Full Fact

Political debate, bad journalism and fake news are ever increasing issues in the UK and beyond. These issues are also more apparent and noticeable to the public. So, it is more important than ever to have fast, reliable factchecking. Full Fact is the UK’s leading independent factchecking charity. Simply publishing factchecks isn’t enough to overcome the sheer volume of misinformation in the public domain. So, Full Fact have pioneered how to get corrections from politicians, journalists, and others who get their facts wrong, and work with government departments and research institutions to improve the quality and communication of information at source. They use the evidence from their factchecking to spot patterns of misinformation and identify where it comes from, and – wherever possible – how to stop or reduce it. Initial factchecking still requires manual human intervention to source statistics and primary research to assess the validity of claims. However, Full Fact were looking for a way to automate part of the process and to deliver a real-time factchecking tool to journalists and analysts to check claims as soon as they are made. By partnering with Speechmatics, Full Fact are able to transcribe what is said in real-time, analyse the text and – where they’ve already checked that claim – deliver the factcheck almost instantaneously.

Full Fact mostly factcheck claims in public debates, which are often those made by politicians and the media. The core areas that Full Fact focus on are based on the topics that repeatedly come top of the Ipsos MORI Issues Index, which asks the public: “What would you say is the most important issue facing Britain today?” The most popular answers are consistently: Crime and Immigration, the Law, Europe, Education, Health and Social Care, and the Economy. All claims checked by Full Fact are available to the public on their website. To find out more about Full Fact, visit: fullfact.org