In May 2024 the EUfactcheck programme successfully factchecked the EU elections for the second time. From academic year 2024-205 onwards the EUfactcheck programme will offer two different ‘tracks’ for EJTA member schools to participate.
* Individual schools can still use the EUfactcheck website as a platform to publish their students’ factchecks. This can be done at any convenient moment throughout the year, that fits the curriculum of the study programme. Please contact the EUfactcheck editorial team.
* Each year another EJTA member school will organise an intensive factchecking week, the EUfactcheck Lab, funded by Erasmus short mobility. Other EJTA member schools are welcome to join with up to 6 students and one teacher (Erasmus Blended Intensive Programme). Please contact the EUfactcheck programme manager for more details. In 2024 the EUfactcheck Lab covered the EU elections, in 2025 the topic is ‘Climate Reporting’.
EUfactcheck, an initiative of the European Journalism Training Association (EJTA) fights mis- and disinformation about European policies and topics. Journalism students from all over Europe factcheck claims and statements made by politicians and others and rate them. Our focus is not to debunk fake news but to give correct information to the reader.
“Only around 3% of all CO₂ emissions are man-made, i.e. they come from the economy, heating and transportation. Around 97% of CO₂ emissions are of natural origin.” This is a claim made by Karsten Hilse, a climate spokesperson for Germany’s far-right party AfD, on his website. It’s a claim regularly used to downplay human responsibility…
According to an article published by the European energy company Vattenfall on their website referring to the German Environment Agency, “A vegan diet produces around 40 percent less CO₂ emissions […] compared to someone who eats meat and dairy products.” The claim turns out to be mostly true. The Vattenfall article mentions neither a date…
In January 2025, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) published an election manifesto on their official website where they had this claim on page 77: “[…] CO₂ has proven to be a driver of increased plant growth, thereby supporting global nutrition”. This claim is mostly false.
In its 2025 federal election program, the German right wing party AfD claims, “Battery production also pollutes the environment more than a combustion engine,” citing a 2019 ifo-study. However, this claim, used in 2021 as well, relies on unrealistic assumptions and outdated data, making it mostly false. Battery capacity and CO2 balance Greenhouse gas emissions…
During a government survey in the German Bundestag on December 4, 2024, politician Caren Lay (Left Party) claimed that rents had never risen as sharply in the history of the Republic as they did during the term of the previous government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The claim turns out to be mostly true. Record rents…
On the 22nd of February 2025, Flemish right-wing satirical news outlet ‘tScheldt published an article in which they claimed that the Flemish weekly magazine Knack had been receiving US taxpayer money for years. ‘tScheldt claimed this money was being used to spread woke ideologies abroad. The claim turns out to be mostly false. ‘tScheldt is a…
On March 6, 2025, Associated Press published an article that states “Albania shuts down TikTok for a year amid concerns over violence among children”. This claim turns out to be true. Тhe consideration of the ban was announced earlier in December by the Albanian Prime Minister as a plan to make schools safer. As a…
In numerous media appearances, Jan van Aken, co-chair of German party Die Linke, has expressed his opposition to increasing Germany’s defence budget. He argues this point by highlighting the superiority of the European NATO states over Russia, citing a yearly difference of $130 billion in defence spending. This statement turned out to be mostly false.…
Christine Anderson, a member of the Europe of Sovereign Nations Group, claimed in a Strasbourg plenary session at the European Parliament, that Romania barring Călin Georgescu from running in the presidential election is unprecedented and undemocratic. This statement is false. “Romania has now barred Călin Georgescu, as my colleague Mr Piperea just pointed out. This…
On January 18, 2023, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Germany aims to become one of the first industrialized nations to achieve climate neutrality by 2045. This statement is mostly true. Legal Framework and National Targets The Climate Change Act (KSG) enshrines the goal of climate neutrality by 2045. It stipulates…
An American’s comparative analysis on Germany and the United States’ climate policies to see the different ways we are coming together to reach climate neutrality and curb climate change. As an American studying abroad in Germany, there are many similarities and differences I have seen in the cultural day-to-day life. One thing that is vastly…
In addition to critically questioning the source, journalists must also learn to interpret statistics correctly. A basic knowledge of statistics is usually enough. Fake statistics At the beginning of April, a graphic relating to the Russian recapture of the Kursk region appeared on the messenger service Telegram. The supposed graphic from Statista shows how many…
Populism thrives on simple messages in complex times. Political scientist Andreas Klee explains to Sophie Hecker and Nike Tecklenborg why populist strategies—provocative, oversimplified, and emotionally affirming—resonate so strongly, and what they mean for the future of democracy. The Definition of Populist Communication Tecklenborg: Let’s start with a basic question: What are typical features of populist…
A network of websites is spreading AI-generated clickbait in many languages. It looks like harmless entertainment but often includes unverified health tips and misleading content. Linked to domains in Russia and admins in Armenia, this network uses AI and anonymity to quietly misinform people across countries. As part of our investigation into inauthentic networks in…
Even though the pandemic is over, coordinated networks of Facebook pages and websites continue to exploit people’s health fears to drive traffic and generate revenue. Modern digital platforms enable groups to build networks of websites and Facebook pages that look independent but work together. These networks may have various goals – from political influence to…
When it’s election time, the internet suddenly feels like a marketplace full of voices – loud, excited, and contradictory. During the German federal elections in February 2025 we experienced how difficult it is to keep track. Between loud promises and emotional appeals, facts quickly become blurred. In this blog post, we take a closer look:…
The world is increasingly plagued by extreme weather events like heatwaves and floods. But how can we be sure that the information we receive about these events is truly accurate? In an era where misinformation and fake news are widespread on social media, the question arises: Can an ordinary citizen distinguish reliable facts from false…
Electromobility is at the heart of the debate on sustainable transportation, bringing with it a range of opportunities, challenges, and open questions. While some view it as a key lever in combating climate change, others question its actual sustainability. Electromobility plays a central role in European climate and transport policy and is seen as an…
“Without the many shifts in a café in Germany, I would never have been able to afford my Erasmus semester here”. Lisa Obst, Erasmus student in Barcelona, explains what many young people in Europe are currently experiencing: Housing is becoming a luxury good. And hers is not an isolated case. Rising rents are not just…
Verifying numerical data is a significant challenge for many people. It requires time and effort, which are often in short supply in everyday life. Especially in areas that are outside one’s personal expertise, there is a tendency to trust the accuracy of media reports – often without questioning whether a so-called fact-check is actually correct.…
EUFACTCHECK is the fact-checking project of the European Journalism Training Association (EJTA) that intends to build a sustainable curriculum unit on fact-checking within a European network of Journalism schools.
Through fact-checking European political claims and trying to tackle misinformation, we want our students and our public to grow a deeper insight and interest in democratic processes, both on national and European level.
EUFACTCHECK wishes to motivate fact-based debate in the EU and to stimulate media and information literacy.
After the success of the students’ publications, the participants of EJTA’s fact-checking project EUFACTCHECK decided at the EJTA AGM in Paris (July 2019) to move on with the project and to take new steps in the academic year 2019-2020.
By January-February 2019 a manual with guidelines and tips & tricks was published. In February 2020 a second Bootcamp will be organised in Ljubljana, with financial help from the Evens Foundation. This Train the Trainer focused on Central Eastern European countries, some new schools joined this project.
During corona the EJTA-schools continued to verify claims and publish fact checks. Now we are looking ahead to the 2024 EU elections.
For information about the EUfactcheck project please contact the programme manager: carien.touwen@hu.nl
