Maldita.es

Sitting around with a few beers in 2014, journalists Clara Jiménez and Julio Montes decided to open a Twitter account that became what today Maldita.es is: a foundation and an independent, non-profit media outlet specialised in fact-checking. Its motto is: "Journalism to not be fooled."Chief executive officer Clara Jiménez explains that the Maldita Foundation fights against misinformation in three areas: media literacy for children and adults; academic research (to understand how citizens consume information); and lobbying public institutions and technology platforms, "providing information to help them make decisions".Today Maldita is a content, training and services platform with a revenue of 1.5 million euros and employing more than 40 people. It has received awards such as the European Press Prize Innovation Award in 2021, and is part of the High-Level Expert Group on Fake News and Online Disinformation launched in 2018 by the European Union."We've learned a lot in this time," Jiménez recalled. "It was very important to assume that we didn't know how to do everything ourselves. It took us a long time to realise it, but when we did, we got it off the ground."The outlet publishes fact-checked content on science, politics, migration, education, environment, technology and health, and relies on a community of 3,000 people who share its so-called superpowers, i.e. the expertise in the topics covered by Maldita.Its revenue comes from grants, consultancy (for Twitter, Facebook, or Google), public subsidies, collaborations with other media and, to a smaller extent, from the community. Jiménez pointed out that 80% of the organisation's funding comes from organisations outside of Spain "that believe our project is necessary".The outlet protects its independence and credibility "with transparency, complying with the methodology and with a reliable and consistent error correction policy," Jiménez said. The organisation publishes its financial information, methodology, neutrality policy and rectification policy on the website.