English. Selected articles are also published in Armenian and Azerbaijani languages. FactCheck Georgia’s staff includes twenty-four people, out of which sixteen represent fact-checkers specialising in different fields, such as journalism, economics, law and judiciary, international relations, public policy and good governance, education, propaganda, disinformation, etc. The rest of the staff members include managerial and administrative personnel, such as financial manager, social media manager, video editor and so on. FactCheck Georgia has a two-month-long internship program, which allows us to train and involve up to twelve different young people in our activities throughout the year.

Since September 2020, FactCheck Georgia has been a partner to Meta’s (Facebook) third-party fact-checking program. Within the program, FactCheck Georgia reviews the veracity of the content spread on Meta’s platforms. FactCheck Georgia’s work within the program is guided by the principles of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) and Meta's Fact-Checking Program policy. This partnership has made it possible for FactCheck Georgia to outreach those information ecosystems on Facebook where disinformation is most prevalent. In order to increase the impact and popularity of fact-checking activities, throughout these years, FactCheck Georgia has also partnered with local mainstream TV channels, including the Georgian Public Broadcaster. FactCheck Georgia also became a verified signatory of the European Standard Code of Independent Fact-Checking Organizations (EFCSN) in September 2023, reaffirming its commitment to ethics, transparency and high professional standards.

FactCheck Georgia has extended its impact on a regional scale by contributing to establishing local fact-checking platforms in Azerbaijan (in 2021) and Ukraine (in 2015) while also engaging in capacity-building initiatives for fact-checkers in Armenia. In the run-up to the 2021 parliamentary elections in Armenia, FactCheck Georgia was asked by Meta to cover election-related misinformation on its platforms. This partnership further contributed to the information integrity around the electoral processes in Armenia. Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, FactCheck Georgia expanded its Russian edition, generating over 650 articles that debunked war-related disinformation originating from Russia and Belarus, amplifying our operation's far-reaching regional impact.

Since February 2023, FactCheck Georgia has been reaching out to new audiences by tailoring our fact-checking articles to short videos and uploading them as Facebook and Instagram reels, TikTok’s, and Youtube shorts. Through our initial efforts, we found that providing information to users via short videos had an exceptional effect. Recognising the potential and effectiveness of disseminating information through short videos, we strengthened our efforts on short video-based platforms. Our focus is on delivering video content that debunks mis/disinformation, verifies claims made by politicians, and fosters informed discussions. This ensures that our fact-checking efforts are accessible and impactful across various online channels. In 2023, from February until November, our videos on Instagram reached more than 500 thousand profiles, while our TikTok page garnered over 1.5 million views.

FactCheck Georgia’s main objectives are to (1) provide precise, accurate, and evidence-based information to readers; (2) increase the accountability and responsibility of politicians to their constituencies; (3) promote the development of fact-based political rhetoric; (4) fight against mis/disinformation and online hoaxes.

To this end, FactCheck Georgia’s team monitors statements and claims made by politicians. In terms of fighting against mis/disinformation and online hoaxes, FactCheck Georgia’s team monitors social media platforms as well as different online media outlets, which repeatedly share false information.

Over the coming year, FactCheck Georgia will continue to conduct its regular work, which includes fact-checking parliamentary sessions, political talk-shows, and the statements and claims made by politicians across the spectrum. In addition, the program will work towards increasing awareness of the voters in political processes before the upcoming 2024 parliamentary elections. Due to the sharp polarisation of the political and media landscape, substance-driven political discourse is mostly overshadowed by narratives aimed at delegitimising political opponents. For the last five years, the ruling party has refrained from engaging in political talk-shows with its opponents. Also, the ruling party representatives refuse to participate in discussions/interviews hosted by critical TV networks, while media channels affiliated with the ruling party refrain from interacting with most of the opposition parties. These factors further make it difficult for the public to identify the truth and make informed political decisions in the run-up to the 2024 parliamentary elections.

In this climate, FactCheck Georgia will continue its efforts to promote and popularise research-based fact-checking as a key part of media reporting, providing the public with up-to-date information on actual public policy issues covering not only statements of politicians but also analysing the most significant political decisions, economic, social, healthcare, and legal issues, legislative initiatives, party programs, etc. These efforts will be more important in the context of the 2024 parliamentary elections. While it is unlikely for the ruling party and the opposition to engage in televised political debates, various mainstream media outlets will host political parties individually to present their promises and programs. FactCheck Georgia will be prepared to conduct live fact-checking on claims and statements made by politicians in any scenario. Additionally, FactCheck Georgia plans to focus on analysing pre-election promises made by politicians and whether or not they are viable to be kept, while also determining if promises given out during previous election campaigns were fulfilled. Articles relevant to the election will also be transformed into short videos. There are many Georgian politicians present on TikTok. Therefore, we anticipate that they will actively use the platform for their election campaigns. The "stitch" feature on TikTok enables us to fact-check politicians directly within the platform, providing an avenue to connect with individuals who are interested in these politicians.

