Taiwan FactCheck Center

What Taiwan FactCheck Center does

Taiwan FactCheck Center (台灣事實查核中心) is an independent, IFCN-certified non-profit fact-checking organization founded in 2018 and headquartered in Taipei City, Taiwan. As of February 2021 it operates as the Taiwan FactCheck Education Foundation (台灣事實查核教育基金會), an independent legal educational foundation. Its core output is a sustained volume of fact-check reports — 663 published in 2021, 31 during the 2024 presidential candidate discourse, and 18 immediately following the April 2024 Hualien earthquake — that classify circulating claims as 錯誤 (incorrect), 部分錯誤 (partially incorrect), 事實釐清 (clarification), or 正確 (correct) across political, scientific, health, and international topics. The center reaches Taiwanese citizens through its website, a LINE rumor-reporting bot (LINE bot is Taiwan's dominant messaging channel), short-form video on Facebook / YouTube / Instagram / TikTok / Threads, biweekly Chinese and English newsletters, and a podcast (新聞真假掰) co-produced with National Education Radio. It also runs an annual Youth Fact-Checking Challenge, community-university workshops, and dedicated reader meetups.

The organization runs two flagship technology / education products. First, the 謠言捕手 (Rumor Catcher) AI platform, co-developed with the government's Institute for Information Industry (III), applies NLP, cross-database matching, computer vision, and multimodal AI risk analysis to cluster similar rumors from multiple sources (including the Cofacts rumor database and the LINE bot) and match them against the fact-check corpus — reportedly processing around 1.5 million suspicious messages during the COVID-19 surge. This platform won R&D 100 Awards in 2021. Second, 學苑 (Taiwan FactCheck School, school.tfc-taiwan.org.tw) is the dedicated media-literacy education sub-brand offering courses, teaching materials, and workshops, including the 王牌查核員 online course.

The business model is non-commercial: services are provided free of charge to the public, and revenue consists of public donations and grants from international and domestic supporters including IFCN, Facebook/Meta, Google News Initiative, and Check Global. Distribution is community-led, with strong reliance on the LINE messaging channel and alliance partners (MyGoPen, Cofacts, Asian Fact-Check Lab, and via the Sept 2024 Taiwan Fact-Check Alliance a coordinated emergency-response structure). The center's customer base is effectively the Taiwanese general public plus specific segments (community-university learners, youth, and the Indonesian diaspora in Taiwan served through the MAFINDO partnership). Strategically, the center is positioning itself as a regional coordination hub: an Information Warfare Special Section is being launched in 2026 in cooperation with StopFake (Ukraine), and it joined the #UkraineFacts coalition in 2022.

Name

Taiwan FactCheck Center

Legal name

台灣事實查核中心 (Taiwan FactCheck Center)

Website

https://tfc-taiwan.org.tw

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Taiwan FactCheck Center is a Taipei-based independent, IFCN-certified non-profit that publishes fact-check reports and media-literacy education for the Taiwanese public. It distributes via its website, LINE bot, social channels, podcast, and community-university workshops, and operates the 謠言捕手 AI rumor-detection platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Taipei

HQ country

Taiwan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: The organization operates as a nonprofit funded primarily through public donations and grants. The website features a prominent donation button and publishes financial/donation reports annually.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels12 records

Core offering

Taiwan FactCheck Center is a non-profit organization that produces and publishes professional fact-check reports verifying rumors and misinformation circulating on social media in Taiwan, covering politics, science, health, and international topics. It combines human fact-checkers with a proprietary AI rumor detection platform (Rumor Catcher) and operates a LINE bot for real-time rumor reporting. The center also runs media literacy education programs including podcasts, instructional videos, youth competitions, workshops, and an educational sub-brand (Taiwan Fact-Check School) to help the public verify content independently.

