Reliability Research

Tools and datasets for identifying unreliable news sources, for researchers, reporters, and readers.

Tools for mis/disinfo research

Latest reliability reports

1802 caricature of Jenner vaccinating patients who feared it would make them sprout cowlike appendages (painting: James Gillray)

Consider the Source

Anatomy of an anti-vax fact-check: Consider the Source, Check the Site, Confirm the Content. Who made the claim, who published it, where’s the evidence?

MSM and fake news

Breaking News: Do Mail-in Ballots Cause COVID?

Mainstream media spreads fake news

Mainstream media contributes significantly to the infectious spread of conspiracy fantasies. But it could also hold the cure.

Facebook thumbs down, with label: Fake

(Assume) Everything on Social Media Is Wrong

Social media’s malgorithms spread lies and hate. The platforms are unwilling and probably unable to change.

Fantasy illustration of pizzagate conspiracy, by David Dees

The United States of Conspiracy

Americans will believe almost anything. Two decades of polling prove that. No matter how insane the claim, at least 10% and up to 40% of people will say it’s true.

Faroese fishing hooks (1898): Snatch hook and Cod hook with tin bait

Mainstream media funds fake news

When debunkers link to fake-news stories, they do more harm than good. There’s a right way and wrong way to cite unreliable sources. Most publishers use the latter.

Pandemic and party

USA Map, states colored by vaccination percentage (2021-06)

Vax vs. Vote

A side-by-side, state-by-state comparison showing vaccination rates closely correlated with Biden-vote percentages.

Mask-wearing citizens in Mill Valley California (1918-11-03), one with a reading 'Wear a mask or go to jail.'

Congress’ COVID-Positive Party

When debunkers link to fake-news stories, they do more harm than good. There’s a right way and wrong way to cite unreliable sources. Most publishers use the latter.

PolitiFact-check scores

William Jennings Bryan campaign poster, "Shall the People Rule?" (circa 1900)

PolitiFact: Voters Face Facts

Using PolitiFact-checks, we can compare the credibility of candidates and determine, from past elections, if voters tend to pick the more truthful candidate.

William Jennings Bryan campaign poster, "Shall the People Rule?" (circa 1900)

PolitiFact: All the Presidents’ Peeps

Part two of the series that turns PolitiFact-checks into credibility scores, calculates the truth ratings of people in the past three presidential administrations.

William Jennings Bryan campaign poster, "Shall the People Rule?" (circa 1900)

PolitiFact: Pols, Pundits, and Pant Fires

This last of a three-parter compares the PolitiFact credibility of groups making political claims. The most truthful: comedians. The least: social media.dential administrations.

Ghostbusters slime ghost in pink, with newspapers in its belly

Your State’s Been Pink-Slimed

Tracking cross-country plink-slime sites that masquerade as local news, with an interactive USA map and a Slime by State table.

Bullshit meter (parody of audio volume meter)

Bias vs. B.S.

Bias doesn’t get a publisher into Iffy.news, only bullshit does. Iffy is blind to bias. However, when bias becomes B.S., data can help determine which direction bias most often turns.

Adtech is bad tech

Big brand ads next to COVID conspiracy articles on fake-news sites

Who Funds Fake News?

Fake news is a for-profit business, funded mostly by advertising, with revenue flowing from the biggest brands and adtech agencies into the coffers of clickbait, hate, and mis/disinfo sites.

Bloomberg News ad on fake-news Gateway Pundit article

Brands Behaving Badly

Millions in ad dollars are helping spread COVID conspiracies, mostly without the advertiser’s knowledge.

Iffy Index of Unreliable Sources

Misinformation thrives online, propped up by advertising dollars, political donations, and social media shares.

In scores of studies, researchers have tried to figure out how falsehoods spread. Their research often relies on lists of fake-news sources. However, those lists are out-of-date and full of 404s.

Better data means better results, for researchers, reporters, and readers. So I’ve built a better dataset:

The Iffy Index of Unreliable Sources is a resource for researchers needing a database of untrustworthy online sources, based on factual-reporting ratings by Media Bias/Fact Check, the professional news/info website reviewer.

Most-visited unreliable sources

The full Iffy Index has data on 1,300+ sites that regularly publish unreliable information, including clickbait, fake news, and unproven allegations. The table below lists the Iffy sites with the most web traffic (by Alexa Global Rank).

Loading table: Most-Visited Unreliable Sources…

The Iffy.news Index has details on each domain and the methodology used to interpret the data. To assess the credibility of a particular site or story, try the Fact-check Search tool.

Media Bias/Fact Check factual-reporting level
MBFC factual-reporting level