Debunking mis/disinformation and online hoaxes will remain to be another central dimension of the program. To this end, we will continue to monitor relevant social and traditional media platforms, as well as individual accounts to expose their malign activities and diminish the penetration of manipulative information in the Georgian public. It is worth noting that, as FactCheck Georgia actively engages in both scrutinising claims made by politicians and debunking online hoaxes and disinformation, there is a noticeable convergence between these two areas. Lately, in addition to the usual purveyors of disinformation, some mainstream politicians have emerged as sources of anti-Western conspiracy theories and false narratives, specifically targeting Georgia's European integration efforts. Therefore, FactCheck Georgia plans to focus on election-related and anti-EU disinformation, along with other priority topics for FactCheck Georgia's debunking team, such as the war in Ukraine, climate-related misinformation, health-related misinformation, etc. Also, the debunking team will live fact-check events and claims made on social media during election day and the day before.

FactCheck Georgia will also continue to engage fact-checkers in ethnic minority-populated regions of Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli as well as two other regions of Adjara and Shida Kartli, to analyse the issues of local importance. Next year, we will aim at sustaining our efforts to improve the level of outreach and engagement as well as to contribute to increased resilience towards disinformation on a local level.

In addition to fact-checking politicians and debunking disinformation, FactCheck Georgia is committed to increasing media literacy in the public and, to this end, conducts various activities, including online media literacy campaigns, training for school teachers and school pupils, university students, young professionals, the LGBTQI+ community, and advocating with various state and non-state organisations on media literacy issues, etc. In the past year, FactCheck Georgia conducted training of trainer sessions on fact-checking and debunking for the employees of our partner organisation operating in Samtskhe-Javaktheti, and provided them with materials which are utilised to conduct trainings for youth in the ethnic minority-populated region.

In 2023 we've adopted a more user-friendly and creative reporting methods. In addition to customising our articles, we now share media literacy content through various formats like short video clips, data visuals, and infographics. Additionally, we've embraced influencer marketing to effectively promote media literacy. Most notably, FactCheck Georgia launched an online campaign aiming to pre-bunk disinformation related to the EU. Next year, we will continue producing media literacy content such as short videos, and popularise them across different social media platforms. Part of this media literacy effort will focus on election-related topics and, particularly, on the ways to identify and verify the main types of mis/disinformation that circulate before, during, and after an election.

In addition to producing short videos on media literacy and voter education topics, FactCheck Georgia will continue complementing its investigative and analytical journalism with multimedia storytelling. To this end, FactCheck Georgia will continue its visual content production efforts, including short videos and digital postcards, tailored for prominent platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. This content will aim to enrich political discussions with facts, combat the spread of mis/disinformation, and increase FactCheck Georgia’s outreach to different audiences across social media platforms.

FactCheck Georgia initially was set up on 2013 for exclusively information verification and fact-checking purposes and until now is performing this mission publishing fact-check pieces in five languages: Georgian, English, Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani. The newsroom team include 24 staff-members. 

FactCheck Georgia is regional partner of Meta (Facebook) third-party fact-checking program.

In the further plans of the FactCheck Georgia there are: engaging into factchecking local communities and minorities focusing of their issues; expanding regional collaborations; diversifying the formats of the multimedia content to engage broader audience.

Since 2013, FactCheck Georgia published over eight thousand articles. All articles can be accessed through this link – Georgian: https://www.factcheck.ge/ka/stories/archive.

All articles have a publication date indicated. Over the past year, more than one article has been published in Georgian and Russian languages per week. Selected articles are translated in English, as well as Armenian, and Azerbaijani languages.

Monitoring of the FactCheck newsfeed shows that within last six months FactCheck Georgia had published about 10-12 factchecking publications in Georgian language per week. Several stories per week were published at the English and Russian language sections. Also FactCheck Georgia is publishing every month several publications in Armenian and Azerbaijani languages. 

The analysis of the website content on November 2023-January 2024 showed that FactCheck Georgia is focusing on socially important issues including politics, security, public health, economy, and other topics arranged in convenient and user-friendly interface (geographically, by names and by topics) that have a direct impact on public wellbeing.

