About
About FactUnion
FactUnion checks podcast episodes against published sources, before they are published, and shows every result with its sources and the second it was said.
How we stay fair
Studios pay us to check their episodes. These are the rules we hold ourselves to.
- The price never depends on the result. A low score is never refunded or discounted. A high score costs the same.
- No person sets a result. Published rules decide. Staff can never change a result. Every staff action is logged and counted on the transparency page.
- One rulebook for everyone. The same rules, sources and bar apply to every episode.
- Blind reading. The software that reads the sources never sees the show name, the audience size or the title.
- Nothing is quietly hidden. Single checks and single claims can never be hidden or rewritten. A later check becomes public 72 hours after it finishes, or sooner if the owner chooses. The owner can take the whole page down; the score history, including those later checks, then stays public.
- Our related company gets no favors. The shows on this site, made by WovenPod, will be customer number one. Once FactUnion Verify opens, every episode will go through it like anyone else's. They will pay the list price, through the same software.
Our terms do not allow checks paid for by political parties, campaigns or governments.
The lines every public page shows
Every public page says how the creator is connected to FactUnion, even when there is no connection, and who paid for the check.
| Connection | The line on the page |
|---|---|
| None | Relationship: None. |
| Shares an owner | Made by a company that shares an owner with FactUnion. |
| Sponsors FactUnion | This creator's company sponsors FactUnion shows. |
| Paid by FactUnion | FactUnion pays this creator (advertising or partnership). |
| Investor | This creator or their company has invested in FactUnion. |
| Staff | Made by a person who works for FactUnion. |
- "This check was paid for by the creator. The price does not depend on the result."
- "This check used the free first 30 minutes."
- "FactUnion runs this check at the list price, like any customer. The price does not depend on the result."
A private report on someone else's episode shows neither line, because it is never published.
The shows still on this site
The story podcasts on this site are made by WovenPod, our sister company, and move to WovenPod's own site soon.
FactUnion Verified
Their episodes with a fact sheet carry the FactUnion Verified label, and list every fact with its sources.
Their first 14 episodes were fact-checked after release. Where a fact was wrong, it was fixed in the audio.
The shows are performed by synthetic voices. What FactUnion Verified means on these shows.
Every show is supported by a company, named on the show page (today: ShotBreak, SagaSeal, STELQ and Lynqly). Each episode has one clearly marked sponsor message.
When a fact in an episode is wrong and nobody can have heard the episode yet, the audio is fixed. When people may have heard it, a correction is also published on the episode page and on the corrections page. See the corrections page, or write to corrections@factunion.com.
Listening here
No account needed. The shows you follow and where you stopped are saved in your own browser, not on our servers. Every show also has a podcast link for your podcast app.