SourceLayer

Problem

Public information moves in fragments — clips, screenshots, headlines, summaries. The original source is usually one click away, but almost nobody takes that click, because the trail isn't built. Claims travel faster than verification.

Vision

An evidence layer for the internet: every public claim linked back to the transcript, document, or record it came from, with surrounding context and a confidence signal. Not a truth oracle — a trace.

Roadmap

• 01Source linking from claim to original record
• 02Context reconstruction — surrounding quote, timestamp, related entities
• 03Timeline view across hearings, filings, and coverage
• 04Confidence indicators — high, medium, low
• 05Start with FOIA and media records, expand outward

Lessons learned

• 01Verification fails at the UX layer, not the data layer — the records exist; the trail doesn't.
• 02'Neutral' only works if the provenance is visible. The product has to show the chain, not assert it.

Ways to contribute

• 01Journalists, researchers, and accountability folks: tell me the claims you wish you could trace in one click.
• 02If you work on retrieval, public-records ingestion, or transcript alignment — I'd like to compare notes.
• 03Request early access at sourcelayer.app.