Overview

• Glenn Kessler accepted a buyout and stepped down on July 28 after 27 years leading the Washington Post’s Fact Checker unit.
• He warned at an international conference that political fact-checking is in retreat and under fire.
• He cited Meta’s decision to end U.S. fact-checking funding and Google’s plan to terminate its ClaimReview program as key setbacks.
• He highlighted U.S. government cuts, including the elimination of USAID funding, as further weakening professional verification efforts.
• He cautioned that the rapid spread of misinformation on social media has outpaced traditional fact-checking, shifting more responsibility onto crowdsourced moderation.