AFP showcased its fact-checking expertise with a workshop at the BETA 2023 media conference, held on November 8-10 in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.

Nattakorn Ploddee, AFP’s digital verification editor for Southeast Asia, led more than 60 journalists in a demonstration of the agency’s work in combating misinformation, especially during election periods. Around 40% of the world’s population lives in a country where elections will be held in 2024.

Since the Hamas attack of October 7, the coverage of major international media has come under daily scrutiny.

AFP has been no exception, even if it does not produce content for the general public but for other media, its clients. In Paris, critics have come together to push the old idea that AFP actually stands for Agence France-Palestine. But the French reader might be surprised to learn that AFP gets even more criticism – and not just in the Middle East – for being an agent of Israel.

An AFP investigation reveals how the Assad clan pillaged war-ravaged Syria through an elite force run by former president Bashar al-Assad's feared brother Maher, taking a cut of almost every pie and turning the country into a narco state.

Oliver Darcy, the author of this highly popular newsletter among media professionals, points out that AFP is "one of the few media organizations to maintain a full fledged bureau inside Gaza."