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How do we pick our content?
To pick the content to fact-check, we use two variables:
Virality. We focus on viral content because it can cause the most harm to Latino and Hispanic communities. Potential disinformation that we receive in our verification service or social media platforms from one person is not the same as disinformation that we receive 10 times in one hour, or that has been shared thousands of times on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Tik Tok, or that has been said by a public figure, or posted on a website or media outlet that can reach the public. We will not post a debunk of a disinformative claim that has had practically no impact because we don’t want to amplify it, except when it represents grave potential danger.
Danger. There's a type of content that appears during moments of crisis, like terrorist attacks, natural disasters and social outbursts, or that can make us doubt about key democratic issues, like election processes. When this happens, we aim at verifying that content urgently, regardless of how viral it is. We specially prioritize those that could affect public health and/or democratic social coexistence.
However, not everything is verifiable. We only fact-check data and facts that can be confirmed. We don’t verify opinions or ideas, although we do flag data and evidence that is false, unverifiable or questionable, and is used to support an argument. These are some types of content that are not verifiable:
Pledges or promises, when they are made.
Opinions or ideas.
Leaked claims made in privacy.
In all cases, the material to verify is chosen without discriminating against its political, ideological, sexual or ethnic orientations.
How do we fact-check our content?
At Factchequeado, we choose articles, audio files, pictures and videos from social media platforms that we monitor, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok, and private messages sent to Factchequeado.
How does Factchequeado work?
Once we prioritize a piece of content because of its virality or danger, a member of our team does looks into the potential disinformation to debunk.
To do this, they contact primary sources, verify the origin of the information, compare databases from official sources and/or apply technological identification processes for pictures, videos or audio files, if needed.
Then, they write the first draft of the fact-check.
After that, three editors check that the verification is correct.
If a media outlet other than Factchequeado posts disinformation and then corrects itself or deletes it, the disinformative content will be explained in the verification posted by Factchequeado. If the media outlet corrects itself after Factchequeado posted the fact-check, we include the correction in our article with an update.
Factchequeado’s source policy
Identification on the record. The sources we use are identified and quoted, whether they are an actual person, organization or official body. This means that Factchequeado does not post verifications that quote sources off the record - I.e., that Factchequeado does not verify content that relies only on sources that do not want to be identified.
Openness and trackability When possible, we include links to documentary sources and original data so they are accessible to everyone.
Quoting All fact-checks published by Factchequeado and made by third parties, media outlets or other institutions are properly quoted in our website.
How do we classify verified content?
This is the ranking we use at Factchequeado to verify viral content:
FALSE All shared content has been proven false when contrasted independently with all actors involved, and the most serious, updated and reliable sources and data.
Factchequeado clarifies in the headline when the verified content is false, and explains the key points of the topic in the first paragraph so the reader knows from the beginning what is true.
Fake pictures are only posted when they are clearly marked as False, with a watermark, for instance, to prevent them from spreading.
Factchequeado never links websites that create disinformative content to avoid its spreading. On the contrary, we link archived content in safe servers like https://archive.li/, that recover fake content without amplifying disinformation.
TRUE All shared content has been proven true when contrasted with all actors involved, and the most serious, updated and reliable sources and data. We only label our verifications as true when they refer to content that is controversial or may be creating doubt in our community.
NO EVIDENCE The content is based on facts that cannot be fact-checked, or data and research that lacks support or includes severe mistakes in their methodology that prevent their verification.
NEEDS CONTEXT Some of the content shared may have correct information, but - intentionally or not - it has been altered and the changes may affect its interpretation.
