O Fato ou Fake will check the speeches of Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro in real time during the TV Globo debate this Friday, with a special operation built to speed up the work and publish results while the broadcast is still underway. More than 30 journalists from Grupo Globo will work together so the first checks can appear during the debate itself.
The search interest around the live Globo broadcast is clear: viewers want to know not just who is speaking, but how quickly those speeches can be tested against data. The first checks will go up on g1, on the websites of O Globo, Valor Econômico and Extra, and on CBN, while GloboNews will run a special program right after the debate to show what the team has verified.
The process is designed to keep the pace of a live political event without lowering the standard of verification. Reporters and editors follow the debate as it happens and pick out only statements that can be checked with objective data and information. The speeches are transcribed in real time so the analysis matches the candidates word for word, and the selected lines are then divided, one for each reporter.
That also sets the limits. Opinions, insults and forecasts about the future are not checked, even in a televised debate where every sentence lands under pressure. Some statements can be verified quickly with official or public data already available in databases. Others take longer, because they require interviews with authorities or specialists and a deeper review before the result can be published.
The operation is not new for the service. Fato ou Fake has brought together professionals from the seven newsrooms of Grupo Globo since 2018, and it has checked debate statements in past election cycles, including the presidential race of 2018 and a series of debates in August and September. This time, the special coverage will continue through the night until the full review is finished, and the updates will keep arriving as each new check is completed.
What matters next is not how many lines Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro will end up having examined, but how many of their remarks can survive that fast, documented review in public view. By the time the debate closes and the late-night tally is done, the audience will know which claims held up, which came close, and which did not.
