Fact-checking platforms have been gaining public importance, as the “fake news” phenomenon rises. We have seen the birth of online platforms that aim to fact-check, mainly, politicians’ discourse, but also businesses and even social media content, among others. Most of these platforms position themselves as instruments that work in the public interest. We analyze and acknowledge the way they are developed, their goals and mission and their financial sustainability, and try to understand if their positioning as public interest’s platforms is not compromised by either of this. We also take in account the growing use of automated analyses for fact-checking purposes, and its impact on these platforms, as Graves highlights (2018). We set up questions addressed to clarify and achieve our broader research objectives: the main goals and mission of a fact checking platform/website; the business models that underlie fact-checking platforms/websites; and their audiences and the relations established between them.

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fact-checking,fake news,journalism,public interest,audience relationship,media platforms,business models.