Le Monde’s 13-person fact-checking division Les Deconteurs has been quietly working on an ambitious project to automate fact checking and clamp down on the spread of false news. Its plan: to build a hoax-news busting database, which will launch in January 2017. The speed at which lies can spread in news today, means journalists need automated fact checking help. “Sometimes you feel you are trying to empty the sea with a glass of water,” said Les Decodeurs chief Samuel Laurent.