InFact gained its nonprofit legal status in 2016. It's stated on our website here.

https://infact.press/organization/

And this is the certification by Osaka City. You can find it on our website.

https://infact.press/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/%E8%AA%8D%E5%AE%9ANPO%E6%9B%B8%E9%A1%9E.pdf

InFact began in 2013 as an NGO i-Asia, was certified in 2016, before changing their name to InFact in January of 2020. It was launched to counter a growing national media entrenched with vested interests in Japan and stiffled by growing political interference and was led by a handful of veteran reporters with investigative journalism background.  Their website is a mix of straight-fact check articles and editorial or original articles by some of those journalists and reporters. Most of the subjects are of a political nature or on the coronavirus pandemic. They are a member of the Fact Check Initiative Japan. 

I-Asia NGO certification (by the Osaka municipal government) is available here 

The InFact NGO certification (after it changed name and also from the Osaka municipal government) is available here 

1, InFact was established in 2013 by Japanese journalists including Yoichiro Tateiwa, who was a senior editor and led an investigative unit at Japanese public broadcasting known as NHK. Our goal is to verify all the information released by government officials and politicians knowing that Japanese mainstream media only run their stories without any verification. We strongly believe that Japanese society lacks this process of fact-checking.

2, 20 members including Yoichiro Tateiwa supervises as Executive Editor, Jun Oguro as President of the organization, and Tasuku Tajima as a chief editor conducted facft check and investigative works. We have 10 fact checkers including Doshisha University students where Jun Oguro teaches journalism.

3, InFact also investigates uncovering stories.

4, InFact is working closely with universities and colleges across Japan and teaching students how to do fact-checking. Our goal over the coming year is to expand our reach to those educational institutions.

1) The founding journalist - Yoichiro Tateiwa, is a Japanese journalist from the public broadcaster NHK which has been publicly known to have in recent years been pressured by the government to dampen some of the criticism (of the central government). He does not mention NHK's issues with the central government, but he is one of the main Japanese journalists involved with the Panama Papers and left the company soon after that. It is also very true, as they mentioned in their criteria report and on their website that the Japanese media often run official and PR news without verification or fact-checking and is in dire need of this process. 

 2) Their website organization map mentions 23 people, including Editor in Chief Yoichiro Tateiwa, 2 advisors, 1 chief editor, 1 events producer, 1 camera man, 10 correspondents and 7 reporters. Elsewhere it mentions the Doshisha University students. It would be good to have these discrepancies cleared next time. Also the English versio of the website also is misleading as it includes people who are no longer in the organization or seperate (it is hard to tell). 

3) InFact reporters and correspondents also write investigative stories. Most of them by-lined.

4) Many of their reporters mentioned on their website are from students from across Japan, and even overseas. 

InFact runs fact-check articles with one story a week. And at the time of the general elections, InFact run six fact-check stories within a month.

https://infact.press/page/3/

InFact say they do one fact check a week, but from what I can see on their website, it is mostly only during certain peak periods (Japanese general election period in July, for example, they put out 8 fact checked stories). An audit of the whole year however indicates that they have done 29 fact checks in 12 months which averages only slightly above 2 a month.

The rest of their website is investigative journalism pieces, historical testimonials and (this assessor noted) at least one travelogue. The travelogue was especially incongruous as this assessor was not sure what facts it was checking and what it was going on a site called InFact.

Neverthless the other original writing and investigative reporting are on subjects that pertain to the hot topics of the week or moment and fill up the rest of the month.  These are not technically fact checks but do seem to try to clarify facts widely and generally talked about in the press at the time. That said it could be good to see more fact checked articles futurely.

Dec 22 [Fact Check - Misleading ] Burden of medical expenses for elderly people aged 75 and over has increased from 10% to 20%. https://infact.press/2022/12/post-21180/

Nov 20 [Fact Check - False] Nursing care cushions discounted by 90% with health insurance are being re-sold at rip-off prices and a profit. https://infact.press/2022/11/post-21076/

Nov 12 [FactCheck - False ] "Real Madrid's awesome practice video"  https://infact.press/2022/11/post-21056/

The fact check articles in 2022 range from political to medical (COVID) with only occassional entertainment or light hearted fact checks. So I would say they meet criteria here. 

