Fact-checking in the multipolar AI order: Between epistemic sovereignty and ambivalence

Fact-checking has become a key response to disinformation during crises and conflicts, but its role is increasingly contested due to concerns about its effectiveness and its co-optation by different political actors. In polarized, high-choice environments, fact-checking is often embedded within partisan and state-aligned infrastructures, shaping validation and rejection of knowledge claims. Authoritarian states are increasingly active in fact-checking appropriation, a trend likely to intensify with generative AI. As debates over AI sovereignty grow, control of verification tools links to epistemic sovereignty, the authority over knowledge. National AI models risk fragmenting regimes of factual validation, undermining shared baselines. AI-supported fact-checking can instead facilitate engagement with contested realities and multiple perspectives, preserving democratic value while limiting information control.