FactCheck Georgia does not have any kind of commercial, financial, and/or institutional relationship with the state, politicians, or political parties. As FactCheck Georgia’s About Us section points out, FactCheck.ge is politically independent and non-partisan. The About Us section (https://www.factcheck.ge/en/about-us) has a specific chapter dedicated to political impartiality and editorial independence, which highlights detailed information about our policies in this regard. Its non-partisanship is proved by the articles published on the website, and the verdicts, which are based on an objective analysis of information. Both FactCheck.ge and Georgia’s Reforms Associates are equipped with different mechanisms that ensure the effective implementation of the organisation’s impartiality and independence policy, including: funding transparency policy, conflict of interest’s policy, prohibition to be involved in partisan activities as stipulated by the regulations, transparency of work, social media code of conduct for employees and external reviews, including annual assessments done by Internal Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) and European Standard Code of Independent Fact-Checking Organizations (EFCSN).

According to the internal guidelines for fact-checkers (see in the attached file), which are also publicly available for users to see in the Methodology Section, fact-checkers are obliged to leave their political preferences behind and maintain absolute non-partisanship during fact-checking. In addition, the biographies of FactCheck Georgia's team members are transparent and published on the program website (https://factcheck.ge/en/chven-shesaxeb/team), demonstrating that they are not affiliated with political parties.

FactCheck Georgia is non-partisan, and with its activities, it only aims to benefit the public interests. It does not advocate for any political party or candidate. Non-partisanship is one of the major requirements applied to job candidates during the selection process. In addition, if any member of the organisation decides to join or advocate for any political organisation, it automatically results in the termination of the labour agreement, and is dismissed.

FactCheck Georgia’s team members, as representatives of civil society, are naturally entitled to have their own views vis-à-vis different political issues. However, the organisation’s Code of Conduct urges them to refrain from openly expressing their personal political preferences to avoid any harm to their content and FactCheck Georgia’s impartiality principle in general. In 2023, FactCheck Georgia has received funding for its fact-checking work from Meta. In addition, Factcheck.ge has received funding from Zinc Network (https://zincnetwork.com/about-2/) for social media content production. 

FactCheck Georgia does't have any relations with local state ad political actors, does not support any political party or candidate. This is proven by the content analysis and the special charter in the editorial policy stating political impartiality and editorial independence.

FactCheck Georgia has never received funding from local state actors. As for foreign donors, in the past it has been supported by Embassy of the United States of America to Georgia, USAID, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Georgia, National Endowment for Democracy (NED), German Marshall Fund, European Endowment for Democracy, etc. This information is accessible both on FactCheck.ge’s About Us section (see Financial Report) and parent organisation’s website (https://grass.org.ge/en/projects). Editorial independence of the project is set out in the Methodology (bit.ly/4ardehL). As FactCheck.ge’s About Us section underlines, any contract signed with donour organisations specifically rules out any interference from them in the editorial policy.

FactCheck Georgia doesn't have funding from local political actors. 

Regarding the support of the foreign funds and governmental institutions none of the funders could not affect editorial policy and it is clearly stated that: "The views and opinions expressed on this website belong to FactCheck.ge and are not the views and opinions of project support organizations".

1. https://www.factcheck.ge/en/story/41624--statements-on-georgia-being-used-to-bypass-sanctions-are-not-confirmed-by-factual-circumstances - “Statements on Georgia being used to bypass sanctions are not confirmed by factual circumstances.” – Irakli Kobakhidze, Chairperson of the Georgian Dream ruling party. Verdict – True.

2. https://www.factcheck.ge/en/story/41999--parliament-did-not-confirm-two-members-of-the-national-bank-s-board-nominated-by-the-president-in-2019 - “Parliament did not confirm two members of the National Bank’s board nominated by the President (in 2019)” – Roman Gotsiridze, the Chairperson of the Euro-optimists opposition parliamentary group. Verdict – True.

3. https://www.factcheck.ge/en/story/42370--the-gdp-trebled-in-11-years-and-increased-from-gel-27-billion-to-gel-85-billion - “The GDP trebled in 11 years and increased from GEL 27 billion to GEL 85 billion.” – Irakli Gharibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia. Verdict – Half True.

4. https://www.factcheck.ge/en/story/42290--economic-dependency-on-russia-is-on-the-rise-russian-investments-in-our-country-have-increased-seven-fold - “Economic dependency on Russia is on the rise, Russian investments in our country have increased seven-fold.” – Salome Samadashvili, member of the Lelo opposition party. Verdict – Half True.

