The fact check is a process of verifying the accuracy of statements made in public discourse. It is an essential component of media literacy and critical thinking, and is especially important when it comes to divisive topics like immigration, gender politics and equality, and vaccination. Misinformation spreads faster and farther than truth on social media and can lead to polarization, divisiveness, and violence. Fact checking helps slow the spread of false information, and teaches media literacy skills so people can become their own fact checkers.
Fact-checking has long been a practice of large American newspapers, magazines, and book publishers. It has also been an integral part of journalism training at colleges and universities. As a result, there are more professional fact-checkers today than in decades past. Despite this, many people are still vulnerable to inaccurate or misleading claims online.
Our research examines the effectiveness of fact-checking, and finds that the quality of fact-checking varies greatly from website to website. Using our database of more than 10,000 fact-checking articles, we found that the number and type of sources used for an article can have a significant effect on its rating. Similarly, the expertise of the authors can have an impact on how well an article is rated. The high level of agreement, with only one contradictory case, between Snopes and PolitiFact in their ratings suggests that these two fact-checking organizations have established consistent practices, which is important for mitigating misinformation online.