Project Overview

Last Verified: 2026-02-17 | Owner: John

BasicFakta — Project Overview

What is BasicFakta?

BasicFakta (basicfakta.no) is a SaaS fact-checking tool that analyzes news articles and claims to detect misinformation. It uses AI-powered algorithms to generate "fact scores" indicating the likelihood that content is fake news.

Current Status

Phase: Deployed (live at basicfakta.no)
Type: Internal product / SaaS offering
Backend: External hosted API (not in main repo)
Frontend: Repository available

Features

Fact Checking — Analyze news articles and claims
Fact Scoring — 0-100 score (lower = more likely fake)
URL Extraction — Extract and analyze URLs from articles
Share Results — Share fact-check results
Mobile Support — Responsive design

Tech Stack

Frontend: Modern web framework
Backend API: Hosted separately at basicfakta.no
Algorithm: Proprietary fake news detection (not open source)

Recent Work

Audit & Fixes (2026-02)

13 audit items fixed and deployed (commit ce800c2):

Critical Fixes

url-extractor.js created — Was missing, causing extraction failures
XSS vulnerability — Input sanitization implemented
Rate limit bypass — Fixed authentication bypass
API key sanitization — Sensitive data protection

Medium Improvements

Security headers — Added via vercel.json
Email validation — Enhanced validation
SEO meta tags — Improved search visibility
WCAG accessibility — Screen reader support, keyboard navigation
Mobile UX — Touch-friendly interface
Share results — Social sharing functionality
Loading states — Improved user feedback

Known Issues

Backend Separation

Backend code not in repo — Hosted separately, not accessible for improvements
Algorithm improvements blocked — Cannot improve detection accuracy without backend access
Test failures — 23/65 tests fail because factScore > 30 for known fake news
Resolution needed — Backend must be imported or accessed before further accuracy work

Key Documents

Repository: GitHub (switched from SSH to HTTPS auth)
Deployment: Vercel auto-deploy from main branch
Audit Report: ~/system/reports/ (details TBD)