Maldito Bulo is a verfication section of a broader journalism project called Maldita.es.

Maldito Bulo ("Damned Hoax") serves the sole purpose of debunking disinformation pieces and is a registered brand under the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office

http://consultas2.oepm.es/ceo/jsp/busqueda/consultaExterna.xhtml?numExp=M3689626

Maldito Bulo (‘Damned Hoax’) is the fact-checking section of the Spanish independent website Maldita.es, created in 2014. Maldito Bulo is a legally registered organization, owned by two journalists, Clara Jiménez Cruz and Julio Montes, who lead a team of collaborators currently formed by half a dozen people.

https://maldita.es/malditobulo/

Maldito Bulo publishes fact-checks, based exclusively on their accuracy, about a wide range of topics and people. It does so on a regular basis; currently, nearly one a day and sometimes even more frequently. Since the launch of this fact-checking section in 2017, more than 40 fake or unconfirmed news have been checked.

We verify claims using the same standard for every piece. We do not concentrate our fact-checking on any one side, since we have a process in which we rank the viralization of disinformation according to its spread on social media together with the reports of our community. We follow the same process on every issue and search for the necessary data to debunk a piece of misinformation no matter who it may benefit. We do not take policy positions on the issues we fact-check. This has been especially significant on the Catalonian process, in which we have debunked pro- independence pieces and pro-government pieces throughout the whole process. Here are some examples:

https://maldita.es/bulo/los-bulos-de-las-falsas-tarjetas-censales-en-las-elecciones-catalanas/

https://maldita.es/bulo/no-las-e-mpresas-que-han-salido-de-cataluna-no-estan-exentas-de-pagar-impuestos-durante-dos-anos/

https://maldita.es/bulo/no-el-gobierno-de-estonia-no-ha-apoyado-la-autodeterminacion-de-cataluna/

https://maldita.es/maldito-bulo/los-bulos-de-zoido-en-su-comparecencia-sobre-el-1-o/

https://maldita.es/bulo/no-la-ilustracion-de-los-paisos-catalans-que-enseno-albert-rivera-en-el-congreso-no-es-un-libro-de-texto-catalan/

https://maldita.es/bulo/no-los-bomberos-de-vic-no-han-colocado-una-pancarta-a-favor-de-los-presos/

We have also debunked disinformation pieces that harmed different politicians, regardless of the political party they belonged to:

Partido Popular: https://maldita.es/bulo/no-el-tuit-de-casado-afirmando-que-prefiere-mil-corruptos-en-el-pp-a-puigdemont-o-mas-no-es-real/

PSOE: https://maldita.es/bulo/no-la-mujer-de-pedro-sanchez-no-es-la-directora-general-de-oxfam-intermon/

Podemos: https://maldita.es/bulo/no-rita-maestre-no-deseo-que-eta-hubiera-matado-mas-guardia-civiles/

Ciudadanos: https://maldita.es/bulo/no-ines-arrimadas-no-ha-pedido-no-sacar-la-bandera-preconstitucional-delante-de-periodistas/

According to the evidences provided by Maldito Bulo in its application to

IFCN, and the analysis of their fact-checks made for this assessment, I conclude That this service covers a variety of subjects or speakers in a fairly balanced way. It is noteworthy that Maldito Bulo selects the news to be checked based on a process that ranks unconfirmed news according to their spread level on social media, as well as based on the picks of their supporting community.

https://maldita.es/politica-de-neutralidad/

"NEUTRALITY POLICY

In Maldita.es we believe that the neutrality and non-partisanship of our journalistic content is essential to maintain our credibility and the trust of our community. Therefore, although the members of our team can participate in social and political events individually, they will never do so in the name of Maldita.es. We understand that, as members of civil society, team members can take sides on political issues as long as they do so on their behalf and not on behalf of the project. In addition, if a member of the team accepts some type of position within a political party that would mean their immediate disengagement from the project. In the same way, if there is a conflict of interest between a member of the team and a journalistic issue, that member will be removed from the management of that specific issue to protect the honesty and credibility of the contents of Maldita.es."

Based on the same evidences indicated above as well as in its neutrality policy, I conclude that Maldito Bulo does not, in any way, advocate in favor or against any electoral candidate. The policy determines that if a member of the team accepts some type of position within a political party, they will disengage immediately from the project. Also, if there is a conflict of interest between a member of the team and a news story to be fact-checked, that member will be removed from the management of that specific issue.

In order to verify a piece of misinformation, unless it is directly related to a technical process, we publish the answers of our sources and always cite and identify them. Our source policy is public and available on our web: https://maldita.es/metodologia-de-maldito-bulo/

“All sources are identified and cited. If to debunk a misinformation Maldito Bulo required of a source that does not want to be identified, then it won’t be able to debunk such disinformation.

Anonymous sources are used by Maldito Bulo to acquire a necessary context to reach certain data that will lead to a qualified debunk, but in no case are they valid to mount the final denial.

In addition, all denials carried out by third parties, projects or media will be duly cited.”

In its fact-checks, Maldito Bulo provides regularly links to reliable sources of

data, as the readers can check by themselves the truthfulness of the analyses.The sources used to back these analyses are trustworthy and accessible.

Currently we do not have any funding, therefore, we do not list it. All the journalistic work is done pro bono, while the only person that earns a salary is the engineer. His salary is paid with the money we earn collaborating with different media (laSexta, Onda Cero, eldiario.es). This information is available on our website: https://maldita.es/quienes-somos/

By the time of writing this assessment, Maldito Bulo does not have any funding. The heads of the project work as professional journalists for other media, which allow them to work pro bono at this fact-checking project. This altruistic behavior extends to the rest of collaborators. The website does not have any kind of sponsorship, nor advertising.

https://maldita.es/quienes-somos/

A detailed list of founders and collaborators is available on the website, providing a short bio and a photo of all of them.

There isn't a specific link. You can find it at the bottom o our webpage or in the rectification policy: https://maldita.es/metodologia-de-maldito-bulo/

Readers can send easily their comments or corrections to Maldito Bulo thanks to a contact email (contacto@maldita.es) easily reachable at the bottom of the website. In addition to that, Maldito Bulo shows a very open disposition to interact on social media (Twitter and Facebook) with the readers.

https://maldita.es/metodologia-de-maldito-bulo/

Maldito Bulo explains clearly its fact-checking methodology. This methodology is clear and reliable.

There is no direct link. Since we mainly work on social media, readers can submit misinformation pieces through our open messages in Facebook and Twitter. They can also report disinformation through our Google and Firefox extension and when looking something up on our database if they don’t find it a dialogue box opens allowing you to report it.

The fact-checking methodology provides details of how the sources are selected and how rectification policy works.

It's at the end of our methodology page under the title of "Rectification policy": https://maldita.es/metodologia-de-maldito-bulo/

As indicated above, Maldito Bulo’s fact-checking methodology explains how rectification policy works. This policy declares a strong commitment to transparency.

We haven’t had to make any corrections in the past year. We’ve had requests from readers to explain how we had arrived to certain conclusions but most of the times they had to do with readers taking political position towards our debunk. For example, when we explained what we knew of a viral picture of children on a highway rallying or when we explained how votes are counted on an election debunking the claim that a certain tech company is the one counting ballots.

As indicated above, Maldito Bulo’s fact-checking methodology explains how rectification policy works. This policy declares a strong commitment to transparency.