What First Draft News does

First Draft News was an independent nonprofit organization founded in London in 2015 and operationally closed in 2022, dedicated to combating online mis- and disinformation. It served professional journalists, newsrooms, fact-checking organizations, academic researchers, and members of the general public who needed practical tools to identify and respond to information disorder. Its core offerings were organized into six content pillars: Our Thinking (18 definitional frameworks), Our Research (9 reports on misinformation dynamics), Our Training (online courses and webinars), Our Tips/Guides/Graphics (11 classroom-ready resources), Our Work on Elections, and Our Work on Public Health. Specific toolkits included a five-step photo and video verification guide, seven overlay design principles for debunking imagery, a VAERS misinformation analysis framework, Boolean search methodologies, and metadata/EXIF analysis techniques. All resources were distributed free of charge under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license via firstdraftnews.org and social channels including Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, LinkedIn, Medium, and YouTube.

The underlying technology was human-process oriented rather than automated: verification relied on manual workflow (original-version check, source, location, date, and motive checks scored with a traffic-light system), social-media investigation via structured Boolean queries, and network mapping using Google Analytics IDs, WHOIS records, and image metadata. First Draft did not maintain a public API, SDK, or AI/ML pipeline. The organization also operated a global network of collaborative fact-checking projects, including Electionland (US, 600+ journalists in 2016), CrossCheck (France, then Australia), Comprova (Brazil), Reverso (Argentina), and Verificado (Uruguay), with strategic partners such as Chequeado, Correctiv, and WITNESS.

The business model was nonprofit grant and partnership funded rather than commercial: no paid products, no per-seat pricing, and no enterprise contracts existed. The GTM motion was community-led, relying on free distribution, Creative Commons licensing, training programs, and collaborative projects to build adoption across newsrooms and fact-checking organizations in at least fifteen countries. The organization maintained a London headquarters and a Sydney bureau, employed between one and ten people, and upon closure in 2022 transferred its website to the Internet Archive for perpetual hosting.

Name

First Draft News

Legal name

First Draft News

Website

https://firstdraftnews.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

First Draft News was a London-based nonprofit (2015-2022) that produced free verification frameworks, research, and training to help journalists, newsrooms, and the public combat online misinformation, distributed globally under a Creative Commons license.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Journalism Education and Misinformation Research

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Investigative & Nonprofit News Organizations (MPAJADAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Government, Public Policy & Regulatory Reference (Public Administration, Regulatory Guidance) (EDAGAGAK), Open Access Scholarly Journals & Monographs (EDAGAFAJ), Scholarly Societies & Conference Proceedings Publishing (MPAJABAK)

Keywords

• Misinformation research
• Newsroom verification training
• Information disorder analysis
• Fact-checking methodologies
• Journalism education resources

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Nonprofit/Funded Research: First Draft operated as a nonprofit initiative, likely funded through grants, donations, and institutional partnerships. All content was made available free under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. The organization did not generate commercial revenue but functioned as an educational and research resource for the journalism community.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

First Draft News operated a nonprofit resource center providing free educational content, research reports, training courses, verification guides, and collaborative fact-checking frameworks to help journalists, newsrooms, and the public combat online mis- and disinformation. All resources were distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licensing, with content organized into six pillars covering thinking frameworks, research, training, practical guides, election-related misinformation, and public health misinformation.

Product overview

First Draft News was a non-profit resource center (operational 2015-2022, now archived) offering a platform of educational content and tools to help journalists, researchers, and the public combat online mis- and disinformation. The core offering consisted of six main content pillars: Our Thinking (definitional frameworks), Our Research (in-depth reports on information disorder), Our Training (courses on verification and investigation), Our Tips/Guides/Graphics (classroom-ready resources), Our Work on Elections (election-specific disinformation research), and Our Work on Public Health (vaccine and health misinformation analysis). The platform also provided specific toolkits including photo/video verification guides, overlay design principles for journalists, and methodology frameworks for investigating vaccine database misinformation. Content was made available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Our Thinking A collection of 18 pieces providing definitions, context, and frameworks for understanding the contemporary information ecosystem, covering topics like information disorder taxonomy and psychology of misinformation. Designed for journalists, researchers, and educators seeking foundational understanding of mis- and disinformation.
• Our Research Nine research reports that studied the complex dynamics of the polluted information environment, including investigations into vaccine misinformation, social media analysis, and digital intervention recipes. Targeted at researchers, policy analysts, and journalists seeking evidence-based insights on information disorder.
• Our Training Training courses designed to help people become better equipped to identify, make sense of, and respond effectively to information disorder, including online courses on coronavirus coverage and digital investigation recipes. Targeted at journalists, newsroom staff, and educators.
• Our Tips, Guides, and Graphics Eleven resources including essential guides, flashcards, and infographics designed for classroom use or community sharing to build resilience against misinformation. Targeted at educators, community organizers, and the general public.
• Our Work on Elections A collection of work on the impact of misinformation on elections globally, documenting disinformation techniques used across different countries and electoral contexts including the US, UK, France, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Targeted at election journalists, researchers, and democracy-focused organizations.
• Our Work on Public Health A collection of research on the impact of misinformation on public health, including studies on COVID-19 vaccine misinformation affecting Black, Hispanic, and West African communities, and analysis of foreign anti-vaccine disinformation campaigns. Targeted at health journalists, public health researchers, and community organizations.
• Verification Guide for Photos and Videos A free downloadable verification guide for journalists working with eyewitness media, covering a five-step verification methodology: checking the original version, verifying who captured content, where, when, and why they captured it, using a traffic light system for publishability assessment.
• VAERS Misinformation Analysis Framework An analysis framework for investigating misinformation related to the US Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), documenting common tactics used to weaponize unverified vaccine safety data. Targeted at health journalists and fact-checkers.
• Overlay Design Principles Seven principles for designing visual overlays to prevent amplification of misinformation images in news coverage, including guidance on watermarking, pattern intricacy to resist forgery, and accessibility standards to ensure warnings travel with images.

