Aberje enters into partnership with global news agency AFP

The association expands its fight against fake news by joining efforts with one of the largest international news agencies

To reinforce its work in the fight against fake news and provide associates and communication professionals with reliable information, Aberje entered into a partnership with AFP – Agence France-Presse, a global news agency operating in several countries.

According to Elodie Martinez, coordinator of the AFP fact-checking team for Latin America, the agency works 24/7 to check the content shared on social networks. “They are mostly posts that we often receive from Internet users. In the past few weeks, we have increased the team of checkers to streamline the work of bringing technical knowledge about coronavirus-related issues to the public. We live in a time when people no longer know who to believe in, and misinformation can have even fatal consequences during a pandemic,” said Martinez.

With its news production network spanning 151 countries around the world, AFP – which has been a member of Aberje for a long time – provides event coverage quickly, throughfully, and reliably. A world leader in digital verification, it employes 2,400 people from 100 nationalities covering international news in six languages, with multimedia content.

In addition to serving the media market, such as newspapers, magazines, Internet portals, and broadcasts, the agency provides content for companies and institutions interested in monitoring news and using photographs and videos in advertising. “We have a branch dedicated to the production of personalized content, according to the client’s need,” said Júlio Brandão, AFP’s director of marketing and communication in Brazil.

With the partnership, Aberje will receive from AFP all fact checks pieces produced in Portuguese and will curate content aimed at the associate’s interest for publication on the portal. The agency will also work together on the Special Coronavirus section when checking the news. “These contents generate a lot of interest from readers and increase the permanence on the portal,” said Brandão.

“Aberje is the great forum where companies, brands, and professionals in the sector share their best communication and social responsibility practices. By making the information verified by our specialized team available to Aberje associates, we collaborate in the fight against disinformation, which affects various segments of society, including the corporate ones,” said Martinez. 

“We couldn’t have a better partnership for delivering reliable content on our portal. In this way, we maintain efforts to support members in facing this crisis that we are experiencing”, said Hamilton dos Santos, Aberje’s general director.