Fact check
To determine the truth or falsity of an assertion. Fact-checking can be a critical tool for gathering evidence to inform your opinion and can help you make better decisions.
Fact-checking is a rapidly expanding field. According to the Duke Reporters’ Lab, 69 sites now exist around the world that focus on local or state political claims. That’s a 40% increase in just two years. But the pace of new launches has slowed down in recent months. In some cases, that has to do with the challenges of operating in difficult places. A dozen of the newer sites in the Reporters’ Lab count are based in countries with press freedom situations that Reporters Without Borders rates “very serious.” Examples include BOOM and Fact Crescendo in India, and the French international news agency Agence France-Presse’s fact-checking site for Bangladesh.
There are some encouraging signs, however. The number of new fact-checkers grew fastest in Asia, which saw its count jump from 94 sites in 2021 to 124 sites in 2023, an increase of 32%. It also rose significantly in Africa, where the figure climbed from 32 to 54.
At the same time, the Reporters’ Lab still identifies 29 states where there is no fact-checking that regularly reports on political and social media claims made by state legislators or officials in their own cities or towns. These “fact deserts” include four states that had hotly contested governor and Senate races this fall, when voters may have relied on fact-checking from national outlets like PolitiFact and The Washington Post to inform their choices.
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