1 minute readReference note
Which source should be used to verify a company claim?
In brief
The right source depends on the claim. Current service availability is best checked against a reliable current product or company record; a legal outcome against the relevant official record; an attributed statement against the original statement; and an opinion against what its author actually said. No domain is authoritative for every fact it mentions.
Examine proximity to the evidence, subject expertise, date, scope, and relevant independence. Ownership identifies who controls a page and handles updates. Assess a company's current address against its own records and evaluate claims about its conduct using the relevant records and independent scrutiny.
The task is to verify the specific statement and the use made of it. A famous publisher can contain a factual error; an obscure original document can settle a narrow question; several websites can repeat one unverified assertion. The work should therefore trace important claims to the best available evidence, identify conflicts, and propose corrections or new factual assets where needed. Treating general domain reputation as a substitute for reading the source can preserve a mistake beneath an apparently impressive citation.