Terms

Last updated 13 August 2026

FolksLore examines claims people have been told or sent, and reports what the evidence says along with the sources it found. It is free, needs no account, and is run as a public service rather than a business.

Using the site means accepting what follows. It is written plainly on purpose.

It can be wrong

FolksLore is built on Claude, an AI model made by Anthropic, working from sources it retrieves at the time you ask. It can misread a source, miss a better one, or reach a conclusion that later turns out to be mistaken.

Treat every finding as a starting point, not a ruling. The sources are listed so you can open them and judge for yourself, and that is the part worth trusting. Nothing here is offered with any warranty, express or implied.

It is not professional advice

Nothing on this site is medical, legal or financial advice, and it must not be relied on as a substitute for a doctor, lawyer or qualified adviser. FolksLore will tell you what the evidence says about a general claim. It will not tell you what to do about your own diagnosis, your own contract or your own money, and you should not act as though it has.

What we won't look into

No subject is off limits. Politics, religion, medicine, history, conflict — all of it is open, and deliberately so. A checker that avoids uncomfortable topics is worse than useless, because the pattern of what it dodges is itself a position.

Four narrow things are declined, on the basis of how harm happens rather than what the subject is:

• Claims about private individuals. Public figures, companies, institutions, officials and policies are all fair game. Someone's neighbour, colleague or ex-partner is not. This is not a tool for looking into people.
• Questions suggesting someone may be about to harm themselves. These get a pointer to real support instead of a research result.
• Questions where answering accurately would mean supplying the method for something dangerous. Explaining that something is dangerous is fine, and is often the point. Operational detail is not.
• Requests for personal medical, legal or financial advice, as above.

Fair use

The service is rate limited and runs on a shared daily budget. Please don't script it, scrape it, or try to exhaust it — when the budget is gone it's gone for everyone else that day, which is a mean thing to do to strangers.

Impartiality

Every claim is examined the same way regardless of who it came from or which direction it points. No advertising is carried, and nobody pays for a finding or a placement. If you think a result is slanted, use the challenge box — that objection is recorded and reviewed.

Liability

FolksLore is provided as is. To the fullest extent permitted by law, its operator is not liable for any loss or damage arising from use of the site or reliance on anything it produces. If any part of these terms is unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California.

Changes

These terms may change. The date at the top says when they last did.

Contact

Questions, corrections and complaints: get in touch.

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