Fact-Checking Policy

The principle

Every factual claim Budgy App publishes is checked against a source before publication, and the story tells the reader what that source is. This applies to a sentence about an election result and equally to one about a transfer fee, a study’s sample size, a film’s opening weekend or a car’s recall. The desks use different material; the requirement is the same.

A claim we cannot check is either left out or labelled as unverified, and it is never promoted to fact by being repeated.

What counts as a source

Sources are ranked, and the rank decides how much weight a claim can carry. At the top are primary documents and direct observation: the official statement, the court filing, the results release and its tables, the specification sheet, the published paper and its data, the official box score, the recall notice, the product on our own desk. Next are on-the-record statements from people in a position to know, identified by name and role.

Below that are statements from spokespeople and press releases, which are useful for what an organisation claims but are not evidence that the claim is true. At the bottom are secondhand accounts, social media posts and anonymous claims, which can point us to a story but cannot carry one on their own. A single source is enough for a fact it is uniquely placed to know. A contested or consequential claim needs a second, independent source or a document, and two sources repeating the same release are one source.

World news and business

A world news story is checked against the official statement, the election return, the court record, the treaty text or the agency report as issued, not against a summary of it. Casualty figures, vote counts and economic statistics are reported with the body that issued them and the date, and provisional figures are labelled provisional. A business story is checked against the filing, the results release or the transcript, and where the three disagree the filing wins.

Results are checked for the period they cover and whether figures are reported or adjusted. Guidance is reported as guidance. A share price move is checked against the exchange record with the time and reference point stated. Central bank decisions are checked against the statement as issued.

Technology and science

A product claim is checked against the manufacturer’s own specification and documentation, and where it concerns performance, battery life or capacity, it is reported as the manufacturer’s claim until it has been independently measured by us or by a source we identify. Prices are checked against the seller’s listing in the country named, with the currency stated. A demonstration under company control is described as a demonstration.

A science story is checked against the paper, and we say whether it is peer reviewed, a preprint or a conference abstract, what its sample size was and what its authors said its limitations were. A correlation is not reported as a cause, and a single study is not reported as settled science.

Sports, entertainment and gaming

Results, statistics, standings and records are checked against the official league, federation or governing body record, and a result that is provisional or under review is labelled that way. Transfer and contract details are reported as confirmed by the clubs or the governing body, and an unconfirmed deal is reported as unconfirmed. Box office, streaming, chart and sales figures are reported with the source and the period they cover. Release dates are checked against the publisher or studio’s own announcement and are distinguished from pre-order dates and regional rollouts.

Lifestyle, travel and auto

Travel rules, entry requirements and advisories are checked against the government or carrier that issues them, with the date, because they change often. Fares and prices are reported as listed on the date we checked. Health and lifestyle claims are checked against the guidance or study they rest on, and advice is attributed to the qualified person who gave it. Auto specifications are checked against the manufacturer’s documentation, recalls against the regulator’s notice and safety ratings against the body that awarded them.

Numbers

Every number is checked twice: once against its source and once for arithmetic and context. Percentages are checked against the base they are drawn from, and a change is reported with both the old and the new figure. Currency figures are reported in the currency of the source, with a conversion only where it helps and with the date of the rate.

Millions and billions are checked separately, because a slipped order of magnitude is the error that travels furthest. A statistic that sounds remarkable is treated as probably wrong until confirmed, because remarkable numbers are disproportionately errors.

Quotations

Quotations are checked against the recording, the transcript or the written statement. Spoken quotes may have false starts and filler removed, but not meaning. Cuts inside a quotation are marked. A quote taken from a document is reproduced exactly.

Images

A photograph is checked for what it shows, when and where it was taken and who took it, before it is used. Images circulating on social media during a disaster, a match, a launch or a protest are not published until their origin is confirmed. Product images are checked against the shipping product where we have one. Where an image is not of the thing described, the caption says what it is.

Before publication

A second person reads every story before it goes out. Their job is to ask where each claim came from and whether the story shows it, whether the headline is supported, whether the people and organisations criticised were given a chance to respond and whether anything has been assumed rather than checked. Stories carrying serious allegations, naming private individuals or reporting on active legal matters get a further review. A story that cannot pass this stage waits.

After publication

Publication is not the end of checking. Readers, sources and subjects find things we missed, and the corrections policy explains how those reports are handled and how fast. Developing stories are re-checked as new material arrives, and where an earlier detail is superseded the update says so. The corrections log is reviewed for patterns, and rules on this page have been added because of what it showed.

What we ask of readers

If you know a story is wrong, tell us, with the link and the evidence, at support@budgyapp.com. If you know it is right but incomplete, tell us that too. A reader who was at the match, who works in the laboratory, who read the filing or who lives in the place we are writing about is doing the same work we do, and we would rather hear from you before publication than after.

Last updated: September 2026