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Dear Friend,
Google has ended its support for Full Fact. The company has been one of our biggest funders over the last three years, helping us build some of the best AI tools for fact checking in the world.
But things have now changed abruptly: Full Fact received over £1m from Google last year, either directly or via funds the company supports. These have all either not been renewed, or have been cut altogether.
Fact checkers have never seen a threat like this.
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For the past few years, over a third of Full Fact’s annual income has come from big tech companies. Working hand in hand, we’ve developed cutting-edge fact checking tools, licensed them to fact checkers across the world, and reached millions of people with verified, impartial facts. With Google ceasing funding, and Meta’s stance on fact checking shifting earlier in the year, we are urgently refocusing our fundraising on other areas. Monthly Direct Debits from concerned supporters are a key part of this new focus.
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We think Google’s decisions, and those of other big US tech companies, are influenced by the perceived need to please the current US administration, feeding a harmful new narrative that attacks fact checking and all it stands for.
Full Fact will always be clear: verifiable facts matter and the big internet companies have responsibilities when it comes to curtailing the spread of harmful misinformation. If you agree, please support Full Fact today. We add to debate, we don't restrict it. We promote more speech, not less.
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Full Fact is also a charity, and while we are not reliant on any one source of income, the loss of a funder Google’s size would be a concern for any organisation. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce so over the past nine months we have been asking supporters to set up monthly Direct Debits.
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Many have done so, and we now have a committed group of over two thousand core supporters giving in this way. Will you join them today and keep Full Fact impartial, independent and secure?
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Thank you,
Chris Morris—CEO
Full Fact
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