InFact has not received any financial or human support from any type of government, political party as well as local state authority. InFact is not sponsored by any type of foreign entity. InFact is purely supported by ordinary citizens living in Japan.

InFact calls for donations on their website and at the end of every article. There is no indication that they are being funded by any other third party.  

As explained above, InFact is not in a situation influenced by any type of state, local foreign government as well as any political institution.

They do not seem to be receiving funds from any third party. 

First, whenever InFact fact-checks, we check the original source of the statements cited in the target discourse to ensure that the statements are correct.

If a quoted statement is incorrect or misleading, we will conclude with that fact (see (2),(4),(5),(6),(7),(8),(10)).

Second, even if there are no apparent errors in the statements cited in the target discourse, we further investigate the content of the information in more detail to ensure that it is not misleading (see (1),(3),(9)).

In doing so, we pay attention to whether there are any problems with the numbers being compared (see (1)) and whether there are any ambiguities in the meaning of the statements being used (see (3),(9)).

Finally, if necessary, InFact will confirm the statement directly with the person who made it (see (1),(3),(6),(8),(9)).

By confirming directly with the person who made the statement, the accuracy of InFact's conclusions is ensured.

(1) https://infact.press/2022/03/post-15350/

(2) https://infact.press/2022/02/post-19259/

(3) https://infact.press/2022/01/post-15164/

(4) https://infact.press/2022/05/post-19943/

(5) https://infact.press/2022/01/post-15194/

(6) https://infact.press/2021/12/post-14953/

(7) https://infact.press/2021/11/post-14722/

(8) https://infact.press/2021/10/post-14301/

(9) https://infact.press/2021/10/post-14149/

(10) https://infact.press/2021/09/post-13436/

InFact checks appear to be impartial and in line with IFCN practices in all ten above articles and in others checked within this year. The articles also go into details as to which portion of the comments or information are wrong or misleading and why. During the elections fact checking there seems to have been an effort to check as many different parties' information as possible as to remain balanced. 

1)the frequency of "myocarditis/pericarditis" during vaccination lower than during new corona infection (Misleading)  https://infact.press/2022/03/post-15350/

(2) CDC Director says 'More than 75% of Corona deaths were with people with 4 complications' - fake news https://infact.press/2022/02/post-19259/

(3) Mass media reports of "20,000 confirmed new COVID 19 infections" is unconfirmed. Does a “positive” PCR test equal an “infection? https://infact.press/2022/01/post-15164/

(4) Prime Minister Kishida said he will "increase the consumption tax to 19%"  - false https://infact.press/2022/05/post-19943/

(5) The WHO Director-General said that injecting booster vaccines into children was killing them - false. https://infact.press/2022/01/post-15194/

(6) Iwanami Shoten's said that for 660 yen anyone can read the complete manuscript of the memo of Einstein's theory of general relativity, which was sold at auction for about 1.5 billion yen - incorrect https://infact.press/2021/12/post-14953/

(7) German clinic director commits suicide after warning about the dangers of COVID19 vaccine - unfounded.  https://infact.press/2021/11/post-14722/

(8)  The Communist Party's manifesto claims that the Emperor system is "strange" - misleading https://infact.press/2021/10/post-14301/

(9) Secretary-General Amari's says smartphones, 3D printers, and quantum computers are invented in Japan - inaccurate https://infact.press/2021/10/post-14149/

(10) French government plans to vaccinate children without parental consent from September and impose a 30,000 euro fine and 2 years in prison if parents do not agree - fake.  https://infact.press/2021/09/post-13436/

InFact has determined the discourse that should be fact-checked according to the four criteria (Content, impact, need, and possibility) outlined in the Fact-Checking Policy (see below).

https://infact.press/factcheck-policy/

Most of the fact-checks source its quotes when possible, though unlike in western media many press officers are not named. While this more an cultural issue rather than compliance issues, but it would help make their articles more transparent if they did. 

From what I can see from the political fact-checks over 2022, there seems to be no bias towards one party or another nor does it advocate for any policies except for transparency.  

