Check whether a news story is true
To check whether a news story is true you need three things: the primary source of the claim, the date it happened, and at least two independent sources confirming it. Justifact walks this path automatically for a text or a link, and publishes the verdict together with the sources found.
1. Find the primary source
Almost every false story rests on a second-hand account. Walk up the chain to the source that actually holds the information: the institution's statement, the document, the recording. If the chain ends at a site citing unnamed "sources", you already have your answer.
2. Check the date
The most common form of disinformation is not invention but recycling: a real, old story put back into circulation as if it were happening now. Look for the original date of the event, not the date of the post.
3. Require independent confirmation
Two sources citing each other are one source. Real confirmation comes from newsrooms that reached the information by different routes. If the claim only appears across a network of sites that link to each other, that is a red flag.
4. Separate the fact from the framing
A figure can be correct and still used misleadingly — taken out of context, compared against the wrong baseline, or presented as a cause when it is only a correlation. That is why Justifact has a distinct verdict, MISLEADING, for claims that are literally correct but framed to suggest something else.
What Justifact automates
You paste the text or the link, and the platform extracts the verifiable claims, searches independent sources in real time, compares them and produces a verdict with a confidence score. The sources consulted are shown in full, so the path above can be retraced manually by anyone who wants to.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check whether a news story is false?
To check whether a news story is false, find the primary source of the claim, check the date of the event and compare the account against at least two independent sources. If the claim only appears on sites that cite each other, that is a red flag.
Where can I verify a news story online?
You can verify a news story by pasting the text or link into Justifact, which searches independent sources and produces a verdict with the sources displayed. You can also search the fact-checks already published by independent fact-checking organisations, for example with Google Fact Check Explorer.
What does it mean that a story is "misleading" rather than "false"?
A misleading story contains claims that are literally correct but presented so as to suggest a wrong conclusion — for example a real figure taken out of context. A false story is directly contradicted by sources. The distinction matters because the remedy differs: one needs context, the other needs refutation.
The claims describing the standard professional scope of an electrician: renovating and bringing old electrica — ADEVĂRAT
The historical statement that 6 million Jews were killed during World War II. — ADEVĂRAT
An article reporting that the New York City Council voted by a 40-7 margin to ban horse-drawn carriages in Cen — APROAPE ADEVĂRAT
The claim that coffee 100% cures cancer. — FALS
The headline claim asserting that an AI became a government minister in Albania, featured under the segment 'L — APROAPE ADEVĂRAT