Lead Stories

Built for speed on whatever is going viral right now. Lead Stories, launched in 2015, uses its own trend-spotting software, Trendolizer, to hunt for false stories, images and videos as they start trending, with the aim of checking them quickly. It is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network's code and publishes editions in several languages, from Spanish to Ukrainian. Be clear about the money. It says it is self-funded with no outside investors, but its income has included fees from Meta's and ByteDance's fact-checking contracts. Meta's ran from February 2019 to April 2025, and its co-founder said losing it would mean less revenue and fewer staff.