Factcheck Request
Dataforgood
27 April 2021
How it works - Fact Checking
Fact Checking is a service provided by Data For Good, whereby various stakeholders (consumers, governments and Organizations) can request an independent (3rd party) verification of claims made for any given product, brand and/or service, by producers, brands and other types of Organizations, through our Fact Checking service, we enable a bottom up, self regulated and verified system which aims to signal and eventually, minimize, false claims
In fact, a Fact Check is simply a request for proof that the claims made about a product are true. By enabling a real and transparent exchange between civil society, companies and governments, we aim to give back the power to the people.
Our Process
All products that have been Fact Checked are published on our website alongside their results. If agents wish to find out more about a specific product, brand and/or service that has not yet been Fact Checked, they can also request a Fact Check for free after registering on our website.
The Fact Check request is received by the internal Data For Good Fact Check team, the Organization being Fact Checked is notified and the request is then sent to the external Fact Checkers. Once the request is received by the relevant external Fact Checkers (laboratory, auditing firm…), they fill in a questionnaire (Appendix xx) which will subsequently indicate how truthful the claims being Fact Checked are (on a scale from 0 to 100%). Additionally, they will indicate where and how a claim is misleading and/or false and provide alternatives to the product, brand and/or service if the Fact Check receives a score lower than 85%.
Who are the external Fact Checkers?
To ensure that we remain transparent, free of influence and thorough, Data for Good has an independent network of Fact Checkers that execute the Fact Check requests. Independent Fact Checkers include:
• Laboratories: TLR
• Certification Bodies
• Accountants
What if your company or product is being Fact Checked?
The organizations’ whose products are being Fact Checked are informed and are given the opportunity to provide textual explanations and/or submit evidence to prove that their claims are truthful.
The textual explanations and/or burden of proof are received and validated, but we note that they are only there to complement and assist our independent verification process. In fact, with or without textual explanations and/or a burden of proof, the product, brand and/or service will be verified. We, however, wish to give the opportunity to the organizations being Fact Checked to interact with this process.
Independency of the Fact Checkers
The Fact Checking service does not implement a direct commercial policy. In fact, the service is financed by donations made by organizations, governments and/or private citizens. The service is thus dependent on voluntary donations that are kept in our Foundation. The principle is quite simple: if there is money in the pot, Fact Checks can be processed and executed. In this way we guarantee a self-regulated and independent system.
This guarantees that the service can be provided for free and that it is exempt from external influence. Data For Good is only responsible for running the service as it does not profit from it.