The underworld of 'fact-checking agencies': bank money and conflicts of interest.

By Mauro Lopes, from 247 - There's an underworld within the universe of "fact-checking agencies" (they usually advertise their activity in English, "fact-checking"): lots of money from large banks and mining companies, sponsors of the 2016 coup, and blatant conflicts of interest. While they claim to measure and judge the work of journalists from media outlets "independently," they belong to a company that owns a media outlet itself and make a living selling services to conservative media. One of the agencies has its website hosted on the site of one of the most aggressive right-wing media outlets in the country.

Their boldest action in the country occurred this week, when they turned against independent media outlets (247, Forum, and DCM) to protect a falsified version they fabricated in service of the conservative media regarding the Pope's envoy's visit to Lula's prison in Curitiba. These agencies are the postmodern versions of the old state censorship that Brazil experienced during the Estado Novo and later the post-64 dictatorship. The career of censor in the country's Ministry of Justice no longer exists, but the career of journalist-censor serving financial capital and the conservative media does. Based on contracts with Facebook, these agencies have gained the power to indicate to Mark Zuckerberg's company which pages hosted on the social network should be sanctioned, ranging from limiting the distribution of posts to complete deletion.

The Lupa agency is, at this moment, the most scandalous case in this underworld. It was founded at the end of 2015 with money from João Moreira Salles. He is presented on the agency's website as an innocent "documentary filmmaker" (here). In order to conceal the truth, the fact that Salles is none other than the 9th richest billionaire in the country, according to Forbes' 2016 survey - his fortune is estimated at R$ 13 billion (here(It was concealed on Lupa's website that João Moreira Salles is a major shareholder of Itaú Unibanco. It was also concealed that the Salles family controls Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (CBMM), a world leader in niobium production, with 85% of the global market for this valuable mineral. A typical case of fake news.)

Not only is a billionaire banker/miner the investor in Lupa, which should theoretically be free from major economic interests, but the agency is also controlled by Editora Alvinegra, also owned by Salles, which owns Revista Piauí. In other words: the agency that should be conducting "independent" fact-checking of media outlets is not only integrated with the interests of large financial/mining groups but also belongs to the same company as a media outlet it should be monitoring!      

The Lupa Agency – and the entire sector – operates on a business model that rests on an unsolvable ethical conflict. Lupa states on its website: "Lupa is a news agency. It sells its reports (fact-checking) for publication in other media outlets. It repeats what international agencies such as Reuters, AFP, EFE, or Bloomberg, for example, do." What the company's misleading text fails to clarify is that Reuters, AFP, EFE, or Bloomberg do not claim to monitor the work of other media outlets.

Thus, Lupa, like its sister agency, Agência aos Fatos, sells its services to conservative media outlets, such as some belonging to the Globo Organizations and the Folha-UOL Group. An irrefutable question arises: to what degree of autonomy/independence do these agencies have to "fact-check" media outlets that are their clients? Will Lupa and Aos Fatos recommend sanctions against Facebook for media outlets that are responsible for the financial sustainability of their business?  

There is yet another issue regarding Lupa. The agency's website is: http://piaui.folha.uol.com.br. Two questions arise: 1) Will Lupa act independently in fact-checking the media outlet that hosts it? 2) What guarantee do media outlets competing with those of the UOL-Folha Group have that their "fact-checks" will not be biased? bias?

This shadowy world of "fact-checking" agencies working for large economic groups, Facebook, and conservative media with the goal of reinstating censorship and eliminating the constitutional right to freedom of expression is alarming parliamentarians. The leader of the Workers' Party (PT) in the Chamber of Deputies, Paulo Pimenta, announced today that the matter will be examined: "We will summon representatives from Facebook and the fact-checking agencies contracted by them."here).   

Brasil 247 attempted to obtain answers from Agência Lupa regarding these questions, but received no response. Twice emails were sent to Cristina Tardáguila, director of Agência Lupa, containing a series of questions of public interest. However, these went unanswered.

In the photo illustrating this report, Cristina appears alongside the banker/miner and documentary filmmaker João Moreira Salles, owner of Agência Lupa.

Read the full text of the email sent to Cristina Tardáguila by 247:

Cris, good morning,

I'm Mauro Lopes, editor of the website Brasil 247.

We are preparing a report on fact-checking agencies, especially on Agência Lupa, which will air this afternoon.

I am sending you the following questions for a response by 14 PM, please.

It is written on the Lupa Agency website that: “For the next few years, Lupa will be incubated on the piauí magazine website, in a startup model. Editora Alvinegra, which publishes the magazine monthly, is the agency's main investor and is betting on its strengthening, contributing the necessary amount monthly for its full and legal operation.”

Furthermore, when the agency was created, you gave an interview to Portal Imprensa and said you had signed a contract with Globonews, which belongs to the Globo group. You also said that you would like to partner with one newspaper per state and some radio stations.

We asked:

1. Does Agência Lupa maintain partnership agreements with media outlets, such as Globonews? If so, does it fact-check their content? Can you tell us which media outlets sponsor or have sponsored Lupa? Do you fact-check the media outlets that sponsor Lupa? Is it compatible to fact-check the content of a media outlet with which the agency has a contract (and from which it therefore receives money)?

2. Does the agency consider Piauí magazine a media outlet? If so, does it fact-check the reports published in Piauí?

3. Is it ethically compatible to fact-check the news from a magazine that i) hosts your website and ii) belongs to the same publishing house that owns/invests in Lupa?

4. Editora Alvinegra belongs to the Moreira Salles family, historically linked to the financial sector. Currently, the family is one of the largest shareholders of Banco Itaú Unibanco, and some of its members are even active in the institution, serving as its board members, one of whom is none other than the chairman of the Board of Directors of Itaú Unibanco. There is a second evident ethical conflict here: how can you be independent in fact-checking news about the financial sector when you are funded by that sector?

5. What is the total amount invested by João Moreira Salles in his project so far? Were there other private investors?

6. What is your team like, and what are the backgrounds of the professionals who check the published information? The information about the team on the website is brief and there is no guarantee that it is up-to-date. Can you provide us with detailed and updated information?

7. Regarding the agency's sustainability: Brasil 247 has a notoriously critical view of the role of the financial sector in the country, having published critical reports about Itaú Unibanco bank. Don't you see any ethical incompatibility in fact-checking news from a portal that is critical of the institution owned by the family of its investors?

8. The email address for Agência Lupa is http://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupaTherefore, the agency's electronic headquarters are located at UOL's facilities, part of the Folha de S. Paulo Group. Do you fact-check UOL's reports? Do you fact-check Folha de S. Paulo's reports? Do you consider it ethically acceptable to evaluate the media outlets whose websites host the agency?

9. Readers of Agência Lupa are demanding, on Facebook, that you retract the error made in your coverage of the Juan Grabois/Lula case. Are you preparing a retraction?

10. Facebook's algorithms have the power to determine the reach of various posts. At the same time, the Brazilian Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and prohibits any type of prior censorship. How do you intend to reconcile the information policing power you exercise with the fundamental guarantees of the Brazilian Constitution?

11. In the Juan Grabois episode, you penalized some independent media websites without hearing the other side, a fundamental principle of journalism. Do you consider this procedure ethically acceptable?