Discourse
01

What's actually being claimed in this election cycle

We tracked 480 viral claims this quarter. Three patterns explain most of them.

Trending topics

Story shorts

Trending images

IRAN · 90-DAY WINDOWWhat the deal text actually shows
EL NIÑO · THIS WINTERSea-surface anomaly imagery
SEED OILS · CLAIMKitchen-use photography
AI HIRING CHART · VIRALThe dataset behind the screenshot
MICROPLASTICS · BLOODSTREAMThe 22-person pilot's actual photos
DRUG PRICING · REBATEPBM corridor photography

Top claims

Article·Reuters

Iran ceasefire keeps verification monitors in place for the first 90 days.

International Views

Allied coverage is reading the same text differently

European wire services frame the 90-day verification window as the *centerpiece* of the deal; U.S.…

Read full note
CLIMATE

This year's El Niño anomalies are still inside the 1997 / 2015 envelope.

Scientific Research

Anomaly is real; 'historic' is doing the heavy lifting

The 3-month running mean is high but not a record. The 1997 and 2015 events both peaked higher on the same Niño 3.…

Read full note
YouTube·Joe Rogan

The 'seed oils are inflammatory' claim conflates lab markers with disease outcomes.

Expert Consensus

Eleven of fourteen reviews disagree

Recent peer-reviewed nutrition reviews don't find the causal link the claim asserts at typical intake levels. The narrower oxidation-product question is real but distinct.

HEALTH

GLP-1 prescriptions for non-diabetic use now outnumber the diabetic indication 3:1.

Statistical Verifier

The denominator matters here

The 3:1 ratio is on *new* prescriptions in commercial insurance — Medicare, Medicaid, and the cash-pay segment all skew the other direction.

Article·The Information

The 'AI hiring freeze' chart only counts W-2 hires — contract data flips it.

Straight to the Source

The dataset only covers W-2 hires

The chart making the rounds is W-2 hires only. Stitching contract roles back in (BLS contractor data + Upwork) re-traces the post-2023 line with a positive slope.

SCIENCE

The 'microplastics in blood' figure traces to a 22-person pilot the authors flagged.

Scientific Research

A 22-person pilot — the authors flagged it

The pilot's authors explicitly warned against generalising the result. Larger follow-ups are running but haven't published; the headline figure is still that 2022 pilot.

Catching up on stories you’ve followed

Because you explored the Affordable Care Act collapse-warning story closely in 2017 and asked us to follow up.

Story update

The 2017 “Obamacare premiums will spike 25%” warning is back — and it missed reality by 8x.

Because you bookmarked the 2019 round-two tariff coverage and we said we'd circle back.

Story update

“Round-two China tariffs will cost U.S. manufacturing 380,000 jobs by year-end.”

Because you read three explainers on the December El Niño forecast and saved the NOAA brief.

Story update

“This El Niño will be a record-breaker — bigger than 1997 and 2015.”

Because you followed the 2023 yield-curve-recession debate closely.

Story update

“A 75% chance of recession by Q4 — the inverted yield curve doesn't lie.”

Because you've followed five stories on EV-credit policy this year.

Story update

“EV demand will fall 40% once the federal credit phases out.”

Because you saved three takes on the 2024 “AI-replaces-juniors” podcast cycle.

Story update

“AI will eliminate 60% of entry-level coding jobs by mid-2025.”

The Practice

Audit your inputs.
Don't get pilled.

Read the essayAudit my diet

Follow the money

Because you've read 7 stories on drug-pricing reform this month.

Who benefits

Drug-pricing reform stalls in committee. Pharmacy middlemen keep their rebate margin.

Because you flagged Markets as a topic and saved two EV-credit stories.

Who benefits

EV tax-credit phaseout passes the House — domestic automakers get one carve-out.

Because you live in NY and itemize. We surface SALT moments aggressively for filers like you.

