In the heart of Vilnius, Lithuania—a frontline state sharing a volatile border with Russia—hundreds of fact-checkers gathered for the annual GlobalFact conference, framed appropriately against the backdrop of modern cognitive warfare. Lithuanian Minister of National Defense Robertas Kaunas opened the event with a sobering declaration: fact-checkers are not merely journalists, but a vital piece of democratic infrastructure, as essential to a nation’s survival as air defense systems. This sentiment resonated deeply with attendees from over 55 countries, highlighting a collective reality where information manipulation has become a weapon of war. While the host government expressed immense gratitude for this work, the atmosphere was underscored by a growing sense of isolation, as the global support network that once championed professional truth-seeking—namely Western governments and major social media corporations—has begun to recede.
The fiscal landscape for truth-seekers is shifting rapidly, turning into a precarious survival test. With the collapse of U.S. government grant programs and the pivot of tech giants like Meta away from professional fact-checking toward less rigorous, crowdsourced “Community Notes,” the traditional funding model is effectively dying. Angie Drobnic Holan, director of the International Fact-Checking Network, pointedly noted the absence of big tech representatives at the conference, signaling a shift in corporate priorities. With philanthropic funding unable to bridge the gap, the sector is at a crossroads. Speakers urged organizations to move beyond the “public good trap,” suggesting that if they want to survive, they must innovate—perhaps by building paid editorial products, monetizing data tools for private industry, or pursuing specialized business-to-business services.
Real-world experimentation in these new revenue models is already underway, proving that the sector is resilient even as its primary funding channels dry up. In Argentina, the nonprofit Chequeado is diversifying its impact by selling AI-driven transcription software to students and journalists, aiming to cover a significant portion of its budget through tech innovation. Similarly, Kenya’s Africa Uncensored maintains its independence by balancing philanthropic grants with commercial production deals and media licensing. These initiatives are not just about keeping the lights on; they are essential survival mechanisms that allow these organizations to keep their core fact-checking services public and free, proving that mission-driven journalism can coexist with sustainable, entrepreneurial business models.
The fight for truth is further complicated by the rise of “LLM poisoning,” an emerging threat where bad actors contaminate the digital landscape with false narratives to manipulate generative AI models. Researchers like Pekka Kallioniemi highlighted that the “troll farms” of a decade ago are rapidly being replaced by automated, AI-driven narrative control, effectively turning tools like ChatGPT and Claude into the next major battlefields of perception. To combat this, labs like Gazzetta are developing tools such as AIdas, which allow researchers to systematically audit AI responses for bias. These audits have revealed that some models are dangerously susceptible to echo-chamber effects, while others maintain a more critical, factual stance—a distinction that will determine how millions of people consume information in the coming years.
Amidst these technological hurdles, the message emerging from Central and Eastern Europe was clear: disinformation is a borderless threat that requires a united, cross-border response. Journalists from nations like Estonia, Hungary, and Poland emphasized that Russian interference campaigns do not view countries in isolation; they treat the entire region as one interconnected theater of operations. Consequently, the defense of truth must be equally coordinated. From co-publishing investigative reports to sharing centralized resources, the message from the conference was that fragmented national efforts are no longer sufficient to stop highly organized, transnational manipulation.
Ultimately, the takeaway from this gathering was a call for profound unity. During a session on deepfake detection, India’s Deepfakes Analysis Unit showcased a model for global collaboration, allowing fact-checkers from the Philippines to Japan to pool their expertise and access high-level verification technology. As investigative editor Szabolcs Panyi eloquently stated, the bad actors are cooperating at an unprecedented scale, and therefore, the defenders of democratic integrity must do the same. By shifting toward sustainable business models, adopting rigorous AI-auditing techniques, and strengthening cross-border coalitions, the fact-checking community is reinventing itself not just as a watchdog, but as a proactive, collaborative, and enduring force for truth in an increasingly hostile digital age.