InFact is a specified non-profit corporation under Japanese law (see below) and a non-profit corporation is prohibited from promoting certain political activities.

https://infact.press/organization/

The introduction of each board member and editorial member details each member's background and makes it clear that they are not involved in any particular political activity (see below).

https://infact.press/staff/

As mentioned above, NPO's are explicited prohibited from promoting certain political activities. From the site of the Japanese Cabinet Office explicitly explaining what NPOs are prohibited from promoting: 

(1) dissemination of religious doctrines, performance of ceremonies and cultivation of believers;

(2) promotion, support or opposition of any political cause;

(3) endorsement, support, or opposition of any candidate for or holding any particular public office, or any political party;

https://www.npo-homepage.go.jp/qa/seido-gaiyou/seijikatsudou 

The board members profiles detail each members background. Most have investigative journalism background and none are visibily politically affiliated. 

InFact throughout its Fact-checks are very meticulous in providing significant evidence and sources and relevant links. 

For example their article disputing the viral tweet about the how no member of parliament seems to have contracted COVID19, goes into details and sources each source for the 40 members of parliament they have confirmed having caught the virus. 

2022-03-29 Political 【Fact Check】「国会議員に、コロナの感染者が出ない謎」は「謎」ではない。国会議員にも感染者40人余。 https://infact.press/2022/03/post-19715/

More often than not InFact goes to the primary source before anything else. There were a few less well sourced articles mostly where they used other media to check their sources. However most of these articles covered overseas stories and may have been a language or resource issue rather than a policy to avoid primary sources. 

Most InFact fact checking articles of 2022 have not needed multiple sources to dispute or confirm sources however the few more complicated issues have required and were provided mutliple sources as per requirement. 

Criteria met as applicant identifies in its fact checks where possible the relevant interests of the sources it uses where the reader might reasonably conclude those interests could influence the accuracy of the evidence provided.

InFact does not have financial ties to politicians or political organizations, nor to any government or local government. While we have been certified as a non-profit organization by the local government, Osaka city, the city does not financially support our organization.

We did not, do not, and will not receive any form of a donation from overseas, and we have not and will not accept funding from foreign governments or politicians.

InFact is an independed organization and a certified NPO and not part of any media house or parent organization as referenced here on its website. 

https://infact.press/about/

InFact is purely an independent organization with no relation or connection with any organization regardless of their status. We have no parent organization.

https://infact.press/about/

The funding seems to be mostly through individual and private donations. The assessor could not find any details of the breakdown of how much individuals donate or whether there were any large donations are from large companies. Futurely, some sort of publicly available financial report would help make the site more transparent. The InFact business report available on https://www.npo-homepage.go.jp/npoportal/detail/113010252 does not seem to mention any income or donations. 

https://infact.press/editorial-structure/

Criteria met as the editorial structure is well clarified on their website. 

https://infact.press/staff/

Professional biographies of those who play a role (significant or not) are all available on the website (though there are some discrepancies with the English version of the website possibly more indicative the English website may not have been updated in some time). 

https://infact.press/factcheck-policy/

In addition to the above page mentioned, they have a contact page from inquiries. https://infact.press/contact/

InFact has adhered to the four principles outlined by the IFCN and fact-checked based on the FIJ rules, which provide the rules for fact-checking in Japan, (see "Ensuring Transparency" below).

https://infact.press/factcheck-policy/

Fact-checking at InFact has covered statements made by the prime minister and other high-level government officials and politicians, as well as information spread on the Internet. As for statements made by the prime minister, high-ranking government officials, and politicians, we have checked the transcripts of their public statements. As for information spread on the Internet, the Claim Monitor, which uses AI to detect suspicious statements on Twitter, is used to fact-check information that is spreading or has strong aggression.

InFact explicitly and quite prominently mentions the IFCN principles and its methodology on its websites. 

Claim Monitor is a FIJ (Fact Initiative Japan) project http://archive.fij.info/project/claimmonitor to use AI to find and capture viral information of a suspect nature as it spreads online. 