Product overview

台灣事實查核中心是一家非營利的事實查核組織，提供多元產品與服務組合。其核心產品為查核報告系統，針對網路謠言進行專業事實查核並發布結果。旗下教育品牌「台灣事實查核學苑」專責媒體素養教育。AI產品「謠言捕手」快篩平台運用自然語言處理與圖片辨識技術自動監測傳言。內容產品包括Podcast節目《新聞真假掰》、教學系列《查核工具箱》等教育內容，以及LINE闢謠機器人提供即時互動服務。活動產品有青年查證挑戰賽、調查報導工作坊、亞洲事實查核論壇等，形成完整的教育培訓體系。

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• 台灣事實查核學苑: 媒體素養教育平台，開展事實查核教育培訓與課程推廣活動
• 謠言捕手
• 新聞真假掰｜假訊息ByeBye！
• 查核工具箱
• 查小喵

Products and services

• Fact-Check Reports (查核報告) Professional fact-check reports verifying rumors and misinformation circulating on social media in Taiwan, classified into categories such as 'error,' 'partially error,' 'clarification,' and 'correct,' covering political, scientific, health, and international topics. Targeted at the Taiwanese general public seeking to verify viral claims.
• Rumor Catcher AI Platform (謠言捕手快篩平台) AI identification platform co-developed with the Institute for Information Industry (III) that uses natural language processing, image recognition, and database matching to automatically detect, cluster, and classify online rumors, comparing them with the fact-check report database. Processed 1.5 million suspicious messages during the COVID-19 pandemic peak. Used by the fact-checking team to accelerate verification.
• LINE Rumor Reporting Bot (LINE闢謠機器人) Official LINE account chatbot providing instant reply of fact-check reports, proactively pushing rumor information, and activating a whole-population rumor-clarification mechanism. Used by Taiwanese citizens via the LINE messaging app, the primary distribution channel in Taiwan.
• News Truth or Fiction ByeBye Podcast (新聞真假掰｜假訊息ByeBye！Podcast) Podcast and radio program co-produced with National Education Radio, inviting experts from various fields to discuss media literacy topics. Designed to improve audience media literacy and resistance to misinformation, suitable for general listeners and for school teachers to plan media literacy courses.
• Fact-Check Toolkit (查核工具箱) Series of digital fact-check teaching videos and practical tutorials covering tools including reverse image search, Google Maps geolocation, search engine techniques, weather observation, and reverse video search. Targeted at general public and community learners seeking verification skills. Awarded the Taiwan Press Foundation Media Literacy Award.
• Taiwan Fact-Check School (台灣事實查核學苑)

