Polygraph.info

{{notability|1=Web|date=February 2024}}

{{Short description|Fact-checking website}}

{{Infobox website

| name = Polygraph.info

| logo = Polygraph.info logo.png

| url = {{URL|https://www.voanews.com/fact-checks}}

| commercial = No

| type = Fact-checking

| language = English

| programming_language = HTML, JavaScript

| owner = Voice of America

| founder = Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

| editor = Fatima Tlisova

| launch_date = {{Start date and age|df=yes|2016|12|6}}

| current_status = Active

}}

Polygraph.info is a fact-checking website{{Cite web |last1=Marcoux |first1=Thomas |last2=Mead |first2=Esther |last3=Agarwal |first3=Nitin |year=2020 |title=Studying the Dynamics of COVID-19 Misinformation Themes |url=https://www.cmu.edu/ideas-social-cybersecurity/events/conference-archive/2020papers/covid_paper.pdf |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=Carnegie Mellon University |page=2}} produced by Voice of America (VoA).{{cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-leaked-audio-humiliating-defeat-by-us-forces-2018-2?r=US&IR=T|title='They beat our a--es': Russian mercenaries talk about humiliating defeat by US in reportedly leaked audio|website=Business Insider|author=Alex Lockie|date=26 February 2018|access-date=1 April 2018|archive-date=11 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411174228/http://uk.businessinsider.com/russia-leaked-audio-humiliating-defeat-by-us-forces-2018-2?r=US&IR=T|url-status=live}} Among many subjects, the website documents Russian disinformation and state-backed propaganda by the Chinese government.{{cite journal|author=Cull, N.J.|url=http://rdcu.be/KlWO|title=Engaging foreign publics in the age of Trump and Putin: Three implications of 2016 for public diplomacy|journal=Place Branding and Public Diplomacy|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|year=2016|editor1=R. Govers|volume=12|pages=244|doi=10.1057/s41254-016-0052-4|editor2=N. Cull|issue=4|s2cid=256514762 |access-date=2018-04-01|archive-date=2022-08-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809231456/https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1057/s41254-016-0052-4?shared_access_token=jPuZVFJgVj9eG-tBC9d7uFxOt48VBPO10Uv7D6sAgHskt4UPJFkapW-Gu8al0_kgc4DlGhG9c2IDeyMAzfulkS3J9AtNgnTNY_RWeSvgGBtmJ3Rx0oZP_PanUjdQgETAqDN1qw7XOpJzdTIzuh0aKZgctx8O6iDCTy3CqzVAewo=|url-status=live}}

The site launched on December 6, 2016.{{Cite web|date=2016-12-06|title=Polygraph.info to speak truth to disinformation|url=https://www.usagm.gov/2016/12/06/polygraph-info-speak-truth-disinformation/|access-date=2021-07-01|website=U.S. Agency for Global Media|archive-date=2021-07-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709183359/https://www.usagm.gov/2016/12/06/polygraph-info-speak-truth-disinformation/|url-status=live}} Radio Free Europe funded a three person team at Polygraph.info until February 2017. The team was led by Daily Beast senior editor Michael Weiss.{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/radio-free-europe_us_589c7967e4b09bd304c03c3a|title=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Stops Funding Magazine Critical Of Russia|work=Huffington Post|author=Michael Calderone|date=2 October 2017|access-date=1 April 2018|archive-date=30 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330161957/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/radio-free-europe_us_589c7967e4b09bd304c03c3a|url-status=live}}

According to a 2018 article in Government Executive, by providing fact-checks in both English and Russian VOA "builds on the success of its year-old Russian-language television network Current Time TV...

[which is] 24/7 programming to counter Russian disinformation and Iranian censorship."{{cite web |title=In the Era of Fake News, VOA Is Fact-Checking Russia’s Messages |url=https://www.govexec.com/management/2018/03/era-fake-news-voa-fact-checking-russias-messages/146976/ |website=Government Executive |access-date=February 6, 2025 |date=March 26, 2018 |quote=It’s been a year since the U.S. government joined the ranks of Politifact, Factcheck.org and the Washington Post fact-checker in publishing dispassionate news analysis in the decisive ratings format: “true,” “false,” or “misleading.” But its product—amplified in government-controlled foreign media environments through social media and video—focuses on what is now called 'disinfo news.'}}

As of April 8, 2020, the project employed five people.{{Cite book|last1=Rajtmajer|first1=Sarah|last2=Susser|first2=Daniel|title=Proceedings of the 7th Symposium on Hot Topics in the Science of Security |chapter=Automated influence and the challenge of cognitive security |date=2020-08-25|chapter-url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3384217.3385615|location=New York, NY, USA|publisher=ACM|pages=3|doi=10.1145/3384217.3385615|isbn=978-1-4503-7561-0|s2cid=221299169 |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/RAJAIA-2 |access-date=2020-12-28|archive-date=2022-08-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809231454/https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3384217.3385615|url-status=live}} VoA journalist Jim Fry was its managing editor from November 2017 to November 2019.{{Cite web|title=Jim Fry|url=https://ona20.journalists.org/speaker/jim-fry/|access-date=2021-07-01|website=Online News Association|archive-date=2021-07-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709181936/https://ona20.journalists.org/speaker/jim-fry/|url-status=live}} Investigative journalist, researcher and Russian expert Fatima Tlisova also works at Polygraph.info.{{Cite web|last=Čáslavská|first=Veronika|date=2019-05-01|title=Tradiční média a boj s tzv. fake news na příkladu BBC, ARD a Rádia Svobodná Evropa|trans-title=Traditional media and the fight against so-called fake news on the example of the BBC, ARD and Radio Free Europe|url=https://dspace.cuni.cz/bitstream/handle/20.500.11956/107851/120330029.pdf?sequence=1|website=Charles University|page=77|language=cs|access-date=2020-12-28|archive-date=2021-05-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514181039/https://dspace.cuni.cz/bitstream/handle/20.500.11956/107851/120330029.pdf?sequence=1|url-status=live}}{{rp|76-77}}

A partner website in the Russian language is factograph.info, a joint project of RFE/RL and VoA.{{Cite web|title=О проекте|trans-title=About the project|url=https://www.factograph.info/p/6379.html|access-date=2021-06-29|website=factograph.info|language=ru|archive-date=2022-08-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809231454/https://www.factograph.info/p/6379.html|url-status=live}}