Social and Community Content

Social Source and Claim Check

Verify every consequential claim, number, quotation, image, clip, link, and missing context before a compressed social message is approved for publication.

Free editable Markdown · Social media managers, editors, and fact-checkers · Updated July 30, 2026

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The downloaded file contains the same fields in editable Markdown.

Publishing object

Post ID or campaign: [Internal reference]
Platform and account: [Exact publisher]
Final copy: [Paste complete text]
Media and version: [File reference]
Alternative text or captions: [Final text]
Link and preview: [Destination and rendered title]
Scheduled time and zone: [Exact value]
Responsible editor: [Name or role]

Claim inventory

Claim: [Exact words or reasonable implication]
Claim type: [Fact, number, comparison, cause, quotation, prediction, or another]
Location: [Caption, overlay, audio, image, tag, or link preview]
Reader consequence: [Low, medium, high, with reason]
Evidence: [Primary source and stable location]
Evidence scope: [Population, period, geography, or conditions]
Missing context: [What must remain visible]
Specialist review: [Needed role or not required]
Decision: [Approve, revise, remove, or escalate]

Media, rights, and attribution

Original creator: [Name or organization]
Original date and context: [Where and when]
Edits made: [Crop, speed, color, audio, excerpt, or overlay]
Permission or license: [Record and conditions]
People depicted: [Consent or editorial basis]
Credit wording: [Exact form]
Synthetic or staged elements: [Disclosure]

Media has not been reversed, relabeled, or detached from its event.
The crop does not remove information that changes meaning.
Audio, subtitle, and visual claims agree.

Release and correction

Source opened by: [Reviewer and date]
Quotation checked by: [Reviewer and location]
Number recalculated or confirmed: [Method]
Final preview approved: [Name and evidence]
Source-monitoring trigger: [Correction, update, expiry, or event]
Post-publication owner: [Role and coverage]
Correction options: [Edit, reply, replacement, or removal]
Decision record: [Approved wording and rationale]

How to use this template

Capture the exact final post, attached media, preview card, alternative text, intended account, platform, and scheduled time.
Break the object into explicit and implied claims, then mark each claim by type, consequence, and specialist-review need.
Trace each material claim to evidence, checking method, scope, date, attribution, rights, consent, and missing context.
Inspect the rendered post and destination for cropping, misleading emphasis, variable errors, inaccessible evidence, or factual drift.
Record approval, monitoring triggers, source-change ownership, and the correction action available after publication.

Decompress the post into reviewable claims

Short posts often pack several propositions into a headline, graphic, caption, and link preview. Separate them. Record factual statements, comparisons, implied causes, predictions, superlatives, numbers, quotation fragments, and claims conveyed by an image or edit. Include what a reasonable reader might infer, not only what the writer intended. A graph beginning above zero, a “before and after” crop, or a dramatic soundtrack can change the proposition. Label harmless opinion and clearly fictional material, but do not use those labels to avoid checking embedded facts.

Trace evidence and context

Open the primary source when available and confirm author, publication date, method, population, geography, time period, definitions, and limitations. For secondary reporting, verify that it accurately represents the underlying record. Read beyond a search snippet. Locate quotations in their full exchange, confirm numbers against tables or official releases, and inspect media provenance and editing history. Ask whether the evidence supports the exact strength of the final wording. Correlation does not establish cause; one example does not prove a trend; a current figure should not be paired with an obsolete image.

Approve the complete publishing object

Review copy, alt text, subtitles, overlays, thumbnail, link, disclosure, account identity, tags, date, and scheduled time as one object. Confirm rights and consent for people, user submissions, and licensed media. Test the destination and make sure it contains the promised evidence without changing the claim. Assign an owner who can respond when a source is corrected or circumstances change. Preserve a snapshot of the approved object, source version, reviewer decisions, and correction route. A deleted post without a record cannot teach the team what failed.

See the fields in context

Fictional example: river cleanup result

Blue Alder River Group, its survey, and all quantities below are invented.

Draft claim: “Our volunteers removed 80% of river pollution in one morning.”
Source finding: The group weighed litter collected along one surveyed kilometer; it did not measure total pollution or the whole river.
Revision: “Forty volunteers collected 320 kilograms of visible litter from the surveyed one-kilometer bank section on 8 June.”
Media check: A photograph from the same event is used with the photographer’s permission and is not presented as a before-and-after comparison.
Correction trigger: The post owner will update the quantity if the fictional weigh-in record is formally corrected.

Frequently asked questions

Does a link make a shortened claim acceptable?

No. The post should remain accurate on its own. A destination can explain method and limitations in greater depth, but it should not reverse, narrow, or qualify a misleading statement that users already encountered.

Must obvious opinions be sourced?

Pure opinion may not require evidence, but check whether it contains factual premises, undisclosed relationships, or claims about other people. Label perspective honestly and avoid presenting a promotional judgment as an independently measured fact.

How can a team verify a fast-moving event?

Use time-stamped confirmed facts, name the authoritative owner, separate observations from assumptions, and say what remains unknown. Schedule rechecks. It is better to publish a narrower verified update than a complete-looking speculative account.

What evidence should be retained?

Keep the approved post preview, source location and version, relevant excerpt or table, permissions, reviewer decision, and correction history according to lawful retention rules. Do not retain unnecessary personal or confidential data.