ICCO supports use of fact-checking to counter mis-disinformation and invites stakeholders of the information society to further collaboration on media literacy programs

At a time of unprecedented number of armed conflicts taking place globally and conversations becoming increasingly polarized, the public relations industry reiterates the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration to create a better, more responsible information society.

While “X” and, more recently Meta, for the U.S. market, have changed their moderation policies and mechanism to counter mis-disinformation also by terminating agreements with fact-checking networks, on January 15, the World Economic Forum (via its “Global Risk Report 2025”) ranked again Mis-disinformation as the top risk to humanity over the next two years. This happens in the current context of AI proliferation which is making more difficult to differentiate between artificial and human-generated Mis-disinformation.

In this context, the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) views the termination of fact-checking on above-mentioned social platforms with great concern, as we believe fact-checking is one of the tools that can help communities making informed news choices.

More in general, fact-checkers are key stakeholders of a healthy information society, which also includes inter alia news organisations, journalists, PR & Communications advisors, publishers, brands, social media, AI and technology platforms, policymakers, governments and international institutions.

ICCO expresses support to the fact-checking community and calls for further multi-stakeholder cooperation to acknowledge a shared responsibility in tackling misinformation, commit to shared solutions and prevention methods, as well as share the task of educating the industry’s companies and employees, in addition to the wider public.

Over the last few years, ICCO has been operating with intensity to help counter mis-disinformation on several topics, including human health, climate crisis, foreign information and manipulation interference. Recent actions include the “Media Information and Education Pledge” launched in 2023 and today counting on several trusted partners (Council of Europe, The Trust Project, EACD, GWPR, Euprera), ICCO-UNDP partnership on climate communications and Eurprera-ICCO Future PR international students competition.