The Washington Post's Social-Media Tool Automatically Fact-Checks Trump Tweets

The Work in Progress Is Designed to Give Readers More Context

Published On
Dec 16, 2016
Trump Tweet Fact-Checker

Editor's Pick

The Washington Post was one of the go-to publications for election coverage this year, notable for its aggressive reporting on President-Elect Donald Trump. It isn't backing down, either, and today just introduced a new tool for social media news watchers -- an automatic Trump tweet fact checker.

The "Real Donald Context" extension, when installed in Google Chrome, will help to clarify any of Trump's posts once you click on it. It's "still in the early stages, but our goal is to provide additional context where needed for Trump's tweets moving forward (and a few golden oldies)," writes Washington Post Reporter Philip Bump. The image above, for example, shows what happens if you sic it on one of Trump's recent reaction to the Russian cyberattack news.

And the publication is inviting readers to chip in to help make the tool better. "This is a work in progress, so don't hesitate to offer feedback and thoughts. And don't hesitate to point to Trump tweets that could use a little explication. That's the goal, after all."