Third Generation Factchecking (Round 3)
Summary
Non-partisan factchecking needs to be available whenever and wherever people need it.
Increasingly it is. Full Fact and other factcheckers are publishing factchecks in reusable formats. Google for example is incorporating them into search results. Full Fact’s automated factchecking tools, pioneered with Google DNI prototype funding, are presenting relevant factchecks in real time in response to live TV. But how do we make sure that factchecking at internet scale is balanced and fair, when we don’t control when or where or how our factchecks appear? This project aims to tackle that problem through user research and editorial and technical innovation.
The solution
Make factchecking internet scale, which means: Having a demonstrably balanced total set of content available for reuse; Refining our editorial product so factchecks can be reliably reused in different contexts and products; Creating the technical infrastructure to share factchecks in a fair and balanced way. A five-part plan: (1) Research into how people experience factchecks in different products, formats, and contexts. (2) Editorial development and testing of different factcheck formats. (3) Technical development of standards for sharing factchecks. (4) Evaluating automated factchecking to ensure that the system provides results in a consistently balanced way. (5) Implementing all these within Full Fact’s work.