Governance
Organizational structure
Veridi is operated by a small Canadian organization with intent to become a nonprofit. The organization is structured around a lean operating model.
Currently operated ad-hoc by Johanna McBurnie and Shawn McBurnie; next steps include formal establishment as a nonprofit in Canada.
Transparency commitments
Open methodology
The complete Veridi methodology - including source hierarchy, decision trees, specialist frameworks, gaming countermeasures, confidence calibration framework, and the Institutional Reliability Index - is published and available for external inspection. This is a deliberate choice: a fact-checking system that asks for trust while concealing its methods is asking for exactly the kind of unjustified confidence the system is designed to detect.
As we move to roll out public-facing access, we will address and define storage, retention, and anonymization of queries and other user data.
Published validation
Our validation data - test claims, expected results, actual results, scoring criteria, and limitations - is publicly documented. The validation report includes both the strengths and the caveats of the testing process.
Clarity on limitations
The organization publicly documents what Veridi cannot do, where the validation has gaps, and where the evidence for the methodology’s effectiveness is weaker than we’d like. See known limitations.
Version history
All changes to the methodology are tracked in a changelog. When components are added, modified, or deprecated, the change and its rationale are documented. See changelog.
Funding model
The organization operates without venture capital, advertising revenue, or other funding models that create incentive misalignment with accurate fact-checking. Prospective funding sources include:
- Grant funding from organizations supporting information integrity
- Institutional partnerships
- In-kind contributions
- User-level contributions, e.g. via Patreon
The organization does not and will not accept funding from sources that would create conflicts of interest with its fact-checking mission.
Editorial independence
Veridi’s methodology operates independently of any funder, partner, or political entity. The methodology follows documented procedures - source hierarchy, decision trees, gaming countermeasures - that apply equally regardless of who is making the claim or what conclusion might be politically convenient.
The gaming countermeasures include explicit checks for selective skepticism (applying different evidence standards to different sides) and the Institutional Reliability Index is applied based on documented evidence of institutional degradation, not political preference.
Contact
Contact: veridi [at] nettercap.net