Quantifiable outcome

• Proportion of people without fact-checking experience dropped from 19.5% to 6.8% between 2022-2023
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability9 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Google News InitiativecoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 November 2024Google News Initiative sponsors Taiwan Media Literacy Program 2.0 with 社區大學全國促進會, 台灣媒體觀察教育基金會, and 南洋台灣姐妹會. Also supported the '王牌查核員' online course.
• 台灣查核聯盟 (Taiwan Fact-Check Alliance)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2024Coalition including MyGoPen, 亞洲事實查核實驗室, and Cofacts to coordinate emergency response to misinformation crises and share resources.
• 卓越新聞獎基金會 (Taiwan Press Foundation)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2023Co-organizer of annual 調查報導與事實查核工作坊 (Investigative Reporting and Fact-Checking Workshop) bringing together journalists and fact-checkers.
• 政大傳院 (National Chengchi University College of Communication)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2023Academic partnership for Maria Ressa documentary screenings and panel discussions on press freedom.
• 南洋台灣姐妹會 (Southform Taiwan Sisters)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Partnership for Indonesian media literacy program targeting Taiwan's 200,000 Indonesian community members, including migrant workers and students.
• MAFINDO (Indonesia)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Indonesian fact-checking organization partnership for cross-border media literacy cooperation serving Indonesian community in Taiwan.
• 台灣民主實驗室 (Taiwan Democracy Lab)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Partnership on information warfare research and cognitive operations analysis.
• StopFake (Ukraine)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2022Partnership to launch an Information Warfare Special Section in 2026, sharing lessons from Ukraine's experience with disinformation. Both organizations exchange knowledge and best practices for combating state-sponsored misinformation.
• 鏡好聽 (Mirror Voice)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 August 2021Podcast production partnership creating '出擊！事實查核大揭密' series on media literacy.
• 國立教育廣播電台 (National Education Radio)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2021Radio broadcast partnership for '新聞真假掰' podcast, airing weekly on the national education radio network.
• 資策會 (Institute for Information Industry, III)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2020Co-developed '謠言捕手' AI rumor detection platform using NLP, cross-database matching, and AI risk analysis. III provides technical expertise while TFC provides domain knowledge in fact-checking.
• IFCN (International Fact-Checking Network)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019IFCN certified fact-checker since 2019, continuously certified for 5+ years. Participates in Global Fact summits, receives training, and collaborates on international fact-checking standards.
• Facebook (Meta)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2019TFC reports are sent to Facebook for fact-labeling; Facebook reduces reach of flagged misinformation. TFC was part of Facebook Community Accelerator program.
• LINE TaiwancoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2019LINE bot integration for rumor reporting and automated fact-check delivery to users. Primary distribution channel for reaching Taiwanese citizens.
• Cofacts 真的假的coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2019Integration of Cofacts database into 謠言捕手 platform. Cofacts is Taiwan's open-source rumor reporting and debunking platform with rapid community response.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• MyGoPen (麥擱騙): MyGoPen is one of Taiwan's leading fact-checking organizations, founded in 2016. It is a direct peer and current alliance partner of TFC within the Taiwan Fact-Check Alliance, covering similar misinformation topics with overlapping LINE-based distribution in Taiwan.
• Cofacts (真的假的): Cofacts is Taiwan's open-source community-driven rumor reporting and debunking platform. It is integrated into TFC's Rumor Catcher AI database and is a fellow member of the Taiwan Fact-Check Alliance, making it a direct peer in the Taiwan fact-checking ecosystem.
• Asian Fact-Check Lab (亞洲事實查核實驗室): Asian Fact-Check Lab is a Taiwan-based regional fact-checking organization and Taiwan Fact-Check Alliance member. It focuses on cross-border misinformation verification across Asian languages, making it a close peer and collaborator of TFC.
• Maldita.es: Maldita.es is a Spain-based independent fact-checking and verification platform, and IFCN-certified. It participates in TFC's Asian Fact-Check Forum as a peer international fact-checking organization with similar digital-native operations.
• StopFake: StopFake is a Ukraine-based fact-checking organization specializing in state-sponsored disinformation. It is TFC's strategic partner (announced 2022) co-launching the Information Warfare Special Section in 2026, making it a direct peer in the counter-disinformation field.

Broad incumbents

• PolitiFact: PolitiFact is a US-based Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking organization and IFCN signatory. It is mentioned as an international collaborator presenting at TFC's Asian Fact-Check Forum and serves as a broader incumbent model for political fact-checking.
• Full Fact: Full Fact is a UK-based leading fact-checking organization using AI technology for automated fact-checking. It is comparable to TFC for its combination of AI tools and human fact-checkers, and is a recognized leader in the global fact-checking community.
• Rappler: Rappler is a Philippines-based digital media company known for its fact-checking operations and Maria Ressa documentary (which TFC screened). It represents a comparable model combining journalism, fact-checking, and media literacy advocacy in the Asia-Pacific region.
• Snopes: Snopes is one of the oldest and most established internet fact-checking organizations, founded in 1994. While US-centric, it represents the broader incumbent category of large-scale digital fact-checking operations that TFC's model emulates in the Taiwan market.

Regional players

• MAFINDO: MAFINDO is an Indonesia-based civil society organization fighting misinformation. It is TFC's cross-border partner serving the Indonesian community in Taiwan (200,000+ Indonesian residents), making it a regional peer with comparable media literacy education programs.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks2 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/taiwantfc
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCRrO7rwIR0n7P1K2Fc7CIXA
• Facebookfacebook.com/taiwantfc
• Instagraminstagram.com/taiwan_factcheckcenter
• TikToktiktok.com/@taiwan_factcheckcenter

Compliance9 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Taiwan FactCheck Center