Fact-checkers use automation to maximize their impact

Wednesday’s IFCN Talk highlighted the work of the Duke Reporters’ Lab’s automated fact-checking project, Squash, but as director Bill Adair noted, it’s far from the only fact-checking project using automation to fight falsehoods.

Argentine fact-checking network Chequeado launched its automated fact-checking bot Chequeabot in 2018, which uses scans of transcripts from media organizations to help identify claims for fact-checkers. A 2019 Poynter article found that roughly one of five fact checks written by Chequado started from a claim detected by its chatbot.

British fact-checking organization Full Fact, which has collaborated with Chequado on a number of automated...