How Fact Checkers Fight Back
Fact-checking has moved from the margins of journalism to the centre of how societies interpret crises, elections and the flow of public information. At the start of this episode, Qais Alamdar reflects on how the information people consume shapes their political choices, their reactions in moments of uncertainty and their broader understanding of the world. When falsehoods spread unchecked, they fracture public trust and give bad-faith actors room to manipulate entire communities with minimal effort. Verification, the host notes, is not just a journalistic routine but a form of public protection.
In this episode of The Intelligence Spotlight, the host speaks with Alice Echtermann, investigative journalist at NDR and former head of CORRECTIV.Faktencheck. Alice has spent years examining misleading narratives, monitoring online ecosystems and tracing how falsehoods evolve in real time. Her experience spans the COVID-19 pandemic, election seasons, humanitarian emergencies and the growing influence of AI on public discourse.
Alice pushes back on the idea that Germans have suddenly become more vulnerable to disinformation. Awareness has increased. People recognise the risks. The challenge, she explains, lies in capability. Knowing that misinformation exists does not equip people to identify it. Emotion, bias and the comfort of familiar narratives often override caution, even among well-informed users.
Yet the environment around them has grown more hostile. Alternative media networks have become more coordinated, more polished and more aggressive in amplifying polarising content. Meanwhile, AI has accelerated the credibility and reach of manipulated images, voices and videos. The host and Alice discuss the unsettling pace of these developments. Fact-checkers, she says, cannot predict what form false content will take next. The fear is that a well-timed, sophisticated fabrication during a breaking-news event could dominate long before verification teams can intervene.
Their conversation also turns to platforms, especially X, where changes such as new location tags have reshaped how accounts present themselves. Some features increase transparency. Others open new opportunities for deception. Alice highlights the sheer influence these platforms hold. Meta’s decision to step away from fact-checking partnerships was a stark example of how a single corporate shift can unsettle the entire verification ecosystem. Regulators, journalists, educators and users all carry responsibility, but none can substitute the platforms’ pivotal role. One of the most compelling parts of the episode is Alice’s investigation into Gaza-related donation scams. What began as a suspicious viral post led her to uncover a network of accounts posing as different individuals, all circulating identical fundraising links.
The unexpected twist: the operators were real people in Gaza, blending genuine hardship with deceptive tactics. It illustrates how humanitarian crises can become fertile ground for both authentic appeals and exploitation.
Towards the end, the host asks what single habit young users on TikTok, Instagram and other short-form platforms should develop to avoid being misled. Alice’s advice is simple but powerful: if something feels sensational, pause. Emotional pull is the engine of disinformation. A moment’s hesitation, a brief search or resisting the impulse to share can break the chain entirely. The episode underscores that today’s information terrain is fast, emotional and often overwhelming. But with awareness, critical thinking and a culture that values verification, it is a challenge that can be navigated with far greater clarity.
