verify-claims

Verify claims and information using professional fact-checking services. Use this skill when users want to verify facts, check claims in articles/videos/transcripts, validate news authenticity, cross-reference information with trusted fact-checkers, or investigate potentially false or misleading content. Triggers include requests to "fact check", "verify this", "is this true", "check if this is accurate", or when users share content they want validated against misinformation.

# Fact-Checking Skill

Verify claims and information using professional fact-checking services from around the world.

## Core Principles

1. **Multiple sources** - Cross-reference findings from several fact-checking organizations
2. **Regional relevance** - Prioritize fact-checkers appropriate to the content's context
3. **Language matching** - Use fact-checkers in the native language of the content when possible
4. **Credible sources only** - Never use fraudulent or unreliable fact-checking services
5. **Balanced presentation** - Present both confirming and contradicting findings fairly

---

## When to Use This Skill

Trigger this skill when the user:
- Explicitly asks to fact-check, verify, or validate information
- Shares an article, video transcript, or claim and asks "is this true?"
- Wants to check if something is misinformation or a hoax
- Asks about the credibility of specific claims or statements
- Requests verification of news, social media posts, or viral content
- Wants to cross-reference information with trusted sources

Do NOT trigger for:
- General research or information gathering (use web search instead)
- Checking grammar, spelling, or writing quality
- Verifying code functionality or technical documentation
- Questions about opinions rather than factual claims

---

## Workflow

### Step 1: Understand the Content

Before beginning verification, analyze what needs to be checked:

1. **Identify specific claims** - Extract concrete, verifiable statements from the content
2. **Note the context** - Identify:
   - Geographic references (countries, regions, cities)
   - Named individuals (politicians, public figures, organizations)
   - Languages used in the content
   - Time period or dates mentioned
   - Subject matter (politics, health, science, etc.)
3. **Determine user context**:
   - User's native language (for selecting appropriate fact-checkers)
   - User's location if relevant

**Example Analysis:**
- Content: "Video claiming vaccines cause autism, mentions Andrew Wakefield, references UK study"
- Claims to verify: Vaccine-autism link, Wakefield's research
- Context: Medical/health topic, UK origin, English language
- Key entities: Andrew Wakefield, MMR vaccine, UK medical establishment

### Step 2: Select Fact-Checking Services

**CRITICAL**: Begin by fetching the current list of fact-checking services:

```
Fetch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fact-checking_websites
```

From this list, select 3-7 relevant fact-checking services based on:

#### Selection Criteria

1. **User's language/location** - Always include fact-checkers in the user's native language
   
2. **Content language/location** - If different from user's language, also include fact-checkers in the content's language and region

3. **Geographic relevance** - If content mentions specific countries/regions:
   - Include fact-checkers from those countries
   - Example: Content about French politics → include French fact-checkers

4. **Subject matter specialists** - Some fact-checkers specialize:
   - Health/medical claims → Health Feedback, Science Feedback
   - Politics → country-specific political fact-checkers
   - General → Snopes, FactCheck.org, Full Fact

5. **Person-specific** - If content focuses on specific public figures:
   - Include fact-checkers from their home countries
   - Example: Claims about a US politician → include US fact-checkers

#### Exclusion Rule

**NEVER use services listed under "Fraudulent fact-checking websites"** on the Wikipedia page, regardless of how well they match other criteria.

#### Prioritization

When you must limit selections:
- Prioritize: User's language > Content's language > Geographic relevance
- Prefer well-established services (FactCheck.org, Snopes, Full Fact, AFP Fact Check, etc.)
- Include at least one international/general service

**Example Selection:**
- User: Polish speaker
- Content: English article about US vaccines
- Selected services:
  1. Demagog.pl (Polish, for user)
  2. FactCheck.org (US, for content geography)
  3. Snopes (US, general/medical)
  4. Health Feedback (health specialist)
  5. Full Fact (UK, English-speaking, general)

### Step 3: Search Each Fact-Checking Service

For each selected service, conduct targeted searches:

#### Search Strategy

1. **Extract 2-4 search terms** from the content:
   - Key person names
   - Main topics/subjects
   - Specific claims or events
   - Important keywords

2. **Translate terms** to the fact-checker's native language if needed

3. **Construct search queries** using DuckDuckGo with site operator:
   ```
   Format: site:domain.com [search terms in appropriate language]
   
   Examples:
   - site:fullfact.org vaccines autism
   - site:demagog.org.pl szczepionki autyzm
   - site:factcheck.org Andrew Wakefield MMR
   - site:healthfeedback.org vaccine safety
   ```

4. **Execute 1-3 searches per fact-checker** (depending on content complexity)

#### Search Best Practices

- Keep queries concise (2-4 words typically)
- Start broad, then narrow if needed
- Don't repeat very similar queries
- If first search yields good results, proceed to analysis
- If first search yields poor results, try alternative terms

### Step 4: Analyze Search Results

For each fact-checking service:

1. **Review search results** - Examine the first 5-10 results from each search

2. **Select relevant articles** - Choose articles where:
   - Headline directly addresses the claim being verified
   - Content appears substantial (not just brief mentions)
   - Publication date is relevant (recent for ongoing issues, any date for historical debunks)

3. **Fetch and read articles** - Use `web_fetch` to retrieve the full text of 2-4 most relevant articles per fact-checker

4. **Extract key findings** for each article:
   - **Verdict** - What did the fact-checker conclude? (True, False, Misleading, Mixed, Unproven, etc.)
   - **Evidence** - What evidence did they cite?
   - **Context** - Any important nuance or context
   - **Relevance** - How directly does this address the user's claim?

### Step 5: Synthesize and Present Results

Organize findings into a clear, user-friendly format:

#### Handle Fresh Content First

Before presenting results, check if the content is very recent (3 days old or less):

1. **If fact-checks found**: Proceed normally with presentation
2. **If no fact-checks found AND content is ≤3 days old**:
   - Note that the content is too fresh for fact-checkers to have covered it yet
   - **If task scheduling is available**: 
     - Schedule a follow-up fact-check for 3 days from now
     - Inform user: "I've scheduled a follow-up check for [date]. I'll notify you if fact-checkers have published verification by then."
   - **If task scheduling is NOT available**:
     - Suggest: "This content is very recent (published [date]). Fact-checkers typically need a few days to verify claims. I recommend checking back in 3 days for updated verification."
   - Offer preliminary analysis using general web search
   - Proceed with any available information from general sources

3. **If no fact-checks found AND content is older**:
   - Note that fact-checkers haven't specifically covered this
   - Offer general web research instead

#### Structure Your Response

1. **Opening summary** (2-3 sentences)
   - Overall consensus from fact-checkers
   - Brief answer to the user's question

2. **Key findings by claim** (if multiple claims)
   - Group related findings together
   - Present contradicting evidence if it exists

3. **Detailed evidence** (organized by fact-checker or by claim)
   - Include specific verdicts
   - Cite evidence fact-checkers used
   - Note any disagreements between fact-checkers

4. **Important context** (if relevant)
   - Historical background
   - Why the claim persists
   - Common misconceptions

5. **Source citations**
   - Provide direct links to all fact-checking articles referenced
   - Format: `[Fact-Checker Name]: Article Title (Date if available) - [URL