5. https://www.factcheck.ge/en/story/41746--there-are-no-remarks-from-the-venice-commission-about-amendments-to-the-law-on-common-courts - “There are no remarks from the Venice Commission about amendments to the Law on Common Courts.” Shalva Papuashvili, Chairperson of the parliament. Verdict – False.

6. https://www.factcheck.ge/en/story/41626-according-to-giorgi-vashadze-s-assessment-old-age-pension-did-not-increase-proportionally-to-budget-growth - “According to Giorgi Vashadze’s assessment, old age pension did not increase proportionally to budget growth”. Giorgi Vashadze, Leader of Strategy Builder opposition party. Verdict – False.

7. https://www.factcheck.ge/en/story/42124-smear-publications-targeting-georgian-dream-members-are-disseminated-within-the-context-of-the-shovi-tragedy - Smear publications targeting Georgian Dream members are disseminated within the context of the Shovi tragedy, verdict – Fake News.

8. https://factcheck.ge/ka/story/42046-socialur-qselshi-irakli-kobaxidzis-yalbi-citata-vrceldeba-titqos-is-rus-xalxs-modzme-ers-utsodebs - A fake quote claimed to be from the Chairperson of the ruling party, verdict – Fake News.

9. https://factcheck.ge/ka/story/42333-socialur-qselshi-elene-xoshtarias-gayalbebuli-citata-vrceldeba - A fake quote claimed to be from Elene Khoshtaria, opposition political party “Droa”, verdict – Fake News.

10. https://www.factcheck.ge/en/story/42133-fabricated-quote-in-gubaz-sanikidze-s-name-was-disseminated-in-social-networks - A fake quote claimed to be from Gubaz Sanikidze, opposition political party “United National Movement”, verdict – Fake News.

These examples demonstrate that FactCheck Georgia is committed to non-partisanship and fairness. Specifically, no matter fact-check is applied to the representatives of the government or opposition parties, verdicts are issued in compliance with the accuracy of their statements. Archive materials published on the web page prove that FactCheck Georgia responds directly to the importance of adhering to the principles of defendable fact-based research, journalistic integrity on the highest of professional levels, unbiased and fair reporting, and the accountability and transparency of sources.

Fact-checkers work according to an internal FactCheck guideline developed in 2013. The document has been subject to several updates and improvements and corresponds to the IFCN’s Fact-checker’s Code of Principles. FactCheck Georgia’s guideline contributes to maintaining coherent standards by establishing a set of rules for fact-checkers concerning the structure of articles, writing style, duties, terms, timelines, and procedures, etc. The About Us section on the program website also has a separate paragraph about political impartiality and editorial independence (https://www.factcheck.ge/en/about-us).

Naturally, FactCheck Georgia recognises the possibility that mistakes can occur in the process of writing and finalising the articles. Therefore, should politicians or public figures disagree with our assessment of their statements (or any of our readers as well), FactCheck Georgia encourages them to provide us with a relevant argument. Received proofs are closely examined by the FactCheck Georgia’s board and in the event of their validity, we revise or amend our research as well as the verdict accordingly.

The Factcheck examples provided by FactCheck Georgia show broad range of topics, equal and unbiased attitude while selecting claims and using the same fair and non-partisan standards and professional approach in fact-checking.

FactCheck Georgia's webpage publishes a thorough methodology (bit.ly/4ardehL) detailing its working principles, which complements with the code of principles elaborated by International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). The methodology explains the whole working routine of the program as regards the following: how we identify claims for verification; what kind of topics are given priorities for analysis; how we collect data; how verdicts are issued, etc.

According to this methodology, one of the objectives of our work is to keep the balance. Although fact-checkers select claims for verification based on facts given in the statements, it can happen frequently that we find numerous statements of one party/politician whilst none can be found on other parties/politicians. Here we are not to blame; however, we still try to equally cover all the parties/politicians. This approach is particularly important during the election campaign period. Additionally, although attention is given to verifying claims made by the Prime-Minister, the President, Speaker of the parliament as well as leaders from the ruling party(s), as their statements have a direct impact on people’s lives, the statements are not selected on the basis of how recognisable their authors are. All of those facts and topics which belong to the sphere of public interest are important for our team.

A methodology of how debunking online hoaxes and mis/disinformation works is also published on the same section on FactCheck.ge. FactCheck Georgia’s debunking team monitors online media and social networks through Meta's analytical tool CrowdTangle. Within Meta’s (Facebook) third-party fact-checking program (https://www.facebook.com/business/help/2593586717571940?id=673052479947730), Meta provides the organisation with the links to potentially misleading content spread on its platforms. FactCheck Georgia also reviews the veracity of online content submitted by its readers. The following criteria are considered when selecting online claims for verification, provided by Meta and readers, as well as those revealed as a result of FactCheck Georgia’s own monitoring: 1) whether a specific claim is verifiable; 2) the importance and relevance of the information to society; 3) the virality of the claim and its possible impact on society.

