Fact-check an article
Check names, numbers and claims before publishing.
Editorial · Media and publishing · When you ask · Updated
Works with
- Slack
SlackHow do you fact-check an article?
To fact-check an article, share the draft link and the time it publishes. Maito lists every claim, checks each against public data, records and coverage, marks which hold up, which are wrong and which it can't support, finds the original source of any number, and suggests corrections as comments.
How it's done today
Fact-checking is skipped under deadline.
What Maito does
- Pull every factual claim
- Check each against sources
- Flag what can't be confirmed
Example
@Maito Fact-check the draft in our Rent hikes piece before it goes up at 6. Link is in the thread.
I checked 24 claims. 21 hold up, 3 need you. Wrong • "Median rent rose 18%": the city data shows 11.4% (Q2 2025 to Q2 2026). 18% is the figure for one-bedrooms only. • "Four wards": the council list names five. Unsupported • The quote from Councilmember Oyelaran, "landlords are ignoring the cap". I can't find it in the Sept 17 meeting transcript or anywhere else online. Catch: your 18% matches a landlord group's press release, not the city's report. Sources: city housing report, council records, public press coverage. Suggested corrections are in the draft as comments. Do you want me to ask Oyelaran's office to confirm the quote?
Gabe (4:12 PM):
Fact-check the draft in our Rent hikes piece before it goes up at 6. Link is in the thread.
Maito (4:19 PM):
I checked 24 claims. 21 hold up, 3 need you.
Wrong
• "Median rent rose 18%": the city data shows 11.4% (Q2 2025 to Q2 2026). 18% is the figure for one-bedrooms only.
• "Four wards": the council list names five.
Unsupported
• The quote from Councilmember Oyelaran, "landlords are ignoring the cap". I can't find it in the Sept 17 meeting transcript or anywhere else online.
Catch: your 18% matches a landlord group's press release, not the city's report.
Sources: city housing report, council records, public press coverage. Suggested corrections are in the draft as comments. Do you want me to ask Oyelaran's office to confirm the quote?
How to set it up
- Set up
Nothing to set up. Ask in Slack or by email whenever you need it.
What it won't do
It can't reach private records or confirm a quote nobody published. An editor makes the final call on every correction.
Questions
The web: public data, official records and coverage. It cites what it used, so your editor can verify it.
It suggests corrections as comments and leaves the text for your editors.
It can look for the quote in public records. It will offer to email the source's office to confirm, and only does if you say so.
