Q&A: This Iranian fact-checker has been working nonstop since the uprisings. Then the war came.
Farhad Souzanchi and his outlet Factnameh have been fact-checking claims about Iran from exile since 2017.
Farhad Souzanchi — an Iranian fact-checker who goes by a pseudonym out of fear for his family’s safety — hasn’t talked to his mother since the war broke out.
“I communicate with her through a friend who’s a journalist and has an internet connection,” said Souzanchi, who runs Factnameh from exile in Toronto. “I tell him, can you tell my mom this? Or can you check in on her? And then he’ll talk to her.”
The Iranian government has shut down the internet inside the country, cutting off Iranians from the outside world and leaving state media as one of their only sources of information. A “North Korea-esque situation,” he said.
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