FactCheck Georgia is using advanced and detailed methodology of selection of clams explaining the sources of claims, decision making principles, factors and reasons, including how the verified claims are published. 

Both written principles and randomly selected publications' analysis prove the balanced approach of claims selection with the major priority on the social importance of the topic checked.

This document is published here https://www.factcheck.ge/en/about-us/მეთოდოლოგია 

FactCheck Georgia had never been seen hiding in its fact checks relevant interests of the sources. The analysis of randomly selected stories published during last year proves that FactCheck Georgia is using the same methodology for all claims, the sources used by FactCheck.ge to confirm facts are neutral and don't influence the accuracy of the factcheck, so the reader might reasonably conclude the interests could influence the accuracy of the evidence provided.  

FactCheck Georgia doesn't support any political party or politician or company, analysis of randomly selected stories published during last 6 month had shown no evidences of neither supporting any policy nor advocating any initiative.

The methodology of FactCheck Georgia (bit.ly/4ardehL) outlines three key objectives of our work, which are as follow: (1) finding the truth – it is FactCheck’s top objective to show the reader where the truth is. (2) transparency of sources – making references to all sources used in an article. (3) multiple verification – verification of facts and data with at least two primary sources. In addition, it precisely determines the major standards and principles for fact-checkers to conduct their work. Depending on these principles leave no space for partisanship and make our work unbiased and objective.

Furthermore, as a verified signatory of IFCN, we also publish its main principles (https://factcheck.ge/en/სარედაქციო-კოდექსი) on our website to let readers know what standards we are adhering to as an organisation. As highlighted in the About Us section (https://factcheck.ge/en/about-us) of our website, FactCheck Georgia adheres steadfastly to the principles of impartiality and independence. To uphold these values, the organisation has implemented various mechanisms that guarantee the effective enforcement of impartiality, prohibit involvement in partisan activities, ensure transparency in our operations, and establish a clear code of conduct for all employees. Also, FactCheck Georgia operates in accordance with an internal guideline specifically designed for our fact-checkers. These guidelines primarily emphasise non-partisanship and fairness, serving as the fundamental obligations for all team members associated with FactCheck Georgia.

FactCheck Georgia does not employ or immediately terminates the employment contract with any individual who takes a position in a political party or in the public service. It is not funded by any political party, its editorial policy is not controlled by the government or other political forces. Moreover, it is inadmissible for FactCheck Georgia to make endorsements in favour of any political party or politician on FactCheck Georgia’s behalf. It is also prohibited for FactCheck Georgia’s employees to accept any gift, assistance or service with beneficial terms that may go beyond the general boundaries of respect and courtesy.

The documents that are setting the nonpartisanship of the staff are the Code of conduct and Methodology published on https://www.factcheck.ge/en/about-us/მეთოდოლოგია  

These documents have clear statements and detailed explanations for both audience and staff members regarding preventing possible conflict of interest or support of political parties or any kind of bias or partisanship.

Randomly selected publications' analysis of last ix months shows that in all cases FactCheck.ge identifies the sources of information proving or undermining facts that are checked including direct links to reliable information or source so the audience can replicate the journalists work. Most of the sources quoted in the factchecks are public and might not affect source personal security.

Factcheck Georgia always uses primary sources of evidence in the analyzed randomly selected content pieces. 

FactCheck Georgia newsroom is always looking for more than one source of facts and evidences and doing in-depth analysis of the claims that are verified. This is confirmed by the analysis of randomly selected publications.

The analysis of the randomly selected content, ensures unbiased approach, use of neutral sources for verification of claim, so the reader might reasonably conclude the interests could influence the accuracy of the evidence provided, and when it is related to the politicians FactCheck Georgia clearly notices the interest of these sources.

FactCheck Georgia is a program of Georgia’s Reforms Associates (GRASS), an independent, non-partisan, non-governmental policy watchdog and think tank (https://grass.org.ge/en). GRASS is legally registered at the National Agency of Public Registry. Please find the registration document attached below. 

FactCheck.ge is the factcheck project of NGO Georgian Reforms Associates (GRASS) that is legally registered as non-profit and non-government organization by Georgian National Agency of Public Registry. 

GRASS is a non-partisan, non-governmental policy watchdog and multi-profile think tank which provides policy recommendations to the government, conducts research-based analysis and raises public interest and awareness on a wide range of public policy issues.

