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Facts are the foundation of democracy and journalism. Who maintains them when Big Tech pulls back?

Author: Robert Schaub (Founder and Lead Developer, FactHarbor.ch) Date: 1 April 2026 Published on: LinkedIn Deutsche Version: LinkedIn April 2026 DE

Editor's note (June 2026): The published post describes the AI debate as "different providers argue for and against each claim." To be precise: the debate is Claude-led (Anthropic), and a model from a second provider (OpenAI) acts as an independent challenger on every claim. The original text is preserved below as published.

Some people believe bold claims with little evidence. Others step back entirely: "I don't read the news anymore. I can't trust anything."

Both reactions are understandable. When reasoning is hidden, and sources lack transparency, trust erodes. And the infrastructure that was supposed to help is shrinking — Meta exited the Third-Party Fact-Checking Program, Google reduced ClaimReview visibility, and fact-checking organizations lost significant platform funding.

The problem isn't that people don't care about truth — it's that the structure behind information is invisible.

That's why I've been building FactHarbor — full-time, since November 2025.

FactHarbor is an open-source tool for automated fact-checking. Submit any claim or article — the system extracts verifiable statements, searches supporting and opposing evidence across the web and academic databases, scores every source for credibility, and runs a structured AI debate where different providers argue for and against each claim.

This is not just asking ChatGPT a question. AI follows tightly prescribed workflows and structured data contracts. Only evidence-backed objections can change a verdict. Every conclusion links to cited evidence — so you can inspect the reasoning and judge for yourself.

The result is not a single label, but a multi-perspective evidence landscape showing where a claim is well-supported, where it's contradicted, and where reasonable people may still disagree.

FactHarbor UI

app.FactHarbor.ch

FH UI

Verdict and Report

Verdict Plastic CA matrix

Where it stands

The system is in Alpha — fully operational end-to-end, not yet production-ready. Everything is open source, non-profit, and transparent.

What I'm looking for

  • Fact-checkers and newsrooms willing to test the tool and share feedback
  • Research partners for joint projects
  • Foundations and sponsors who believe independent fact-checking infrastructure matters

If you know someone in media, fact-checking, or research who should see this — I'd appreciate a tag or share to help get this in front of the right people.

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