Reporters’ Lab discontinues FactStream app

Fact-checking app will cease updating at the end of 2024

By Erica Ryan - December 3, 2024

After six years of showcasing the work of U.S. fact-checkers, the FactStream app will cease updating as of December 31, 2024. The Duke Reporters’ Lab has decided to discontinue the iOS app because of a lack of resources to maintain it.

More than 56,000 people have downloaded the free app since its launch in 2018. FactStream aggregated the work of PolitiFact, FactCheck.org and The Washington Post to provide a one-stop source for fact-checking of U.S. political figures and social media posts.

Originally conceived as a platform for real-time fact-checking of live events like political debates, the app was transformed into a daily resource for users at the suggestion of Eugene Kiely of FactCheck.org. The app was built by Reporters’ Lab lead technologist Christopher Guess and the Durham, N.C., design firm Registered Creative.

The FactStream app was one of the many uses of ClaimReview, a tagging system created by the Reporters’ Lab in partnership with Google and the fact-checking community. FactStream users can continue to follow a feed of fact-checks from around the world using ClaimReview by checking out Google’s Fact Check Explorer.

We also encourage FactStream users to follow PolitiFact, FactCheck.org and The Washington Post’s Fact Checker using their own websites and social media feeds.