About Us
Privacy
and protection
How we protect our sources, the people involved in our investigations, and our own team against physical reprisals and digital attacks.
At Cazadores de Fake News, we track and debunk disinformation using evidence from open sources — such as social media, websites, and digital archives — always referencing and linking to two or more primary sources so that anyone can verify and replicate our arguments. This is described in greater detail in our source policy.
We occasionally consult relevant human sources as a complement; however, their information is considered secondary and does not influence final conclusions, which are based on our own research and verified evidence. We do not use anonymous sources: when citing experts, we state their role and credentials, and we disclose any particular interests so that readers can understand possible influences.
Human sources
We guarantee anonymity when integrity is at risk
When the integrity of a human source is at risk, we guarantee their anonymity in order to protect witnesses, trusted sources, and individuals who have inadvertently amplified disinformation.
Similarly, when disinformation involves minors, we guarantee their anonymity through the use of fictitious names and the blurring of faces or other identifying elements in any published content.
Identifying actors
When do we identify those who spread disinformation?
In the case of disinformation actors — whether individuals, media outlets, websites, or users who spread misleading content — they are only fully identified when Cazadores de Fake News records that they have repeatedly spread disinformation on more than five occasions within a one-year period.
This threshold is intended to avoid unnecessarily exposing individuals who may have shared disinformation in good faith or on an isolated basis, without a systematic pattern of behaviour.
Team protection
Unsigned articles to protect our journalists
To protect our team in the context of criminalisation and persecution of activists, journalists, and independent media in Venezuela, no article carries the byline of the writer or fact-checker who produced it.
This decision is not a waiver of editorial responsibility — CFN as an organisation stands behind every piece it publishes — but a concrete security measure in a documented risk environment.
Security infrastructure
Physical and digital
security measures
Active cybersecurity
We implement strict cybersecurity measures to protect sensitive information and prevent digital attacks against our team and sources.
Identity protection
No article carries an author’s byline. Team members’ public profiles are managed carefully to minimise unnecessary exposure.
Encrypted data
Internal communications and the handling of sensitive information take place via end-to-end encrypted channels.
Online harassment prevention
We have protocols in place to document and respond to digital harassment campaigns directed at team members or sources.
Our commitment
Facts matter, but the people who risk something to get information to you matter more.
— Cazadores de Fake News
These measures form part of our security strategy to prevent physical reprisals or digital attacks against our team, sources, and community. For enquiries about this policy, write to us at prensa@cazadoresdefakenews.info.