Source Filtering

What we filter

Argand maintains a curated blocklist of domains that consistently publish demonstrably false information, fabricated stories, or deliberately misleading content. When results from these sources appear in a search, they are removed before the page loads and a transparency banner tells you how many were filtered.

Why we filter

A search engine's job is to surface accurate, useful information. Sources that systematically undermine factual discourse — through fabricated claims, conspiracy theories presented as news, or deliberate disinformation campaigns — degrade the quality of every search they appear in.

We are not filtering opinions, political viewpoints, or editorial perspectives we disagree with. We are filtering sources that have a documented, repeated pattern of publishing verifiably false information as fact.

How sources are evaluated

Domains are added to the blocklist based on repeated, documented instances of publishing fabricated or misleading content, as identified by independent fact-checking organizations and media literacy research.

We do not publish the full blocklist. Doing so would provide a roadmap for circumvention. The count of filtered results per query is always shown transparently.

Transparency

We are openly biased against disinformation. This is intentional and we believe it is the ethical default for a search engine. Every time a result is filtered, you see a banner with the count and a link back to this page.

For researchers

If you need access to blocked sources for academic research, journalism, legal work, or fact-checking, you can enable the Show filtered sources toggle in your privacy settings. Blocked results will then appear at the bottom of search results with warning labels and disclaimers.

This option requires an Argand account (DID) and is off by default. The Argand Legal vertical always includes all sources regardless of this setting.

Feedback

If you believe a domain has been incorrectly blocked, or if you notice a domain that should be reviewed, contact us at filtering@argand.org.