Impartiality and independence are guiding principles for FactCheck Georgia. To protect these principles, both FactCheck and Georgia’s Reforms Associates are equipped with different mechanisms that ensure the effective implementation of the organization’s impartiality and independence policy, including: funding transparency policy, conflict of interests policy, prohibition to be involved in partisan activities as stipulated by the Regulations, transparency of work, social media and public space code of conduct for employees and external reviews. 

FactCheck is a flagship program of GRASS implemented in 2013 to introduce fact-checking culture to Georgia. The About Us section on GRASS's website outlines that GRASS is a non-partisan, non-governmental policy watchdog and multi-profile think tank which provides policy recommendations to the government, conducts research-based analysis, and raises public interest and awareness on a wide range of public policy issues (https://grass.org.ge/en/grass-is-gundi). GRASS publicly lists sources of funding in detail for each program, including for FactCheck Georgia, on its web page (http://grass.org.ge/en/projects/). the About Us section on FactCheck Georgia’s website has a publicly available financial report, which contains detailed information about our organisations income and expenses (https://factcheck.ge/en/about-us).

FactCheck is noted as the project at Grass website https://grass.org.ge/en/projects

At the same time GRASS is noted as the founder of FactCheck.ge at https://www.factcheck.ge/en/about-us   

The website of GRASS has the page https://grass.org.ge/en/projects with the spreadsheet containing all sources of funding of FactCheck.ge. 

The About Us section of FactCheck Georgia’s website details the organisational structure and the way editorial control is exercised. FactCheck Georgia’s Editorial Board is responsible for FactCheck’s editorial policy and compliance with fact-checking principles (see in the attached file). The Editorial Board carries out monitoring, topic selection, article publication and correction policy independently from Georgia’s Reforms Associate’s Board and Director. Editorial Board consists of FactCheck’s editor-in-chief, the editor of Meta's fact-checking programme/debunking editor, and the managing editor. Furthermore, FactCheck Georgia's website features a dedicated section (https://factcheck.ge/en/about-us/team) where biographies of the editorial board and team members are published. FactCheck Georgia’s editor-in-chief is accountable to the director of GRASS. However, the director is solely engaged in the managerial side of the program and does not interfere with editorial independence. As noted in the FactCheck Georgia's methodology (bit.ly/4ardehL) editorial procedures are as follows:

When fact-checker finishes an article, they inform the editor-in-chief, debunking editor or chief economist, depending on the topic of the article, and the process of redacting the article begins. In the process of editing the article, the editor provides comments on the content and style as well as remarks of a technical character as required. In this process, the article might return to the author with respective comments/remarks until it is finalised. After the editing stage of the article is finished, the editor-in-chief and the author of an article agree on the final verdict and the article is then published on FactCheck Georgia’s website. If the two cannot reach a respective consensus, the verdict issue is reviewed by the Editorial Board and the decision is made through voting.

As for the parent organisation, a supreme managing body of GRASS is a board, which is composed of distinguished academics and CSO representatives (see the biographies of board members: https://grass.org.ge/en/grass-is-gundi/board). The board is responsible for determining the strategic direction of the organisation and ensuring its independence from political or any kind of malign influence.

The FactCheck Georgia organizational management procedure, responsibilities and duties, as well as editorial control system are in a good shape and described here including the team members info https://factcheck.ge/en/about-us/team        

The managing body of GRASS is a board, the biographies of board members are here: https://grass.org.ge/en/grass-is-gundi/board)                                                                                                       

Biographies of FactCheck Georgia’s Team: https://factcheck.ge/en/about-us/team (please click on the names for biographies)

GRASS Team: https://grass.org.ge/en/grass-is-gundi/our-team   

Both GRASS https://grass.org.ge/en/grass-is-gundi/our-team and FactCheck Georgia https://factcheck.ge/en/about-us/team  have sections at their websites with detailed information about team members including biographies.

FactCheck Georgia’s Methodology (bit.ly/4ardehL) encourages readers to interact with FactCheck Georgia should they have any questions. To this end, e-mail address, telephone numbers, and Facebook address are indicated.

In addition:

- Readers can send their claims through the contact section of the program web page, which allows them to directly send their message to the program team - https://factcheck.ge/en/contact

- FactCheck Georgia offers a service, Check Your Fact, which gives the public an opportunity to suggest a fact-check - https://factcheck.ge/en/check-your-fact

- We also engage with the audience on our Facebook page, where readers can comment on each of our content or directly send inbox messages to our team.

- After establishing a presence on Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube we also encourage audiences on these platforms to leave comments if they have any inquiries or claims they want to check. 

