Australian Associated Press (AAP) and Google have announced a new partnership to accelerate critical fact-checking work to tackle mis and disinformation across Australia and New Zealand.
The new program, announced on International Fact-Checking Day, increases AAP’s capacity to provide fact-checks, ensuring accurate and reliable information is provided to over 380 publications across both countries for the benefit of all online users.
For the first time, AAP FactCheck will also analyse global misinformation trends and produce video explainers. They will also translate fact-checks into different languages (Arabic, Simplified Chinese and Vietnamese) for distribution to local news outlets and social media.
The new partnership increases the speed and quantity of the work, which will also look to get ahead of misinformation trends that have appeared in other parts of the world before they emerge in Australia and New Zealand.
AAP CEO Lisa Davies said the information environment has never been more challenging for journalists, newsrooms and audiences alike.
“This partnership with Google will see AAP FactCheck’s capacity expand significantly, reducing the harmful mis and disinformation Australians are encountering every day” she said.
AAP has been dedicated to providing factual, impartial and objective information to newsrooms and audiences for almost 90 years. Google has partnered with AAP FactCheck since the unit was founded in 2019. This new agreement will also see AAP produce social media content aiming to build broader media-literacy skills online.
Uma Patel, Google AUNZ’s News Lab Lead, said the initiative builds on an important partnership between the two organisations.
“Our partnership with AAP is a leading force in the fight against misinformation and disinformation,” Patel said.
“AAP has a strong record of calling out false and misleading claims in Australia and New Zealand, we’re excited to see their work grow and reach more people.”
About AAP FactCheck
AAP is Australia’s national newswire and only independent wholesaler of fact-based news.
AAP FactCheck is a self-contained unit within the AAP newsroom with a dedicated team of fact checkers across Australia and New Zealand.
The unit has been a verified signatory with the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) since 2019.
About Google News Initiative
Through our programs, products and partnerships, Google is one of the world’s largest financial supporters of journalism. Over the past 20 years, we’ve collaborated closely with news partners and provided billions of dollars to support the creation of quality journalism. We launched the Google News Initiative to scale our work with journalists, publishers, and industry leaders to help build a resilient future for news around the globe.
Media Contact:
● AAP: Delia Obst, dobst@aap.com.au
● Google: Matt Snelson, msnelson@google.com
