On the first issue, RMIT Fact Lab claimed it had no obligations to ensure its staff appear to be impartial when conducting fact checks and defended Mr Skelton’s social media conduct as his right under its “intellectual freedom policy”.
RMIT blamed poor resourcing at the International Fact Checking Lab for a delay in reviewing RMIT’s application to be certified. RMIT Fact Lab’s certification has been expired since December, 2022 but still has access to Facebook systems. If RMIT is correct and a traumatic injury on one staff member’s wife means the body cannot fulfil its functions, fact checking organisations globally are now deplatforming content on Facebook without any oversight at all.
Ms Holan declined to answer several specific questions and instead took aim at Australians concerned about political censorship, comparing complaints to frustration about a football game. Even though RMIT Fact Lab's certification has been expired for more than 8 months, Ms Holan said there were no issues with her organisation’s processes.
This message appears not to have been sent to the Meta PR team which insists the IFCN oversees fact checking certification, which includes adherence with the Code of Principles. “I did note that the IFCN have stated on their website that some of the signatories are going through or may have signed their accreditation, but the website doesn’t reflect that,” Meta said.
Meta made the commitment to only work with fact checking organisations that are accredited by the IFCN, a commitment Meta has given in public testimony to the US Congress in 2019 and, more recently, in Facebook’s 2021 submission to the Australian Senate Inquiry on Media Diversity in Australia. “Company shall be a signatory to a fact checkers’ Code of Principles as promulgated by an independent third party ,” the contract states.