Can All Sides be used as a fact-checking tool for news articles?

1. What AllSides actually measures — bias, not accuracy

AllSides’ core product is a system that measures media bias and slant across the political spectrum, including a dedicated Fact Check Bias Chart that rates the bias of prominent fact-checking organizations and their outputs, but the organization states clearly that these ratings do not evaluate accuracy or credibility of individual fact checks ^{[3] [2]}. AllSides’ methodology combines multipartisan reviews, blind surveys and editorial analysis to determine where outlets sit on a left–center–right axis, and the Fact Check Bias Chart reflects tendencies such as story choice or framing rather than whether a conclusion is factually correct ^{[3] [4]}.

2. How AllSides can help when vetting a news article

For a reader trying to vet a news article, AllSides provides two practical services: curated, multi-perspective fact-check feeds and a bias context for the fact-checkers themselves, enabling comparison across ideological lines so users can see where different fact-checkers focus or frame a claim ^{[1] [5]}. The site’s curated “Facts and Fact Checking” pages and Misinformation Watch posts gather fact checks on topics and show how different outlets treat the same claim, which can reveal selective emphasis or omitted context that might influence interpretation ^{[1] [6]}.

3. Limitations that matter — what AllSides does not do

AllSides expressly warns readers not to accept any single fact-check or presentation as complete and cautions that “facts” can still be presented in ways that mislead, which underscores the platform’s admission that it does not replace primary verification or original reporting ^{[5] [1]}. Crucially, the Fact Check Bias Chart and media bias ratings do not measure the factual accuracy of statements or the methodological rigor of investigations; a fact checker can be accurate yet still exhibit bias in story selection or framing, a distinction AllSides highlights ^{[3] [2]}.

4. New tools and their promises — the Bias Checker and AI assistance

AllSides has launched tools intended to speed bias detection, including an AI-powered Bias Checker that produces instant bias ratings and analysis for any article by applying the AllSides patent and calibration to reflect average American judgments, promising to reveal “spin, slant, and other forms of bias” at a glance ^{[7] [8]}. These tools enhance the user’s ability to flag slant quickly, but since they focus on bias, they inherit the platform’s limitation: they do not certify factual accuracy and should be paired with source-level fact checks and primary documents ^{[7] [8]}.

5. Practical recommendation — use AllSides as one layer, not the final layer

The sensible workflow is to use AllSides to map who is saying what and why — check the bias rating of the fact-checkers cited, compare fact-checks across outlets via AllSides’ feeds, and then follow the fact-checkers’ sourcing back to primary documents, data, or direct reporting to confirm accuracy; AllSides facilitates the “compare and verify” step but does not replace it ^{[1] [5] [3]}. For readers and reporters, AllSides is strongest as a meta-tool for spotting slant, measuring how different fact-checkers cover an issue, and locating alternative framings, but not as a definitive truthteller about a discrete factual claim ^{[2] [3]}.

6. Bottom line

AllSides can and should be used as a fact-checking aid — specifically, as a bias- and coverage-checking tool that helps users compare fact-checks, identify omitted context, and spotlight framing differences — but it cannot, by design and by its own disclosure, substitute for direct verification of factual claims because it does not judge accuracy or credibility of individual fact checks ^{[1] [3] [2]}.