Factinsect: Automated fact checking

Checks if an article has been confirmed or refuted by other news outlets.

# Browser extension for an automated fact check Factinsect compares information from the Internet with selected quality media. It gives readers a clear indication of the credibility of information and helps distinguish between false information and real news. Factinsect massively reduces the effort required for research on the Internet. # Functionality To make the Factinsect icon permanently visible in the browser bar, click on "Extensions" in the tab bar, then on the “pin" symbol next to Factinsect (blue “pin” symbol). Open a news article in the browser and click on the Factinsect icon in the browser bar. The result will appear after a few seconds. • Confirmed / mostly confirmed (green symbol): The most important statements of the news article have been confirmed by quality media. • Falsified / mostly refuted (red symbol): Important statements in the article contradict information from quality media. In this case, you should do more research on the topic, for example on quality media or by talking to experts. • No statement possible (grey symbol): Factinsect could not find any comparable news content. Possible causes: the content is exclusive or the news article is very new. In this case: Please try again later. In the result window you can see which media have confirmed or refuted the content. # Detailed content analysis Confirmed sentences and paragraphs in the text are highlighted in green, refuted parts of the text are highlighted in red. Clicking on text marked in red or green tells you which quality media has been used for comparison. # Check all articles Right-click the Factinsect icon, go to options: Check "Check all articles in the background”. If you activate this option, you do not have to click on the Factinsect icon for a fact check, it runs automatically as soon as you open a news article in your browser. # Who should install Factinsect: Anyone who would like to use Factinsect as a decision-making aid or for research on the Internet when it comes to classifying information. People who receive links and messages from questionable sources on social media. Parents, children, young people, teachers, educators, schools, universities, content creators, journalists, people who deal with media literacy or who work in human resources. People who want to do a fact check on current topics such as climate change, blackouts, crises. Everyone who wants to contribute to a common fact base and to a better, more peaceful future. # Countries and languages: Factinsect is currently available in German, with reference media from Austria. The version for English with media from the USA is in the test phase, the results have limited validity.