Our 15th Anniversary

FactCheck.org turns 15 years old today.

Since our launch on Dec. 5, 2003, fact-checking political claims has become a worldwide phenomenon, with 162 fact-checking websites currently active, according to the Reporters’ Lab at Duke University. Journalists gather annually at “Global Fact-Checking Summits.”

There was very little fact-checking when we launched. I wrote at the time: “This is going to be a fun job — and somebody has to do it.” Now, lots of good journalists and several major news organizations are doing it, thank goodness. But the volume of misinformation is growing, too.

When we started, the internet itself was barely a dozen years old. The spread of false rumors and lies through viral emails was just starting to become a problem. Mark Zuckerberg was a Harvard sophomore, still a few weeks away from launching Facebook from his dorm room in February 2004. Twitter was something birds did.

Our coverage of by both Democrats and Republicans. Squarely calling out this misinformation attracted much more public attention than I had anticipated. I was interviewed by dozens of other journalists, and even made an appearance on NBC’s “Today Show.”