Tue, Feb 11, 2025 page2

• Fact-check center not recipient of USAID

  ‘NEVER!’ Taiwan FactCheck Center said it had only received donations from the Open Society Foundations, which supports nonprofits that promote democratic values

  • By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
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  Taiwan FactCheck Center (TFC) has never received any donation from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a cofounder of the organization wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday.

  The Taipei-based organization was established in 2018 by Taiwan Media Watch Foundation and the Association of Quality Journalism to monitor and verify news and information accuracy. It was officially registered as a foundation in 2021.

  National Chung Cheng University communications professor Lo Shih-hung (羅世宏), a cofounder and chairman of TFC, was responding to online rumors that the TFC receives funding from the US government’s humanitarian assistance agency via the Open Society Foundations (OSF), which was created by US investor and philanthropist George Soros.

  

  A US flag, left, and USAID flag flutter outside the USAID building in Washington on Feb. 1.

  Photo: Reuters

  Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who was appointed by US President Donald Trump to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, has described USAID as “a viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America,” “evil” and “a criminal organization.”

  “No, Never! TFC has never received donations from USAID. That is a completely false and slander,” Lo wrote.

  The center did receive donations from the OSF in 2021, 2022, July to December 2023 and the first six months of last year, totaling NT$14.487 million (US$441,152), Lo said.

  Each donation to the center is listed in the annual donation reports, which can be viewed by the public, he said.

  Donations from the OSF have greatly helped TFC, but unfortunately they did not continue as the center hoped, Lo said.

  OSF staff have also clearly stated that OSF funding comes from Soros himself — and not from USAID — and that it does not need funding from the humanitarian aid agency, Lo wrote.

  The OSF was created to support work of civic groups around the world, especially credible non-profit organizations that promote democratic and progressive values, Lo said.

  Soros donated US$140 million to civic groups around the world in 2021 alone, he said, adding that there is a detailed record of his donations over the years on the OSF’s official Web site.

  Organizations receiving funding from the OSF also clearly list those donations in their accounting books, Lo said.

  Other Taiwanese non-profit organizations also receive funding from the OSF, he said.

  OSF’s Web site showed that the Taiwan Equality Movement received US$400,000 in 2023.

  The Taiwan Gender Equity Education Association, Taiwan Rebels Culture Movement and Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association received US$100,000, US$300,000 and US$200,000 respectively in the same year, the Web site showed.

  Although the OSF has donated US$23 billion in the past four decades to nonprofits around the globe, Soros and the OSF have become thorns on the sides of authoritarian regimes, dictators and right-wing extremists, Lo said.

  He added that Musk has donated US$5.7 billion to his own foundation since 2021, but there is hardly any disclosure of organizations that had received this funding.

  Clearly, the billionaires have very different political concerns and share different views about transparency, Lo said.

  “So far, we are able to continue operating mainly through fundings from overseas. We are working hard to try to raise enough operating funds from local donors, particularly from the public as well as corporate donors, so we can be less reliant on donations from abroad. We cannot hope to have a sustainable operation if we simply wait on donations from the OSF or Meta,” Lo said.

  Raising funds from local communities would also free the TFC from being the target of smear campaigns, he said.

  Last month, Meta announced that it is ending its fact-checking program in the US. The platform’s policy change could eventually apply to its overseas third-party fact-checking partnerships, although it has yet to make an announcement on the matter, the TFC said in a statement.

  “As we have a significant portion of funding from Meta, a potential termination of partnership could severely affect TFC’s operation. It would cause misinformation to spread faster and prevent Meta users from accessing accurate information,” it said.
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