Claims Check

Overview

Claims Check is a claim-by-claim fact-check of a document. You paste the text, give a URL or upload a file; MentionFox finds every factual claim that can be checked, looks for evidence on each one, gives each a verdict with the source that settles it, and says why when a claim cannot be verified. It works on business documents (press releases, funding announcements, pitch decks, vendor marketing pages, CEO interviews) and on editorial, legal and academic ones (articles, books, legal briefs, patents, papers, contracts, screenplays).

Claims Check tests the CONTENT of a document. Its companion Source Vetter vets the PERSON being quoted (credibility, expertise, conflicts), and Source Check checks a claimed licence or role against the public registers. A piece can fail one and pass another; the passes are independent.

Claims Check Snapshot and Claims Check Full Report

Claims Check Snapshot (free)

• An overall verdict line: Mostly supported, Mixed, Not supported or Can't verify.
• The number of claims the document makes.
• Two claims, each with its verdict and one cited source.
• The rest locked, with counts: how many were already checked and how they came out, and how many are not checked yet.
• The Snapshot checks the most consequential claims first (a small sample), so its overall verdict is stated as resting on those.

Claims Check Full Report

• Every claim, its verdict and a confidence band.
• Evidence for and evidence against each claim, with citations.
• What could not be verified, and why.
• A timeline of the claims by the date or period each one refers to, and who made each claim.
• For editorial documents: missing citations, broken citation links, and suggested citations in your chosen style.

How the overall verdict is set. Opinions are left out. Mostly supported: at least three in four checked claims are supported or partly supported. Not supported: half or more are contested or contradicted by the evidence. Can't verify: half or more could not be settled either way. Mixed: anything in between.

The Frameworks We Adopt

KSJ Three-Model Fact-Checking Framework

The Knight Science Journalism program at MIT describes three fact-checking models: Newspaper (deadline-driven, single pass), Hybrid (a first pass with flagged claims reviewed by people) and Magazine (every claim confirmed before publication). Our Full Report depths take their names from these models. The checking is done by MentionFox; the people-side steps of Hybrid and Magazine belong to your editor, and the report flags exactly which claims need them. There are no MentionFox reviewers in the loop.

ICD 203 Analytic Standards (Office of the Director of National Intelligence)

Directive 203 sets nine tradecraft standards for any analytic product. We apply them to every Claims Check verdict, in particular: properly described sources, proper expression of uncertainty, and the distinction between assumption and judgment.

UK PHIA Probability Yardstick

Every verdict carries a confidence band (Low / Moderate / High). When the evidence is mixed, the explanation expresses the uncertainty on the seven-band yardstick (remote chance to almost certain) rather than collapsing it into yes or no.

ALCOA Data Integrity (FDA)

Every record is Attributable (per account), Legible, Contemporaneous (timestamped), Original (the cited link is kept) and Accurate (each explanation points at specific evidence).

Source Class Tagging (ICD 206)

Every cited source is classed (Primary / Authoritative Secondary / Tier-1 Press / Trade Press / Other) and marked as supporting, contradicting or giving context, so a reader can see which verdicts rest on primary evidence.

Citation-Style Standards

Suggested citations are formatted in the styles you choose: APA 7th, MLA 9th, Chicago 17th, Bluebook 21st (legal), AMA 11th (medical).

Full Report Depths: Newspaper / Hybrid / Magazine

Who does what. MentionFox finds and checks the claims and cites the evidence. Calling a subject, asking an author for a source, or signing a piece off stays with your team; the Hybrid and Magazine depths mark which claims need that step.

Claim Checking: How It Works

1. Finding the claims. MentionFox reads the document and lists up to 80 claims that can be checked: specific facts (a date, number, name, event or quote), scientific findings, historical statements, legal or regulatory statements, attributions ("X said Y"), and in business documents the figures, customers, investors, rankings and "first / largest" statements. Opinions, forecasts, definitions, common knowledge and creative passages are left out. Each claim records who makes it and the date or period it refers to.
2. Citations already in the document. If the document cites a footnote, endnote or link, that citation is kept with the claim and its link is checked.
3. Evidence for each claim. MentionFox looks for evidence on every claim, preferring primary sources: filings, official statistics, the organisations named, peer-reviewed journals and reputable reporting.
4. A verdict for each claim. Supported, Partly supported, Contested, Not supported, Can't verify, Missing citation, Broken citation link, or Not a factual claim, with a confidence band and a short explanation that points at the evidence. Company claims come in two kinds. Events outsiders can observe (a funding round's size, valuation and investors, a launch, an acquisition, an office opening) are supported when established news organisations report them or another named party confirms them. Internal figures only the company can know (revenue, growth rates, margins, customer counts) are marked Can't verify when the only support is the company's own statements or reports repeating them, and the explanation says so; a figure in a regulatory filing is supported. Quotations are checked as quotations: whether the person said it.
5. No invented sources. A cited source is either one that was found for the claim or a well-known primary source. When nothing settles a claim, the report says Can't verify and why, rather than guessing.

Citation Finder

For editorial, legal and academic documents, Citation Finder turns verdicts into references you can paste:

1. Source identification. The best primary source for each claim that needs one.
2. Link check. The document's own citation links are opened; ones that no longer open are flagged as broken citation links.
3. Formatting. The suggested citation in every style you selected:
   • APA 7th: psychology and social sciences.
   • MLA 9th: humanities.
   • Chicago 17th: Author-Date and Notes-Bibliography; history.
   • Bluebook 21st: U.S. legal briefs.
   • AMA 11th: medical and clinical journals.

Business documents normally carry no footnotes, so for them the report judges each claim itself and does not mark "missing citation".

Per-Document-Type Frameworks

Honest Limits

What Claims Check does

• Checks every claim in a document and cites the evidence for each verdict.
• Says what could not be verified, and why.
• Finds missing citations and broken citation links in editorial documents, and formats suggested citations.
• Publishes its method: this page.

What it does not do

• It does not read paywalled databases or subscription-only archives.
• It does not call people. Where a claim needs a call to confirm, the report flags it and your team makes the call.
• It cannot confirm a number only the company holds (an unpublished revenue figure, a private customer count). Those are marked Can't verify with that reason.
• It does not judge forecasts, plans or opinions.
• It does not give legal or medical advice. Bluebook and AMA citation accuracy is checked; legal argument and clinical recommendations are not evaluated.
• It does not guarantee a cited link stays live. The report shows the date it was made.

Corrections

If you believe a verdict is wrong, write to corrections@mentionfox.com with the report link and the evidence. The author or company whose document was checked may send a short factual rebuttal the same way. A report is point-in-time: if new evidence settles a claim, run the check again for a dated new report.