Full Fact

Full Fact is the UK’s factchecking charity. We are developing groundbreaking new automated factchecking technology, which will help to identify false claims by journalists and politicians, and help to stop them spreading.

The Problem

Recent research shows that in the UK, 38% of the public say they come across information that they know or believe to be false every day or almost every day. 84% of British people believe this kind of misinformation to be a problem in the UK, and 79% believe it to be a problem for democracy in general. These findings are replicated across Europe. ( 2018 Eurobarometer survey on 'Fake News and Disinformation Online')

We need to build tools that help people choose when to place trust in claims we hear. Otherwise, we risk switching off and becoming cynical about everything.

Information and statistics provided for the public are often jargon-heavy and difficult to follow. In many cases, the sources of statistics are not provided at all, making it impossible for us to make a decision based on accurate information.

Political events in recent years have seen an even greater focus on the way we consume news media and the impact that has on political and economic decisions, and misinformation is spreading faster than ever before. It’s more important than ever to ensure that we have the tools we need to make an informed decision.

The Solution

Full Fact champions a culture in which public figures are held to higher standards of transparency and accountability.

In addition to our everyday factchecking activities, we think long-term. We’re developing an automated fact-checking tool, which has two strands: Trends records every instance of a claim that we know is wrong, so that we can help stop it spreading—for example through securing corrections. Live spots claims in TV subtitles that we've factchecked before and automatically pulls up our most recent articles in response. It also spots claims that haven’t been factchecked before - but reliable data exists for - and creates factchecks on the spot using that data.

Our aim is to ensure only valid and validated claims are put into the public domain, and give the public the tools they need to check these for themselves.

While still in its early stages, our automated factchecking tool is groundbreaking, and has received universal acclaim from other factchecking organisations and a write up in the Washington Post. It still needs further development, and we need your support to keep testing the tools so that we can check more sources, more accurately.