Factual is said to rate more than 10,000 news articles a day by utilising data to provide users with reliable, highly rated news and well-informed, varied viewpoints
The Factual has been acquired by Yahoo. (Credit: Ichattopadhyaya/Wikimedia Commons)
Web services provider Yahoo has revealed its acquisition of algorithm-driven news rating company The Factual for an undisclosed price.
Factual, which was founded in 2019, is said to rate over 10,000 news articles on a daily basis by utilising data to provide users with news that are reliable and highly rated along with informed diverse viewpoints.
By acquiring the start-up, Yahoo plans to use the former’s algorithm to offer its consumers with analysis of news stories by rating articles with both a media bias and credibility score.
Factual co-founder and CEO Arjun Moorthy said: “The Factual’s algorithm helps readers understand the complete story and easily get all the facts.
“We are excited to join Yahoo with our shared mission of bringing trusted news to consumers. By applying The Factual’s algorithm across Yahoo’s content, consumers will be able to identify the news as determined by data, not politics.”
According to Yahoo, each article is given a credibility and trust score ranging from 1% to 100%. This will be based on four metrics that include site quality, author’s expertise, quality and diversity of sources, and article tone.
Author expertise takes into account his or her topical expertise based on how prior articles were researched.
The site quality metric considers the history of the website in publishing articles that are well-sourced and informative.
The quantity of original sources metric looks into the number of original sources and direct, meaningful quotes used in the article. It also considers the reputation of the sources before giving a score.
Yahoo said that the article tone metric takes into account how neutral or opinionated is the language used.
In order to allow readers to see multiple viewpoints from across the political spectrum, news articles will also have a bias label that categorises news sites by political bias.
Yahoo home ecosystem president and GM Matt Sanchez said: “I’m thrilled to have The Factual join Yahoo in a time when access to trusted information is more critical than ever.
“The combination of Yahoo’s journalism and our publishing partners’ content with The Factual’s news rating algorithm will bring a new level of transparency to Yahoo users, enabling them to make informed decisions on their news sources.”
Last year, Yahoo was acquired by Apollo Global Management and funds managed by its affiliates from Verizon Communications in a $5bn worth deal.