Legitimate Universal Bio API

Version 1.0

This API allows users to verify articles and domains; extracting information about them. The main endpoint is:

'https://www.legitimate.net/api/verify_article' - Verifies an article and retrieves detailed information about it. More endpoints will be launching in the coming weeks.

Onboarding

To be able to make API calls you need to have a Legitimate profile. After creating a Legitimate profile visit https://www.legitimate.net/apis.html (available in the footer) where you can sign up for an API account.

Once you sign up for an account your API credentials will be available in your settings area under "API Settings" tab.

Authentication

To authenticate your call you need to use a Bearer Token made up from your API key and secret.

Uivayfc1Tvk2SED6rEohPvGt:8XCjPrzqCZ11r554JPWDn26g

Verify Article

POST https://www.legitimate.io/api/verify_article

Query Parameters

Headers

ABiuhfU7vWNxDFGebnZWtg6K:WoKdUawkLGozQzeMwpczYUAd

Fields:

For the nested articles array, each object within it has the following fields:

For the nested domain_info object, the table is as follows:

For the nested bodies_associations array within domain_info, each object has the following fields:

For the nested registration_data object within domain_info, the table is as follows:

Example call

https://www.legitimate.net/api/verify_article?url=https://syncni.com/view/4879/are-tech-giants-do-enough-to-combat-fake-news

Always try to include https:// or http:// in the query string.

Response Types

The "type" field can help you determine what way to handle the response.

There are 4 main response types:

Article Verified: The article and author are verified.
Domain Verified Plus: The article is not verified but the domain is verified and additional information is supplied such as other journalists (up to 3) that write for that publication and the latest articles (3).
Domain Verified: The article is not verified but we can verify the domain and provide domain information.
Unverified: Both the article and the domain are not verified. We will then supply additional context and details regarding the domain.

{
    "verified": true,
    "type":"Article Verified",
    "profile_first_name": "El",
    "profile_last_name": "Calabrese",
    "profile_title": "News Reporter/News Producer/Writer/Video/Photo/Project Manager/Legal Clearance and Compliance",
    "profile_created_at": "2023-12-23T22:12:55.272Z",
    "profile_bio": "I'm Hunter's pet and occasionally his seat. I also do many things media-wise and am a daily newshound tooling about the northeast region. Let me know if we might be able to help one another...",
    "profile_employer": "Freelance",
    "profile_residing": "",
    "profile_slug": "el-calabrese",
    "profile_image": "https://www.legitimate.net/rails/active_storage/blobs/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBBOUY5RGc9PSIsImV4cCI6bnVsbCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--5b51624bf50ecb5065805100a8ac0b9701dc8f25/IMG_4462.jpeg",
    "profile_social_profiles": {},
    "user_location": "US",
    "user_city": "NY",
    "follower_count": 0,
    "article_count": 3,
    "awards": "",
    "memberships": "",
    "articles": [
        {
            "id": 1634752,
            "title": "Baby Nikolai's death is not a result of bone disease, prosecutors say",
            "description": "Bail was denied Wednesday for Quincy Pierre, held in the death of an 11-week-old baby.",
            "link": "https://www.insider.com/baby-nikolais-death-homicide-not-result-bone-disease-prosecutors-say-2023-11",
            "og_image": "https://i.insider.com/654c227436d588dc55cd844f?width=780&format=jpeg",
            "icon_path": "https://www.insider.com/public/assets/INSIDER/US/favicons/favicon.svg?v=2023-11",
            "published_at": "2023-11-08T19:10:00.000Z",
            "tag_list": [
                "Crime"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": 1634750,
            "title": "Journey of a Bullet: Survivors describe what happens after you’re shot",
            "description": "Six men and women describe what it’s like to be shot and cope with the enduring trauma.",
            "link": "https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/journey-of-a-bullet",
            "og_image": "https://nodeassets.nbcnews.com/cdnassets/projects/journey-bullet-vids01/job-share-img.jpg",
            "icon_path": "https://www.nbcnews.com/../_assets/images/appicon192.png",
            "published_at": "2017-06-20T00:00:00.000Z",
            "tag_list": [
                "NBC News",
                "specials",
                "reporting"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": 1634751,
            "title": "Orlando Gay Clubs Come Together to Support Pulse Staff",
            "description": "The Orlando LGBT community is pulling together to support the staff of Pulse, who have found themselves without a way to pay the bills.",
            "link": "https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/orlando-nightclub-massacre/orlando-gay-clubs-come-together-support-pulse-staff-n593281",
            "og_image": "https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1500w,f_auto,q_auto:best/newscms/2016_24/1580656/160615-pulse-nightclub-01-jsw-642p.JPG",
            "icon_path": "https://nodeassets.nbcnews.com/cdnassets/projects/ramen/favicon/nbcnews/all-other-sizes-PNG.ico/favicon.ico",
            "published_at": "2016-06-15T20:51:00.000Z",
            "tag_list": [
                "News"
            ]
        }
    ],
    "domain_info": {
        "publication_name": "Insider",
        "domain": "insider.com",
        "description": "Insider.com offers a mix of original reporting and aggregated content on topics like business, tech, politics, and lifestyle, aiming to provide fascinating stories for enterprising readers",
        "year_founded": 2007,
        "domain_age": null,
        "bodies_associations": null,
        "publisher": "Axel Springer",
        "publisher_description": "Axel Springer is Europe's largest newspaper publisher.",
        "country": "USA",
        "city": "Arlington",
        "phone": null,
        "state": "Virginia",
        "logo_path": null,
        "registration_data": {
            "registrant_name": "PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC",
            "registrant_country": "UNITED STATES",
            "registrar_company": "Register.com, Inc.",
            "domain_created": "1997-06-06",
            "domain_updated": "2021-12-11"
        }
}

