IFCN statement on US visa restrictions targeting fact-checkers

This is a statement from the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter.

The International Fact-Checking Network is deeply concerned by reports that the US State Department has instructed consular officers to deny visas to individuals who have worked in fact-checking, content moderation, and trust and safety.

Fact-checking is journalism. It is the straightforward work of comparing public claims against the best available evidence and publishing the results for all to see. This work strengthens public debate — it does not censor it. It is protected within the United States by the First Amendment, and the US has long supported similar press freedoms internationally. To conflate this work with censorship is to misunderstand what fact-checkers do, or to deliberately misrepresent it.

The IFCN’s global network includes more than 170 organizations in over 80 countries, all of them committed to nonpartisanship, transparency of sources, and corrections when errors occur. These are the same standards that have defined high-quality journalism for generations. Our signatories do not remove content from the internet. They add information to the public record.

We are also troubled by the broader implications for trust and safety professionals whose work protects children from exploitation, prevents fraud and scams, and combats coordinated harassment. These functions make the internet safer for everyone, including Americans. Content moderation by tech companies and journalistic fact-checking both are exercises of freedom of expression. 

A free press and an informed public are foundational to democracy. Policies that treat the pursuit of accuracy as a disqualifying activity send a chilling message to journalists and others worldwide. – Rappler.com