⚙️ How FactRefinery Works

Source Collection

Every hour, the aggregator fetches articles from over 100 outlets spanning the full political spectrum and every major topic category.

Semantic Deduplication

The AI compares headlines and article content to identify stories that cover the same event across multiple outlets. Duplicates are merged into a single FactRefinery article — all original sources are preserved and cited.

Example: If BBC, Fox News, and CNN all report the same development, they become one article with all three sources listed and individually attributed.

Bias Stripping

The AI reads all available versions of a story and extracts only the overlapping, verifiable facts — the elements every source agrees on. The following are removed or flagged:

• Loaded adjectives — words that imply judgment without stating facts ("controversial," "radical," "chaotic")
• Editorial framing — asymmetric "critics say / supporters argue" constructs
• Unnamed sourcing — "a senior official said" is removed unless corroborated by an identified source
• Speculation presented as news — language like "could," "may," or "might" is either removed or explicitly labeled as speculation

Bias stripping applies to all categories — not just politics. Sports, tech, entertainment, and business coverage carry ideological framing too. FactRefinery strips it across the board.

Source Distillation

Instead of a single trust score, every article shows how many independent sources it was distilled from — and whether left, center, and right outlets covered the story. The more perspectives behind an article, the more complete the picture.

Article Generation

The AI writes a neutral summary using only the stripped facts. The model is instructed to:

• Include only facts confirmed by two or more independent sources
• Preserve direct quotes when available, attributed to the original speaker
• Identify which outlet reported which specific detail
• Clearly label any speculation or unverified claims
• Use no opinion, framing, or editorial language of any kind

The output reads as if the story has no political dimension whatsoever — because facts don't have a side.

Source Labeling

Every article lists its original sources with political lean labels. These labels are derived from a composite of third-party media bias tracking services and updated periodically. We don't claim they are the final word — you can verify and disagree.

Note: Bias labels are a starting point, not a verdict. Outlets like BBC carry institutional lean not always captured by third-party trackers. We display labels so you can factor them in — not so you'll take them at face value. The raw sources are always linked so you can judge for yourself.

What We Do and Don't Do