{
    "verified": true,
    "type": "Domain Verified Plus",
    "domain": "politico.com",
    "similar_article_count": 312,
    "similar_profile_count": 23,
    "similar_articles": [
        {
            "id": 1371846,
            "title": "Judge scolds Jack Smith’s team for causing delay in unrelated Jan. 6 verdict",
            "link": "https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/20/trump-grand-jury-witness-executive-privilege-00107442",
            "og_image": "https://static.politico.com/f9/a7/d599538f48a4b22c2df24c6b6b29/trump-classified-documents-96524.jpg",
            "icon_path": "https://legitimate.net/rails/active_storage/blobs/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBBaUNuIiwiZXhwIjpudWxsLCJwdXIiOiJibG9iX2lkIn19--1838f2e3bf112de00dbdd41e946b502ef8665338/politico.png",
            "published_at": "2023-07-20T19:29:57.000Z"
        },
        {
            "id": 1371848,
            "title": "Judge rejects QAnon shaman’s bid to throw out Jan. 6 sentence",
            "link": "https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/20/judge-rejects-qanon-shamans-bid-to-throw-out-jan-6-sentence-00107370",
            "og_image": "https://static.politico.com/1d/31/e55b1cc84020b8ecd42d22c0f6ad/capitol-breach-apologies-20816.jpg",
            "icon_path": "https://legitimate.net/rails/active_storage/blobs/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBBaUNuIiwiZXhwIjpudWxsLCJwdXIiOiJibG9iX2lkIn19--1838f2e3bf112de00dbdd41e946b502ef8665338/politico.png",
            "published_at": "2023-07-20T16:29:53.000Z"
        },
        {
            "id": 1372224,
            "title": "Biden’s legacy long game: Rain regulations — now",
            "link": "https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/20/biden-agencies-protect-rules-trump-00158732",
            "og_image": "https://static.politico.com/7c/31/7c6f37bc46e2a91d4a80de2d4858/useuntil06-08-2024-020.jpg",
            "icon_path": "https://static.politico.com/cf/05/ee684a274496b04fa20ba2978da1/politico.png",
            "published_at": "2024-05-21T05:00:00.000Z"
        }
    ],
    "similar_profiles": [
        {
            "id": 1648,
            "slug": "kyle-cheney",
            "first_name": "Kyle",
            "last_name": "Cheney",
            "job_title": "Reporter",
            "employer": "Politico",
            "profile_image_url": "https://legitimate.net/rails/active_storage/blobs/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBBamluIiwiZXhwIjpudWxsLCJwdXIiOiJibG9iX2lkIn19--2f99b4422228de8a9aec2c8c6b6d47d09accf4ae/KyleCheney.jpg"
        },
        {
            "id": 2822,
            "slug": "gerard-donnelly-08f69bd9-5f84-48a8-b286-081b2a216367",
            "first_name": "Gerard",
            "last_name": "Donnelly",
            "job_title": "",
            "employer": "",
            "profile_image_url": "https://legitimate.net/rails/active_storage/blobs/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBBMUNNQ2c9PSIsImV4cCI6bnVsbCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--29ce246b7d7b92f08d0b213ec1db6cf9e2f71b8f/dna.jpeg"
        }
    ],
    "domain_info": {
        "publication_name": "Politico",
        "domain": "politico.com",
        "description": "Politico offers current news, analysis, and coverage of politics, policy, and national affairs, focusing on the United States and international events.",
        "year_founded": 2007,
        "domain_age": null,
        "bodies_associations": null,
        "publisher": "Axel Springer",
        "publisher_description": "Axel Springer is Europe's largest newspaper publisher.",
        "country": "USA",
        "city": "Arlington",
        "state": "Virginia",
        "logo_path": null,
        "registration_data": {
            "registrant_name": "PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC",
            "registrant_country": "UNITED STATES",
            "registrar_company": "Register.com, Inc.",
            "domain_created": "1998-09-18",
            "domain_updated": "2021-11-11"
        }
    }
}

