AI and Automation's Role in Iberian Fact-checking Agencies

The improvement of automation and AI tools has prompted transformations in journalistic practices, including factchecking. Fact-checking a posteriori has acquired special relevance due to the increasing amount of disinformation on digital platforms and, given its breadth, automation became a need for verifiers to check content online. In this context, AI-based and automation technologies are deployed in all stages of the fact-checking process: identification, checking itself and distribution of content. Studies that map the uses of these tools in fact-checking are still incipient, a lacuna that this study aims to fulfil. This proposal investigates the use of technologies in all specialised Iberian fact-checking agencies, signatories of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN): Polígrafo, Verificat, Newtral and Maldita.es. Through semi-structured interviews with representatives of these agencies, we found that automation and AI tools are used in monitoring and filtering internet and media content; transcription of verifiable phrases; verification of images and videos; selection of content submitted by the audience. Interviewees agree that automation has become crucial for monitoring content on social networks, making fact-checkers work more effective, broader, and faster, despite some ethical concerns. Finally, we advocate that technological tools are important allies, but the human element remains the key to interpreting and deconstructing disinformation.