Who benefits

Cap on state-tax deductions hits high-tax states the hardest.

Because you've watched two episodes on the Atlantic-port fee debate.

Who benefits

New Atlantic port tariffs add a fee at every container — domestic ports gain volume.

Because you saved the FTC data-broker brief and follow Privacy as a topic.

Who benefits

Federal data-broker rule passes. Three large firms keep their carve-out.

Because you've followed the income-driven-repayment debate for two years.

Who benefits

Income-driven loan plan revival — borrowers below 225% of poverty line gain.

Top agents

Expert Chat

by The Washington Post

Invites the reader to interrogate a claim in conversation. Surfaces the most interesting threads to pull on — contested evidence, hidden assumptions, comparative cases — and answers follow-up questions grounded in the rest of the agent panel's analyses.

Used 2,341 times this week

Financial Ties

by The Washington Post

Identifies potential conflicts of interest, undisclosed financial relationships, sponsored content, and advocacy that may be driven by the speaker's personal or institutional interests.

Used 1,808 times this week

First-Hand Sources

by The Washington Post

Traces claims back to their original source documents, reports, and primary materials. Identifies when speakers cite sources accurately, when they rely on secondhand reporting, and when no source is provided at all.

Used 1,604 times this week

Personal Impact

by The Washington Post

Translates a policy into a specific household calculation. Shows the user the dollar-and-cents math against a representative profile they can edit to make their own.

Used 3,114 times this week

Historical Context

by The Washington Post

Verifies historical claims, dates, events, and attributions cited in media content. Cross-references primary historical sources to confirm accuracy and surface important context that speakers may omit or distort.

Used 1,205 times this week

Statistical Verifier

by The Washington Post

Independently verifies numerical claims by cross-referencing primary data sources, checking methodologies, and confirming whether cited statistics are accurate, current, and properly attributed.

Used 944 times this week

What it means for you

Because you live in New York and itemize your taxes.

What's in it for me

You'd take home about $2,480 less per year. The cap on state-tax deductions hits New York hardest.

Because you searched mid-tier EV pricing twice this month.

What's in it for me

If the EV credit phases out next quarter, your next car gets pricier by about this much.

Because you flagged Education and have a federal direct loan in your profile.

What's in it for me

Income-driven repayment revival saves you about this each month.

Because you've followed PBM rebate-pass-through stories for six months.

What's in it for me

If PBM rebates pass through to patients, your insulin co-pay drops by about this much.

Because you live in a coastal county and we've watched the FEMA flood-map redraw.

What's in it for me

Federal flood-map redraw raises your homeowner premium starting July.

Because your profile says two children under 17 and household income under $200K.

What's in it for me

Restoring the expanded child tax credit puts this back in your pocket.

Expert discussions

Test the reflex — on what you’ve read

Because you have engaged with healthcare-policy claims this week — let us check what stuck.

Knowledge check

Most people think killing the Obamacare penalty for going uninsured caused health insurance premiums to spike. Did it?

Because you saved three explainers on the December El Niño forecast.

Knowledge check

Did this year's El Niño actually break the all-time temperature record set in 1997?

Because you've followed three takes on the 2024 “AI replaces juniors” podcast cycle.

Knowledge check

Did AI eliminate more than half of entry-level coding jobs in 2025?

Because you bookmarked the 2019 round-two tariff coverage.

Knowledge check

Did the 2019 tariff round actually cost U.S. manufacturing more than 300,000 jobs?

Because you've watched four nutrition-discourse podcasts in the last month.

Knowledge check

In normal kitchen use, do seed oils drive higher rates of inflammation in healthy adults?

Because you saved the 2022 microplastics-in-blood explainer.

Knowledge check

Are microplastics confirmed in the bloodstream of nearly every adult tested?

ASK CONTEXT

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Pose a question, paste a screenshot, or pick a mode. Search the open web, think it through, or sketch on canvas.

Long reads

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