{
    "verified": true,
    "type": "Domain Verified",
    "domain": "70and73.com",
    "domain_info": {
        "publication_name": "70and73.com",
        "domain": "70and73.com",
        "description": "A current events newspaper focused on recent happenings, trends, and insights, offering articles, analyses, and opinions on various topics to keep readers informed and engaged.",
        "year_founded": 2019,
        "domain_age": null,
        "bodies_associations": [
            {
                "accrnym": "LION",
                "name": "Local Independent Online Media",
                "description": "LION Publishers supports local independent online news organizations, offering resources like education, funding and sustainability audits to help news entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses.",
                "profile_image_url": "https://legitimate.net/images/bodies/lion.png"
            }
        ],
        "publisher": "Ewald Technology LLC",
        "publisher_description": "A New Jersey privately owned small business based in Marlton",
        "country": "USA",
        "city": "Marlton",
        "phone": null,
        "state": "NJ",
        "logo_path": "http://legitimate.net/images/publications/70and73.com.png",
        "registration_data": {
            "registrant_name": "REDACTED FOR PRIVACY",
            "registrant_country": "UNITED STATES",
            "registrar_company": "TUCOWS, INC.",
            "domain_created": "2017-08-27",
            "domain_updated": "2023-07-31"
        }
    }
}

{
    "verified": false,
    "type": "Unverified",
    "domain": "digitaliron.com",
    "message": "Publication not recognized.",
    "fact1": "None of the more than 13 thousand journalists on Legitimate have written for this website.",
    "fact2": "If you are unfamiliar with this publication, read it with caution and carry out additional research.",
    "article_title": "Boost Your Dealership's After-Sales Revenue",
    "registrant_name": "REDACTED FOR PRIVACY",
    "registrant_country": "UNITED KINGDOM",
    "registrar_name": "Squarespace Domains LLC",
    "domain_created": "2015-08-10T15:06:05Z",
    "domain_updated": "2024-04-12T13:00:39.401981Z"
}

Article Verified Example

When an article is verified a design similar to the image above could be created to represent the article's author. Additional domain information will also be sent if you wanted to display that as well.

