“Disinformation currently goes far beyond journalism and requires more than the principle of contradiction, a principle that Lusa follows”, explained Luísa Meireles.

The new service is the result of journalistic work, with the use of techniques and tools that “allow us to detect false and decontextualized information and images, disseminated by increasingly sophisticated technologies that reach anyone”, she added.

“At this time, it is a public service duty to contribute to this clarification, which the information directorate assumes entirely”, explained Luísa Meireles.

The chairman of the agency's board of directors, Joaquim Carreira, stated that disinformation “is a threat to social stability and the health of democratic institutions”. Therefore, “more than ever, the role of Lusa, whose roots are based on values ​​of trust and credibility, is essential to combat the spread of disinformation”, he argued.

“By ensuring and improving accuracy and transparency in information”, the agency “reinforces public trust and contributes to ensuring that democratic debate is based on facts, directly benefiting democratic institutions and the quality of civic participation and contributing to greater inclusion in society”, concluded Joaquim Carreira.

The service is called Lusa Verifica and the classification adopted by the agency will be “True”, “False” or “True, but…”, for cases of decontextualization, applying to fact-checking of statements or allegations made by officials, both national and international.

Lusa joins other news agencies that offer this type of service and will begin its certification process on the European fact-checking platform (EFSCN, the acronym in English for European Fact-Checking Standards Network) https://efcsn.com/ and the international platform – IFCN – International Fact-Checking Network https://www.poynter.org/ifcn/ .

Lusa already has a page dedicated to current news on disinformation – https://combatefakenews.lusa.pt/ – and has been participating in a project by ISCTE’s MediaLab to monitor disinformation during the election campaign since 2024.

The agency also belongs to Iberifier, an Iberian project that aims to combat disinformation and includes more than twenty research centers and universities, the two news agencies in Portugal and Spain (Lusa and EFE) and fact-checkers.