StopFake Information

StopFake is a fact-checking organization, founded in March 2014 by Ukrainian professors and students, to refute Russian propaganda and combat fake news. StopFake has streamlined the process of fact-checking stories with software tools. In a joint effort, the Financial Times, Google, Res Publica and Visegrád Group recognized StopFake and its founder in their 2016 New Europe 100 list, commending "central and eastern Europe’s brightest and best people—plus the organisations who are changing the region’s societies, politics or business environments and displaying innovation, entrepreneurialism and fresh approaches to prevailing problems". The New York Times states that StopFake "is highly respected in journalistic circles here in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, for its specialty of debunking fake news", and it "reported some of the biggest nonstories of the war" in Ukraine. Politico stated that "the journalism school crew behind StopFake have emerged as the 'grand wizards' of the fake-news-busting world". In 2020, Ekaterina Sergatskova, a Ukrainian journalist, published an article on Zaborona detailing links between leaders of far-right and neo-Nazi groups and the directors of StopFake.org. Following this, she was targeted for harassment and threats, and personal information of her and her son were posted online.