About Factbutcher

Factbutcher is an AI fact-checker for short texts. It finds checkable claims in your text, searches the web for sources on them, and shows you what it found: a verdict, a short explanation and links.

You can try it right now: on the home page, in the Telegram bot or with the Chrome extension.

When It Helps

  • Someone forwarded you a message like "scientists have proven" or "here is what the politician really said", and you want to know whether it is true before passing it on.
  • You are reading a news story or a post and doubt a number, a date or a quote.
  • You are writing a text and want to double-check the facts in it.
  • You are teaching others or yourself to check information: the breakdown shows what the conclusion rests on.

How It Works

  1. You send a text: up to 10,000 characters on the website and in the extension; in the bot you can forward a post.
  2. The service picks the claims: a language model selects up to three main checkable claims from the text. Opinions, value judgements and open questions ("how…", "who…") are not checked. A question like "Is it true that…?" is turned into a statement and checked.
  3. Each claim is checked separately: a language model searches the web for sources and compares the claim with them.
  4. You get the result: a verdict, a short explanation and links to the sources found. You can share it: the website and the bot give you a link to a page with the breakdown.

We use models from OpenAI, Anthropic and other companies. The set of models changes: new models come out, we test them and look for the best combination. We describe how we choose models in our articles (in Russian).

How to Read the Verdict

  • TRUE: Reliable sources consistently confirm the substance of the claim.
  • FALSE: Reliable sources contradict the substance of the claim.
  • MIXED: Some substantive parts of the claim are confirmed while others are refuted; or the facts are true on their own but are presented so that they lead to a false overall conclusion; or reliable sources directly and substantially disagree.
  • INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE: No reliable information on the substance of the claim was found (for example, the fact is too narrow, local or recent), or the claim cannot be checked against facts at all. This does not mean the claim is false.

Even a TRUE verdict can come with caveats, so read the explanation and open the sources.

Limitations

  • Results depend on availability of reliable sources
  • Recent events may not have sufficient verification sources yet
  • Only up to three main claims are checked from a longer text
  • Complex or nuanced claims may require human judgment
  • The service helps you draw conclusions; it does not replace your own judgment

Privacy

The text you submit is processed to extract and check claims. Anyone with the link can open the result page. It shows the claims and the breakdown; your original text is not shown as such, but a short message may end up in a claim in full. See the privacy policy for details.

Try It

Send a claim you recently came across online on the home page, in the Telegram bot or with the Chrome extension: select text on a page, right-click and choose "Fact-check this text".

Questions or Feedback? Factbutcher is an experimental tool. If a verdict looks wrong to you, rate the result right below it or write to us at support@factbutcher.com.