Domain Verified Plus

This is an example of what is possible using the Domain Verified Plus response data.

Domain Verified

An example of using the Domain Verified response. For the associations sub section. The API will supply the image, acronym, full name and description. In the example above we have shown the logos however you could add hover effects to show more information from the API.

See the sub section code below:


"bodies_associations": [
            {
                "accrnym": "LION",
                "name": "Local Independent Online Media",
                "description": "Lion provides great stuff",
                "profile_image_url": "https://legitimate.net/images/bodies/lion.png"
            },
            {
                "accrnym": "INN",
                "name": "Institute For Non Profit News",
                "description": "INN provides great stuff",
                "profile_image_url": "https://legitimate.net/images/bodies/inn.png"
            }
        ],

Unverified

This is an example of what could be displayed using the unverified response.

Examples in various languages

curl --location --request POST 'https://legitimate.net/api/verify_article?url=https://syncni.com/view/4879/are-tech-giants-doing-enough-to-combat-fake-news' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer Ak8fkrk9jf98kjr889:9XdkfkK9H7yy7g76ggTX'

var myHeaders = new Headers();
myHeaders.append("Authorization", "Bearer Ak8fkrk9jf98kjr889:9XdkfkK9H7yy7g76ggTX");

var formdata = new FormData();

var requestOptions = {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: myHeaders,
  body: formdata,
  redirect: 'follow'
};

fetch("https://legitimate.net/api/verify_article?url=https://syncni.com/view/4879/are-tech-giants-doing-enough-to-combat-fake-news", requestOptions)
  .then(response => response.text())
  .then(result => console.log(result))
  .catch(error => console.log('error', error));

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
  CURLOPT_URL => 'https://legitimate.net/api/verify_article?url=https://syncni.com/view/4879/are-tech-giants-doing-enough-to-combat-fake-news',
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => '',
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 0,
  CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => true,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'POST',
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array(
    'Authorization: Bearer Ak8fkrk9jf98kjr889:9XdkfkK9H7yy7g76ggTX'
  ),
));

$response = curl_exec($curl);

curl_close($curl);
echo $response;

import http.client
import mimetypes
from codecs import encode

conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("legitimate.net")
boundary = ''
payload = ''
headers = {
  'Authorization': 'Bearer Ak8fkrk9jf98kjr889:9XdkfkK9H7yy7g76ggTX',
  'Content-type': 'multipart/form-data; boundary={}'.format(boundary)
}
conn.request("POST", "/api/verify_article?url=https://syncni.com/view/4879/are-tech-giants-doing-enough-to-combat-fake-news", payload, headers)
res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()
print(data.decode("utf-8"))

require "uri"
require "net/http"

url = URI("https://legitimate.net/api/verify_article?url=https://syncni.com/view/4879/are-tech-giants-doing-enough-to-combat-fake-news")

https = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
https.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = "Bearer Ak8fkrk9jf98kjr889:9XdkfkK9H7yy7g76ggTX"
form_data = []
request.set_form form_data, 'multipart/form-data'
response = https.request(request)
puts response.read_body

OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient().newBuilder()
  .build();
MediaType mediaType = MediaType.parse("text/plain");
MediaType JSON = MediaType.parse("application/json; charset=utf-8");
RequestBody body = RequestBody.create(JSON, "{}");
Request request = new Request.Builder()
  .url("https://legitimate.net/api/verify_article?url=https://syncni.com/view/4879/are-tech-giants-doing-enough-to-combat-fake-news")
  .method("POST", body)
  .addHeader("Authorization", "Bearer Ak8fkrk9jf98kjr889:9XdkfkK9H7yy7g76ggTX")
  .build();
Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();

PreviousComing Soon...NextGrow Your Audience with Email

Last updated 6 months ago