Observatory Usage and Editorial Policy

The members of the EU Observatory Against Disinformation will gain access to powerful technological infrastructure based on the collaborative verification platform, Truly Media, assisting them in the laborious task of fact-checking online content.

Participants will be able to:

• proactively select stories, declarations, rumors or user-generated content to be investigated;
• launch an investigation and directly invite specific participants to collaborate;
• use available tools to assist the investigation;
• integrate the investigation with relevant research carried out by other parties;
• autonomously publish the output of the investigation on their own websites or preferred communication channels.

Participants are expected to:

• support each other in the investigation, collaborating in one or all stages of the process;
• credit the Observatory and organizations which have collaborated to the investigation when publishing it;
• inform the Observatory Managers about where the output of the investigations carried out are published.

Managers of the Observatory are not directly responsible for any of the content produced through the use of the platform. Nevertheless, all materials produced through its use are expected to comply with the standards of fairness, impartiality, accuracy and transparency.

The material produced by members of the observatory will not be used by the observatory managers for any other purpose without prior permission.

Stories, declarations, rumors or content selected for investigation shall not be unfairly focused on one side or argument of the political spectrum. The material produced must be free from intended bias and patterns of bias. Reports must not include opinion, conjecture, presumption, or any inappropriate language.

All reporting, headlines, images, illustrations and other visual information used by participating organizations/individuals in carrying out the investigations shall be based on verifiable evidence.

Materials produced shall clearly indicate the investigative steps taken, including crediting organizations/individuals who collaborated to the investigation where appropriate. Sources used shall be clear and public, except in cases in which their secrecy is a matter of privacy protection or safety. Corrections and amendments to the published investigation will be clearly labelled and explained.