— Misinfo Monday is a weekly series by Mozilla where we give you the tools, tips and tricks needed to cut the crap and find the truth. For more, check back weekly on our blog or on our Instagram. —

If you’ve been reading Misinfo Monday, you know that misinformation and disinformation is often written to manipulate your emotions. That’s because you’re far more likely to share and spread content that elicits a strong response.

So, you’ve just seen a story online or in a group chat that made you feel angry, sad or surprised and you want to see if it’s true before you share it? Good call. But where should you look? Here are some free sites that do the fact-checking for you.

• Factcheck.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for U.S. voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.
  • ✅ Search for existing fact check
  • ✅ Request a fact check
  • Useful for: U.S. Election news

• PolitiFact is run by journalists focused on looking at specific statements made by politicians and rating them for accuracy. It is owned by the nonprofit Poynter Institute for Media Studies.
  • ✅ Search for existing fact check
  • ✅ Request a fact check
  • Useful for: Statements from U.S. politicians

• Snopes is the original fact-checking website. Started in 1994 to investigate urban legends, hoaxes, and folklore, it now covers just about every kind of misinformation, and provides evidence-based and contextualized analysis.
  • ✅ Search for existing fact check
  • ✅ Request a fact check
  • Useful for: All kinds of stories on the web, not just political

• Fact Check Review from Real Clear Politics reviews fact-checking outlets each week on topics relating to civic and public concern in the U.S.
  • ✅ Search for existing fact check
  • ❌ Request a fact check
  • Useful for: Fact checking your fact checks. Meta.

• Fact Check Explorer from Google allows you to easily browse and search for fact checks. It aims to facilitate the work of fact checkers, journalists and researchers. Note that Google does not endorse or create any of these fact checks.
  • ✅ Search for existing fact check
  • ❌ Request a fact check
  • Especially useful for: searching and comparing lots of different fact checking resources.

• Full Fact is the UK's independent fact checking organization and a registered charity.
  • ✅ Search for existing fact check
  • ❌ Request a fact check
  • Useful for: Researching viral Facebook posts, UK and global politics

• AP Fact Check is fact-checking and accountability journalism from AP journalists around the globe.
  • ❌ Search for existing fact check
  • ❌ Request a fact check
  • Useful for: Fact-checks about global news topics

• NY Times Fact Checks are fact checks researched and written by the New York Times
  • ✅ Search for existing fact check
  • ❌ Request a fact check (they do take suggestions via email and Twitter)
  • Useful for: Fact checks about US news and politics

• BBC Reality Check Fact checking journalism resource from the BBC in the UK.
  • ❌ Search for existing fact check
  • ❌ Request a fact check
  • Useful for: Well written fact-checks about important UK and global news topics

Note that while fact checking sites are an important tool in protecting yourself online, it's wise to do a bit of due diligence, especially on lesser-known sites. For example, who's funding them? Do they have any political affiliations or leanings? Do they fundamentally ascribe to a certain world view? All of these things may impact how they fact check.

Want to share a fact checking site with us? Leave it in the comments below.