So, we know fake news and misinformation are wide-spread. People are now aware and worried that big social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, are seriously contaminated with inaccurate and unsubstantiated information. But where are all those fake news and misinformation coming from? Who is generating and spreading the falsehood? Who is monitoring online rumors and validating whether and why they are false? Knowing the usual suspects can help fight against the tsunami of online misinformation. Here, I start putting together the lists of fake news websites identified by major fact-checking organizations and news media.
Sources of misinformation
Lists of fake news websites on Grinberg et al.’s paper in Science (2019)
Polifact‘s fake news almanac: 327 websites (last updated: Nov. 2017)
Fackcheck.org‘s misinformation directory: 54 websites (last updated: Nov 2018)
Snopes‘ field guide to fake news sites (last updated in Nov 2016)
BuzzFeed‘s list of fake news sites: 168 websites (data collected in 2017)
NewsGuard‘s list of websites publishing false coronavirus information (116 websites with COVID19-related false claims in the US. Last updated on September 2020)
Wikipedia‘s list of fake news websites
Mediabiasfactcheck.com‘s “questionable sources”: 489 sites (as of July 15, 2020)
Fact-checking institutions
- Factcheck.org by the Annenberg Public Policy Center
- Snopes
- Polifact by the Poynter Institute
- Fact Checker by Washington Post
- AP Fact Check by AP News
- Fact check by AFP
- Climate Feedback
- Fack check by USA Today
- Polygraph.info by Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty
- The Dispatch Fact Check by the Dispatch
- Check Your Fact by the journalists from the Daily Caller
- Fact check by News Wise
- Fact check by Lead Stories
- Fact check by Misbar
(Illustration by Sarah Rieke.)