Quantifiable outcome

• Electionland mobilized 600+ journalists during the 2016 US election for collaborative newsgathering.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CrossCheck AustraliacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 June 2022Australian election-focused collaborative project tracking imported narratives and new frontiers for election misinformation. Part of the broader CrossCheck global initiative.
• Reverso (Argentina)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 October 2019Collaborative newsroom initiative in Argentina tackling disinformation during elections. First Draft worked with Reverso to investigate and document disinformation trends including the weaponisation of context, WhatsApp disinformation, and misleading memes. Laura Zommer from Chequeado served as executive director for Reverso.
• Verificado (Uruguay)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 October 2019Collaborative fact-checking initiative in Uruguay focused on election-related misinformation. Partnered with First Draft methodologies to track WhatsApp and Facebook disinformation, memes, and false content during Uruguay's election cycles.
• ChequeadocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 October 2019Argentina's leading fact-checking organization, whose executive director Laura Zommer led the Reverso initiative. Chequeado partnered with First Draft on research and methodologies for tracking information disorder in Latin America.
• Comprova (Brazil)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 June 2019Collaborative journalism project in Brazil evaluating the impact of coordinated misinformation campaigns. First Draft published evaluation of Comprova's impact on Brazilian journalists and audiences, studying how collaborative verification affected misinformation spread.
• CrossCheck (France)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 November 2017First Draft's original flagship collaborative fact-checking project in France during elections. Evaluation showed positive impact on journalists' verification skills and audience trust. Later expanded to other countries including Australia.
• WITNESSminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2017Human rights video organization collaborated on projects documenting eyewitness media, including the Mapping the Dead in Ethiopia project using open-source documentation of Oromo protests.
• ElectionlandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 December 2016Major collaborative newsgathering operation for the 2016 US election involving 600+ journalists. First Draft documented how they set up this large-scale initiative to monitor and verify election-related misinformation and voting issues in real-time.
• Correctiv (Germany)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2016German fact-checking organization partnered with First Draft for the #WahlCheck17 project monitoring the German federal election using similar techniques to UK election projects.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Full Fact: UK-based fact-checking charity that builds automated verification tools and trains journalists — closely comparable mission, geography, and training-focused GTM.
• Bellingcat: Independent investigative collective using open-source techniques to verify user-generated content and track disinformation — directly comparable to First Draft's verification methodology and global collaborative model.
• Chequeado: Argentina's leading fact-checking organization and First Draft partner on the Reverso initiative — directly comparable nonprofit fact-checking model serving Latin America.
• Maldita.es: Spanish fact-checking and media literacy nonprofit that combines journalism with training — comparable nonprofit structure, misinformation focus, and educational output.
• Meedan: Builds collaborative verification software (Check) and ran cross-border fact-checking initiatives like CrossCheck — same CrossCheck partner and near-identical collaborative newsroom thesis as First Draft.
• The Poynter Institute: Operates PolitiFact and the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN); comparable as a journalism training and fact-checking standards body serving newsrooms globally.

Broad incumbents

• Snopes: Pioneer internet fact-checking site covering misinformation across politics, health, and viral content — comparable public-facing verification content, but consumer-media scale rather than training/newsroom focus.
• AFP Fact Check: Global fact-checking operation of Agence France-Presse, one of the largest wire-service verification desks — comparable methodology but vastly larger scale and institutional backing.

Emerging players

• NewsGuard: Commercializes trust ratings for news sources using journalist-led criteria — adjacent information disorder work but with a for-profit B2B/licensing model rather than First Draft's nonprofit approach.
• Logically: Tech-enabled fact-checking and counter-disinformation company offering products to governments and platforms — comparable verification mission, but commercialized as a SaaS/AI platform.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/firstdraftnews
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC0TIBS0JDWs3XPjVjcVPdEg
• Facebookfacebook.com/FirstDraftNews
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/first-draft-news
• Instagraminstagram.com/firstdraftnews

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about First Draft News