FactCheck Georgia is encouraging users to communicate with newsroom through several channels including webpage itself, email, and social media accounts.

Contact button "Check your facts" is located at the top of the landing page. That leads to this page https://www.factcheck.ge/en/check-your-fact where there is a form for submitting of the claim.

The https://factcheck.ge/en/contact is easily to be found and gives fast solution to those who would like to give a feedback to the newsroom.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and TikTok social media profiles are another channels of communication with the audience.

FactCheck Georgia's Methodology: bit.ly/4ardehL

Please also find attached the guideline document below:     

FactCheck Georgia has detailed methodology describing the whole process of fact-checking that is published here https://www.factcheck.ge/en/about-us/მეთოდოლოგია 

The analysis of randomly selected factchecking stories published during last six month showed using equal attitude approach and methodology in the principles of claims selection as well as in verification process. All topics selected for verification are based on importance to the society and public interest criteria. 

FactCheck Georgia in some checks explains the selection by the importance of providing trustworthy information to the people. 

Analysis of randomly selected factcheck stories published during previous six month had proven that the FactCheck Georgia is seeking neutral and equally for both, proving and undermining claim facts providing them to the reader so the audience can see the broad context of the story.  

Analysis of randomly selected content published during last six month showed that FactCheck.ge has no prejudice or selective approach toward the sources of information using an equal, unbiased and neutral approach to the sources of claims as well as to the sources proving or disproving claims with equal treatment and standards to all of them. 

Using primary sources is the core rule of FactCheck Georgia so in all randomly selected stories published during previous six month it is evident that the newsroom reporters always were seeking to contact those who made the claim and quote these people as well as were using alternative sources proving or disproving the claim. 

FactCheck Georgia offers a service, Check Your Fact (https://factcheck.ge/en/check-your-fact), which gives the public an opportunity to verify facts that are of particular interest to them. This section also clearly states what readers can legitimately expect and it underlines that “FactCheck.ge does not verify opinion or future promises.”

Readers can also send their claims through the contact section of the program web page (https://factcheck.ge/en/contact), which allows them to directly submit their messages to the program team.

We also engage with the audience with our Facebook page, where readers can comment on each post or directly send inbox messages to our team (https://www.facebook.com/Factcheck.ge).

Additionally, FactCheck Georgia has become active on short video-based platforms such as TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@factcheck.ge) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/factcheckgeorgia/). While engaging with our content, we encourage the audience to submit claims they want to check through the comments. Depending on the claim or issue, our team makes special videos dedicated to answering questions from the comment section. 

FactCheck Georgia is encouraging users to submit their claims to check through several channels including webpage itself, email, and social media accounts.

Contact button "Check your facts" is located at the top of the landing page. That leads to this page https://www.factcheck.ge/en/check-your-fact where there is a form for submitting of the claim.

The https://factcheck.ge/en/contact is easily to be found and gives fast solution to those who would like to contact the newsroom directly.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and TikTok social media profiles are another channels of communication with the audience.

Correction policy is part of the program's methodology. Particularly, FactCheck Georgia allows for the possibility that a mistake can occur in its work. Therefore, in the case politicians or readers disagree with particular research and judgment, FactCheck Georgia encourages them to provide their claims and arguments. The received information is closely examined by the FactCheck Georgia’s board in due time and in the event of their validity, research, as well as the verdict, is revised or corrected accordingly.

In case a significant piece of information is added to the research/article, but the addition does not lead to a change of the verdict, we revise an article; however, if the added information alters the issued verdict the article is corrected. This practice serves the purpose of ensuring maximum objectivity and political impartiality in FactCheck Georgia’s work.

Please see "Rectifying Mistakes in FactCheck’s Article" in FactCheck Georgia’s methodology: bit.ly/4ardehL

In addition, concerning the articles that are used for Facebook’s third-party fact-checking program, FactCheck Georgia has published a separate guideline on issuing corrections and appeals for the Facebook publishers (https://factcheck.ge/en/Dispute-Correction). This guideline informs users that there are two ways to request a review of a rated content by FactCheck Georgia. Firstly, if the publisher makes corrections to the inaccuracies given the due prominence, which means clearly correcting the spread of incorrect content, including the title, on the same link as the initial material was disseminated, FactCheck Georgia, will remove the initial rating on Facebook. Secondly, if the publisher disagrees with FactCheck Georgia’s rating, they can dispute it, after which we will consider their arguments and decide whether to revoke the rating or uphold it. The guidelines also offer information about the specific procedures of submitting a complaint, deadlines for issuing a complaint, correcting different types of content, and time frame of FactCheck Georgia’s response. We have also created a separate email address (appeals@factcheck.ge) that is used for managing appeals/correction requests. 