Met criteria in random checks of the following:

2022-07-10 Political [参院選FactCheck]岸田首相、”ロシアによるサハリン2の件で「戦争も辞さない。徹底的にやる」と発言”は虚偽 https://infact.press/2022/07/post-20440/

2022-09-17 Political 【Fact Check】石破元幹事長「イギリスではエリザベス女王の国葬でも議会の議決をとっている」は「誤り」 英国議会が回答 https://infact.press/2022/09/post-20790/

2022-01-18 Medical, COVID 【FactCheck】メディアが報じる「新型コロナ 新たな感染確認 ２万人超」は根拠不明。PCR検査の「陽性」は「感染」か？ https://infact.press/2022/01/post-15164/

The applicant selects claims to check based primarily on the reach and importance of the claims according to ClaimMonitor project with Fact Initiative Japan. It would help futurely to have a bit more background on the reason for choosing the claim to check apart from how widely it went viral. 

The applicant meets the criteria of its fact checks being assessed according to the merits of the evidence found using the same high standards applied to evidence on equivalent claims, regardless of who made the claim.

This is evident in a random sampling of articles from differing and opposing political parties such as below from the 2022 Upper House election campaign:

2022-07-06 Political [参院選FactCheck]山本太郎代表「安倍さんが総理大臣時代に、消費税増税分の二割程度は社会保障に使ったけど、八割を借金返しに使ったと言った」は「ほぼ正確」

https://infact.press/2022/07/post-20376/

2022-07-04 Political 【参院選FactCheck】岸田首相の発言「今年の春闘の賃上げ率2.08%は、過去20年で2番目に高い」は、ほぼ正確

https://infact.press/2022/07/post-20275/

Criteria met where the applicant seeks where possible to contact those who made the claim to seek supporting evidence, noting that (i) this is often not possible with online claims, (ii) if the person who makes the claim fails to reply in a timely way this should not impede the fact check, (iii) if a speaker adds caveats to the claim, the fact-checker should be free to continue with checking the original claim, (iv) fact-checkers may not wish to contact the person who made the claim for safety or other legitimate reasons.

InFact often update their articles after the source updates them with information after intially failing to reply in a timely way. They also mention when a source has not responded to inquiries in time. 

InFact has described that the editorial system for fact-checking and introduced a page for inquiries (see below).

https://infact.press/factcheck-policy/

InFact encourages users to send in claims to check on their website and clarifies what readers can legitimately expect will be fact-checked and what isn’t fact-checkable here below (as mentioned above):

https://infact.press/factcheck-policy/

InFact's official website states "basic principles for fact-checking.". In response to the need to correct a story after it has been reported, it said, "Any corrections or significant additions or deletions shall be clearly stated and, if necessary, the reasons for such corrections shall also be stated.".　See the following URL.

https://infact.press/factcheck-policy/

InFact does indeed clarify its stance on corrections which is in line with IFCN standards. 

Though I could not find any examples of any explicit corrections on their part in 2022, their article on Oct 23 factchecking Secretary-General Amari's comments saying smartphones, 3D printers, and quantum computers are invented in Japan - inaccurate https://infact.press/2021/10/post-14149/ for example, updates their website with comments from Amari's party debating the points in the fact check, effectively giving the other party a chance to argue their position - even if initially they did not respond. 

If corrections are necessary, they are handled in accordance with the policy indicated in 6.1 above. In other words, the parts and reasons for the correction are clearly shown. For example, an article on "The length of a cotton swab for a PCR test" distributed on May 25, 2020, was reexamined and the article was withdrawn. The reason for this is that when reexamination was conducted in response to external indications, it was found that the initial examination was insufficient and the citation of the subject discourse was inaccurate. An article explaining these events was published on July 6 of the same year, and it is still published today along with the original article so that readers can know our mistake.

【Correction and Apology】Regarding the article verifying that the length of the PCR swab is twice as long as the swab for influenza 'is inaccurate

https://infact.press/2020/05/post-6070/

There were no corrections over the previous year. However, as mentioned above, they have provided an example in 2020 where they clearly mention the article was corrected and include a very lengthy explanation of where they erred and what needed to be corrected. 

If InFact joins the IFCN, it will follow these IFCN rules.

InFact is not signatory at the time of this assessment.

InFact is not a for-profit media company and is totally an independent nonprofit organization. Therefore, it is not included in this category.

InFact is not a fact-checking unit of a media company.