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“We identified and stopped $50m being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas. They used them as a method of making bombs. How about that?”—Donald Trump

In the early 2000s independent fact checking emerged as a response to the spread and distribution of information on the internet. There was an increased need for establishing the veracity of claims, sometimes in real-time. In practice making sure “we’re getting this right” has been employed for millennia, but in current political environments verifying facts has become an entire industry. Misinformation, the spread of inaccurate information, and disinformation, the intentional and malicious distribution of lies have serious consequences have created significant threats.

One example: On December 4, 2016, there was a shooting at Comet Ping Pong a Washington D.C. pizza place—filled with families—because the shooter believed a series of tweets claiming it was the........

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