FactCheck Georgia has two documents: "Dispute and Correction Guideline for Articles Produced as Part of Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Programme" and "Requesting Correction of FactCheck’s Other Articles". Both guidelines meet the criteria and set the rules of identifying, treating, correcting mistakes as well as correcting/updating verdicts and ratings.

Three corrections were made during the previous year.

The first one was made to the following article: https://factcheck.ge/ka/story/42156-irakli-kobaxidze-giorgi-vashadze-aqiravebs-rus-mdgmurze-tavis-binas. Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairperson of Georgia’s ruling party, the Georgian Dream, leveled accusations against opposition politician Giorgi Vashadze. Kobakhidze alleged that Vashadze rented an apartment to Russian tenants while simultaneously advocating for the government to close the border with Russia to reduce the influx of Russian citizens into the country. It was later confirmed that Vashadze had indeed offered his apartment to a Russian citizen of Ukrainian descent who fled the war. However, there was initial uncertainty about whether Vashadze rented the apartment or allowed the tenant to use it for free. Therefore, FactCheck originally left Irakli Kobakhidze’s statement “without a verdict”. Shortly after the article’s publication, Giorgi Vashadze, reached out to FactCheck Georgia. Vashadze clarified that he was not charging the tenant for the apartment; instead, he was allowing them to use it for free. Furthermore, he emphasised that there was no evidence supporting any contrary claims. FactCheck Georgia’s editors took this note into account. In particular, due to the nature of the accusation, the addressee, Giorgi Vashadze, was naturally deprived of the opportunity to disprove the claim made by Irakli Kobakhidze, while the accuser was not providing any evidence to prove the existence of financial interests. Therefore, Irakli Kobakhidze’s statement was unsubstantiated and not supported by any publicly available or other evidence. Taking this into account, the article was updated, and the verdict to Irakli Kobakhidze’s claim was changed from “without a verdict” to “mostly false”. The article’s title includes the word “corrected”, and an appropriate editor’s note was added.

The second correction was made to the following article: https://factcheck.ge/ka/story/42271. The article was published within Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program and debunked disinformation about the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, spending $ 1,100 000 on Cartier jewellery in New York city during an official visit on September 22nd, 2023. Initially, the article stated that Olena Zelenska could not make this purchase as she was in Canada on September 22nd. After further internal review, it appeared that the Ukrainian president and his wife had arrived in Canada a day earlier, on September 21st. This further proved that the initial claim was false; thus, the verdict – “Fake News” remained, but the article was updated with an editor’s note, explicitly noting what was corrected. Additionally, the article includes the word “corrected” in the title.

The third correction was made to the following article - https://factcheck.ge/ka/story/42272, also within Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program. The article was about a video allegedly depicting Israeli children put in cages by Hamas. Initially, the video was not debunked, although it was not verified either and there were reasonable suspicions about it being misleading. Thus, FactCheck Georgia decided to publish the article, but due to the initial lack of sufficient evidence, it was rated “without a verdict.” The article was updated two days later, on October 12th, after additional information was found about the original source, the context, and the timing of the viral footage, proving the claim was false. Both Israeli and Palestinian independent outlets confirmed that the video was taken before the Hamas attacks occurred, and the children depicted in the footage were not Israeli. Accordingly, FactCheck Georgia changed the verdict from “without a verdict” to “Fake News.” The word “corrected” was added to the title of the article, and was updated with an editor’s note.

FactCheck Georgia follows the rules of correction policy regarding correcting mistakes and transparency. Newsroom is publishing the list of corrected on 2022 and 2023 stories at the https://www.factcheck.ge/en/Dispute-Correction Provided examples also  had proven that correction policy is correctly implemented, appropriately and honestly enforced and applied in the cases where correction or update is needed.

FactCheck Georgia publishes the code of principles on its website (https://factcheck.ge/en/სარედაქციო-კოდექსი). The same page allows readers to submit a complaint to IFCN if they believe that FactCheck Georgia is violating these principles. A link to the complaints page on the IFCN site is also provided.

FactCheck Georgia published the IFCN code of principles on the website https://factcheck.ge/en/სარედაქციო-კოდექსი  The link to the IFCN complaint page is also published there.

Moreover the logo of IFCN is located on the front page of the website.

FactCheck.ge is solely a fact-checking project and has all the information on its web-site.

FactCheck Georgia is not part or unit of the parent media company, so it is solely factchecking project and has all information on the own web-site.