The GlobalFact conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, recently served as a vital gathering for journalists and researchers dedicated to upholding truth in an increasingly hostile information environment. The event highlighted a profession under heavy siege, facing financial instability, platform indifference, and aggressive political attacks. Yet, these challenges were tempered by a collective sense of purpose. As conference leaders noted, the relentless efforts by powerful actors to undermine fact-checkers are evidence that the work is not only effective but fundamentally necessary. By invoking the idea that truth is a common good rather than a tool for the powerful, organizers framed fact-checking not as a partisan activity, but as an essential pillar of human freedom and historical accountability.
Keynote speaker Nina Jankowicz delivered a stirring charge to the community: to abandon timid, overly technical approaches in favor of bold, emotional, and unified action. She pushed back against the narrative that fact-checkers have somehow “done something wrong,” asserting instead that the current backlash is a reactionary attempt by bad actors to preserve their own power. Her call to “meet people where they are” echoes a growing realization within the field: that factual accuracy alone is rarely enough to win hearts and minds. To remain relevant, truth-tellers must learn to speak in languages and on platforms that resonate with the average person, moving beyond dry analysis to capture the public imagination in a way that rivals the emotional appeal of disinformation.
The state of the industry remains a study in resilience despite significant structural pressure. While the Duke Reporters’ Lab census confirms a recent dip in the number of active outlets, the total remains impressively high compared to historical levels. The shift is most visible in the changing relationship between tech giants and information integrity. The withdrawal of support from major platforms like Meta has forced organizations to innovate, leading to a pivot toward more sustainable, consumer-driven business models. Experts now argue that treating fact-checking solely as a “public good” is a fragile strategy; instead, the future lies in creating tangible, mission-driven services for businesses and individuals that value accuracy as an asset rather than a commodity.
The integration of artificial intelligence emerged as the conference’s most contentious theme, serving as both a powerful tool for verification and a terrifying engine for mass manipulation. Research presented at the event proved that AI models are mirrors of their training data, reflecting the ideological biases of their creators, whether they originate in the United States, China, or Russia. Furthermore, with the rise of “good enough” AI fakes, the threshold for creating convincing misinformation has plummeted to near zero. Experts warned that we have arrived at a point where deepfakes are practically indistinguishable from reality, necessitating a complete, professional rethink of how we verify visual and auditory evidence before it spreads into the digital ether.
Gathering in the Baltics added a sobering layer of gravity to the proceedings, as this region sits on the front lines of what officials now term “cognitive warfare.” Lithuanian defense leaders provided a chilling look at how modern regimes use the digital space to weaponize skepticism, encouraging citizens to doubt so much that they eventually believe nothing at all. Education has become a primary defense mechanism, with Lithuania integrating information literacy directly into school textbooks. By treating disinformation as a legitimate threat to national security—on par with territorial aggression—these Baltic nations have created a blueprint for how societies can build psychological resilience against the deliberate erosion of the public square.
Ultimately, the takeaway from Vilnius is that while the digital landscape has become more dangerous and polarized, the movement to safeguard reality is far from defeated. The conference served as a vital recharge for professionals who often work in isolation, reminding them that they are part of a global, interconnected effort to protect the shared truth. By fostering solidarity, embracing new financial independence, and acknowledging the need for more audacious forms of communication, the fact-checking community is preparing for the next chapter of the fight. The enemies of truth may command immense resources and advanced technology, but as the participants in Vilnius reinforced, the demand for honesty, clarity, and courage is a human constant that no algorithm or autocrat can fully erase.