mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Web Retrieval Agents for Evidence-Based Misinformation Detection

arXiv 2409.00009 ↗First posted 15 Aug 2024cs.IR cs.AIcited by 13

On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Web, search, and research agents

Abstract (arXiv)

This paper develops an agent-based automated fact-checking approach for detecting misinformation. We demonstrate that combining a powerful LLM agent, which does not have access to the internet for searches, with an online web search agent yields better results than when each tool is used independently. Our approach is robust across multiple models, outperforming alternatives and increasing the macro F1 of misinformation detection by as much as 20 percent compared to LLMs without search. We also conduct extensive analyses on the sources our system leverages and their biases, decisions in the construction of the system like the search tool and the knowledge base, the type of evidence needed and its impact on the results, and other parts of the overall process. By combining strong performance with in-depth understanding, we hope to provide building blocks for future search-enabled misinformation mitigation systems.

Key facts. Cited by 13 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Web, search, and research agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 26 of its 40 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 15 Aug 2024.

Builds on

26 of 40 references.

References · 26

  1. 2022Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Modelscited by 12,302
  2. 2022ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Modelscited by 8,355
  3. 2018HotpotQA: A Dataset for Diverse, Explainable Multi-hop Question Answeringcited by 3,686
  4. 2023Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Large Language Models: A Surveycited by 2,185
  5. 2018FEVER: a large-scale dataset for Fact Extraction and VERificationcited by 1,362
  6. 2023FActScore: Fine-grained Atomic Evaluation of Factual Precision in Long Form Text Generationcited by 1,259
  7. 2022Teaching Models to Express Their Uncertainty in Wordscited by 731
  8. 2023ARES: An Automated Evaluation Framework for Retrieval-Augmented Generation Systemscited by 259
  9. 2023FacTool: Factuality Detection in Generative AI -- A Tool Augmented Framework for Multi-Task and Multi-Domain Scenarioscited by 247
  10. 2023ChatGPT-4 Outperforms Experts and Crowd Workers in Annotating Political Twitter Messages with Zero-Shot Learningcited by 97
  11. 2023Towards LLM-based Fact Verification on News Claims with a Hierarchical Step-by-Step Prompting Methodcited by 97
  12. 2023Combating Misinformation in the Age of LLMs: Opportunities and Challengescited by 94
14 more
  1. 2021X-FACT: A New Benchmark Dataset for Multilingual Fact Checkingcited by 90
  2. 2023WikiChat: Stopping the Hallucination of Large Language Model Chatbots by Few-Shot Grounding on Wikipediacited by 67
  3. 2023Towards Reliable Misinformation Mitigation: Generalization, Uncertainty, and GPT-4cited by 45
  4. 2023FactLLaMA: Optimizing Instruction-Following Language Models with External Knowledge for Automated Fact-Checkingcited by 37
  5. 2023Explainable Claim Verification via Knowledge-Grounded Reasoning with Large Language Modelscited by 37
  6. 2021FaVIQ: FAct Verification from Information-seeking Questionscited by 36
  7. 2023Open, Closed, or Small Language Models for Text Classification?cited by 34
  8. 2020A Review on Fact Extraction and Verificationcited by 29
  9. 2024Combining Confidence Elicitation and Sample-based Methods for Uncertainty Quantification in Misinformation Mitigationcited by 19
  10. 2023Large Search Model: Redefining Search Stack in the Era of LLMscited by 18
  11. 2024Causal Walk: Debiasing Multi-Hop Fact Verification with Front-Door Adjustmentcited by 17
  12. 2023MUSER: A MUlti-Step Evidence Retrieval Enhancement Framework for Fake News Detectioncited by 8
  13. 2023Is Explanation the Cure? Misinformation Mitigation in the Short Term and Long Termcited by 2
  14. 2024Uncertainty Resolution in Misinformation Detectioncited by 1

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2024: 2; 2025: 7; 2026: 4.

13 papers.

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  1. 2025Evaluating LLM-based Agents for Multi-Turn Conversations: A Surveycited by 56
  2. 2025How to Protect Yourself from 5G Radiation? Investigating LLM Responses to Implicit Misinformationcited by 17
  3. 2024A Guide to Misinformation Detection Data and Evaluationcited by 10
  4. 2026All That Glisters Is Not Gold: A Benchmark for Reference-Free Counterfactual Financial Misinformation Detectioncited by 4
  5. 2024CrediRAG: Network-Augmented Credibility-Based Retrieval for Misinformation Detection in Redditcited by 3
  6. 2025Multi-Agent Retrieval-Augmented Framework for Evidence-Based Counterspeech Against Health Misinformationcited by 3
  7. 2025Multi-agent Systems for Misinformation Lifecycle : Detection, Correction And Source Identificationcited by 2
  8. 2025Veracity: An Open-Source AI Fact-Checking Systemcited by 2
  9. 2026Source or It Didn't Happen: A Multi-Agent Framework for Citation Hallucination Detectioncited by 2
  10. 2025ZoFia: Zero-Shot Fake News Detection with Entity-Guided Retrieval and Multi-LLM Interactioncited by 1
  11. 2025Exploring Health Misinformation Detection with Multi-Agent Debatecited by 0
  12. 2026TRUST Agents: A Collaborative Multi-Agent Framework for Fake News Detection, Explainable Verification, and Logic-Aware Claim Reasoningcited by 0
1 more
  1. 2026Large Language Models in Misinformation Ecosystems: Misuse, Defense, and Vulnerabilitycited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2025Toward Verifiable Misinformation Detection: A Multi-Tool LLM Agent Framework
  2. 2025RAMA: Retrieval-Augmented Multi-Agent Framework for Misinformation Detection in Multimodal Fact-Checking
  3. 2025Towards Robust Fact-Checking: A Multi-Agent System with Advanced Evidence Retrieval
  4. 2025Hybrid Fact-Checking that Integrates Knowledge Graphs, Large Language Models, and Search-Based Retrieval Agents Improves Interpretable Claim Verification
  5. 2025A Multi-Agent Framework with Automated Decision Rule Optimization for Cross-Domain Misinformation Detection
  6. 2026SearchAtlas: Analyzing Agentic Search Strategies via Evidential Query Graphs
  7. 2024FIRE: Fact-checking with Iterative Retrieval and Verification
  8. 2026Multi-Sourced, Multi-Agent Evidence Retrieval for Fact-Checking