The article presents issues related to the development of information verification practices that led to the creation of modern fact-checking organizations in the United States. Particular attention was paid to three periods. The first of them takes place at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when there were changes in the approach of the journalistic community towards the standards of collecting and checking facts used in prepared publications. The next one is the end of the 1970s and the next decade, during which the first columns devoted to verifying the public speeches of the most important politicians in the country appear in American newspapers. The third period is the 1990s, when Internet users began to become interested in fact-checking practices. The subject of the reflections contained in the article are also the ideas guiding journalists and groups of activists involved in developing the described initiatives.