JFC Funding and budget
The Japan Fact Check Center (JFC) offers fact checking free of charge. This is because it is impossible to compete with the free false information if there is a charge for the verification articles that point out the errors.
For this reason, JFC relies primarily on donations and grants to fund its activities. In order to maintain organizational transparency, we will regularly disclose information about our budget and new funding here.
Support for JFC
Upon its establishment in October 2022, JFC received grant support of USD$1.5 million from Google.org, and 20 million yen from Yahoo! JAPAN.
In addition, in October 2023, JFC received funding of 5 million yen from LINE Yahoo! and in December of the same year, 4 million yen from Meta.
JFC is committed to promoting fact-checking and media literacy in order to improve the information environment and protect a healthy democratic society. In order to maintain and strengthen our activities, we would like to ask for broad support from various companies, organizations, and individuals who agree with us.
Accounting
In order to ensure not only independence from external parties, but also independence from the parent organization, SIA, the budgets of SIA and JFC are managed independently in separate accounts.
Here we will publish the documents by fiscal year. The first fiscal year is from the establishment on October 1, 2022 to the end of March 2023. Thereafter, we will release the documents approved by SIA's Board of Directors in June after the end date of the fiscal year at the end of March, in order.
Note (July 12, 2024): To increase financial transparency, we will also disclose the breakdown of SIA's income, retroactive to the fiscal year 2022.
Financial Report for 2023
JFC's Financial Report for FY 2023 (April 2023 - March 2024) is here.
Total income for this period is ¥83,466,733, which includes ¥82,676,499 from grants by Google.org, LINE Yahoo Corporation, Meta, and additional revenue from news distribution.
Total expenses amount to ¥70,141,389. This includes ¥20,613,505 allocated for research and development, such as the 20,000-person survey conducted with GLOCOM.
The remaining balance will be carried over for content creation aimed at improving literacy (such as YouTube videos) from April 2024 onward.
Additionally, here is the breakdown of SIA’s income for FY 2023.
Notice of Correction (12 March 2025)
We detected a 1-yen discrepancy in the "Human Resource Development Expenses" under the expenditures section. A corrected version has been issued.
Details of the Correction
(Incorrect) Human Resource Development Expenses *2: ¥14,778,393
(Correct) Human Resource Development Expenses *2: ¥14,778,392
Reason for the Discrepancy:
When allocating staff labor costs between "Personnel Expenses *1" and "Human Resource Development Expenses *2," the original amount was an odd-numbered figure. As a result, it was split into two equal parts of 0.5 yen each. However, each value was rounded up to the nearest whole yen when displayed, resulting in a 1-yen discrepancy.
Additionally, we have revised the footnotes for improved clarity.
Previous Version:
*1 A certain percentage of editorial staff labor costs is recorded.
*2 A certain percentage of editorial staff labor costs and intern labor costs are recorded.
*4 Legal consultation fees, meeting expenses, consumable purchases (including PCs), system usage fees, and travel expenses are recorded.
Revised Version:
*1 The portion of editorial staff labor costs excluding those related to *2 Human Resource Development is recorded.
*2 Intern labor costs and the portion of editorial staff labor costs related to Human Resource Development are recorded.
*4 Legal consultation fees, meeting expenses, committee honoraria, consumable purchases (including PCs), system usage fees, and travel expenses are recorded.
Financial Report for 2022
JFC's Financial Report for FY 2022 (October 2022 - March 2023) is here.
Total income for this period is ¥124,035,538, which includes grants from Google.org and Yahoo Corporation.
Total expenses, including the preparation period, amount to ¥36,517,596.
The remaining balance will be carried over for external research, tool development for fact-checking, and educational material development to enhance literacy.
Additionally, here is the breakdown of SIA’s income for FY 2022.
Notice of Correction (12 March 2025)
We detected a 1-yen discrepancy in the "Human Resource Development Expenses" under the expenditures section. A corrected version has been issued.
Details of the Correction
(Incorrect) Human Resource Development Expenses *2: ¥5,681,946
(Correct) Human Resource Development Expenses *2: ¥5,681,945
Reason for the Discrepancy:
When allocating staff labor costs between "Personnel Expenses *1" and "Human Resource Development Expenses *2," the original amount was an odd-numbered figure. As a result, it was split into two equal parts of 0.5 yen each. However, each value was rounded up to the nearest whole yen when displayed, resulting in a 1-yen discrepancy.
Additionally, we have revised the footnotes for improved clarity.
Previous Version:
*1 A certain percentage of editorial staff labor costs is recorded.
*2 A certain percentage of editorial staff labor costs and intern labor costs are recorded.
*4 Legal consultation fees, meeting expenses, consumable purchases (including PCs), system usage fees, and travel expenses are recorded.
Revised Version:
*1 The portion of editorial staff labor costs excluding those related to *2 Human Resource Development is recorded.
*2 Intern labor costs and the portion of editorial staff labor costs related to Human Resource Development are recorded.
*4 Legal consultation fees, meeting expenses, committee honoraria, consumable purchases (including PCs), system usage fees, and travel expenses are recorded.
The organizations supporting JFC
(as of the end of January 2024)
Google.org
LY Corporation
Meta
