Who owns factually, this website
Executive summary
The site called "The Factual" is owned by Yahoo — Yahoo announced the acquisition and the deal closed in August 2022 [1] — but similarly named sites (for example, "Factually") can be independent projects with different ownership claims, which has produced public confusion [2]. Reporting mixes corporate press releases and third‑party profiles; resolving which entity a reader means requires checking the exact site and primary records such as the company announcement or the site’s own ownership disclosure [1] [2].
1. The documentary trail for "The Factual": a corporate purchase
Multiple contemporaneous reports and a Yahoo press release state that Yahoo acquired The Factual, an algorithm‑driven news rating company, and that the acquisition closed on August 23, 2022; Yahoo described plans to integrate The Factual’s algorithm to rate stories for bias and credibility [1] [3]. Those sources present a straightforward ownership line: The Factual became part of Yahoo’s portfolio as of that 2022 closing date [1] [3].
2. A different name, a different claim: "Factually" and single‑developer ownership
A later profile on Media Bias/Fact Check labeled a site called "Factually" as being owned entirely by one independent developer and funded through voluntary user support, describing it as operating without corporate backing [2]. That assessment — dated to 2025 in the snippet — refers to a differently spelled site and asserts sole independent ownership, a statement that directly conflicts with the corporate ownership story attached to "The Factual" [2]. The existence of both claims explains why searches for “who owns Factually/The Factual” surface contradictory answers.
3. Why reporting diverges: naming, time, and source type matter
The divergence arises from three concrete causes visible in the sources: near‑identical names ("The Factual" vs. "Factually"), different source types (official corporate press release versus third‑party media‑bias profile), and different publication dates (Yahoo’s acquisition reporting stems from 2022, while the independent‑owner claim appears in a later MBFC entry) [1] [3] [2]. Corporate press releases like Yahoo’s are primary evidence about acquisitions [1], whereas aggregator or rating sites can summarize or update ownership claims later and may refer to different entities [2].
4. How to know which claim applies to the site being examined
To attribute ownership correctly, the available reporting shows the decisive step is matching the exact domain and corporate announcement: if the site is The Factual (the algorithm‑rating service that Yahoo said it acquired), the ownership documented by Yahoo applies [1] [3]; if the site is Factually and its own pages or third‑party profiles say it’s a one‑developer project, that claim may be accurate for that separate site [2]. The sources provided do not include WHOIS data or the sites’ internal “About” pages in full, so this account is limited to the documentary claims cited [1] [2] [3].
5. Assessing motives and implicit agendas in the sources
The Yahoo press release emphasizes credibility and product integration, which serves a corporate agenda to frame the acquisition positively and justify the strategic move [1]; by contrast, Media Bias/Fact Check’s profile comes from a site whose mission is to evaluate media ownership and bias and may highlight independence as a credibility signal for small outlets [2]. Both sources have understandable perspectives: corporate comms aim to promote the deal, and media‑bias databases aim to classify outlets — readers should weigh those framing effects when interpreting ownership claims [1] [2].
6. Bottom line, and the reporting limitation
Based on the primary reporting available, The Factual is owned by Yahoo following a 2022 acquisition [1] [3]; however, a separately named site called Factually is reported by Media Bias/Fact Check to be owned by a single independent developer and funded by donations [2]. The sources supplied do not include direct domain registration records or the sites’ current "About" pages, so final verification for any specific URL should be done by checking that site’s disclosures, the corporate press release, and public registry records to reconcile which entity the reader intends [1] [2] [3].