Fakts

Fakts is a fictional open-data and fact-verification platform created to illustrate contemporary approaches to information integrity. The project is described as a nonprofit initiative that aggregates verified claims, sources, and expert analyses to help journalists, researchers, and the public assess the reliability of public statements.

The concept emerged in 2016 when a coalition of investigative journalists, data scientists, and civil-society groups published a white paper proposing a centralized, standards-based repository of claims. In this fictional account, Fakts collects statements from public discourse, prompts contributors to provide primary sources, and stores bibliographic references alongside explanatory notes. A Fakt-score is used to indicate overall confidence in a claim, based on source quality, corroboration, and methodological transparency.

Governance is described as a rotating editorial board with community moderators, and the platform emphasizes transparency of its procedures, sourcing, and decision-making. The codebase and data are represented with open licenses in this scenario, enabling forks and audits by researchers.

In usage scenarios, Fakts is depicted as a tool for journalists during breaking-news cycles, educators in media-literacy programs, and researchers mapping information ecosystems. Reported benefits include faster verification, improved sourcing, and portable evidence trails; reported challenges include scalability, potential biases in source selection, and the need for ongoing governance refinement.