The Short Version
Every company on RedRightBuyer falls into one of two categories.
Certified members are businesses that have signed up, agreed to our terms, and chosen how they want to be listed. They control their own profile and lean rating.
Non-member rated profiles are companies we have researched and rated based on publicly documented sources. The company has not paid us, has not asked to be rated, and does not control the profile. The rating reflects our editorial judgment based on the evidence we cite.
This page explains how non-member rated profiles get researched and published.
What We Use as Sources
We have three tiers of source quality.
Tier 1 (the strongest): OpenSecrets.org, FEC.gov, SEC filings, and major newspapers like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Associated Press, Reuters, and Bloomberg. PAC contributions, lobbying disclosures, and SEC filings are the strongest possible source because they are public financial records and very hard to fake.
Tier 2: Industry publications, established think tanks across the political spectrum, Better Business Bureau records, court filings, and Wikipedia for biographical facts where we can also verify the underlying citation.
Tier 3: Company press releases, official corporate statements, and interviews with founders or CEOs published in recognized publications.
We do not use social media posts, anonymous accounts, personal blogs, partisan opinion sites, or AI-generated content as sources for any factual claim.
What the Lean Rating Means
We assign each company a lean rating drawn from five categories: Blue, Leans Blue, Neutral, Leans Red, and Red. The label is our editorial judgment of where the company sits on the political spectrum based on the documented evidence cited in the profile.
Each company also receives a precise position on a slider that runs from clearly Blue on the left, through Neutral in the middle, to clearly Red on the right. The slider allows finer distinctions between two companies that share the same label. Two companies both labeled Leans Red can sit at different points along the slider depending on the strength and direction of the evidence.
The rating is opinion. The facts in the profile are not. We separate the two on purpose. The opinion is in the rating; the cited facts are what the rating is based on.
How We Rate
Every non-member profile follows the same workflow:
- Research begins with Tier 1 sources first. We pull from at least three distinct sources before drafting.
- The profile is written in matter-of-fact language, with inline hyperlinks on every cited claim and a numbered footnotes section at the bottom of the profile.
- We assign a lean rating with a confidence level (High, Medium, or Low). Low confidence means the evidence is limited or genuinely ambiguous, and we say so.
- The strongest three pieces of evidence are summarized as the three top reasons that appear at the top of every profile.
- Before publication, the profile is verified against two independent AI cross-checks looking for false statements. Screenshots of those cross-checks are kept in our internal audit trail.
- A human editor reviews everything one final time and approves the profile for publication.
Confidence Levels
Each rated profile shows a confidence level alongside the lean rating.
High means we have multiple Tier 1 sources, documented institutional actions like donations or official statements, and an unambiguous pattern.
Medium means we have strong evidence but it is partial, or it is concentrated in a single dimension (for example, a clear founder political identity but unclear company behavior).
Low means limited public information, inference required, or the company is genuinely ambiguous.
When We Get It Wrong
Companies change. Sometimes new information surfaces. Sometimes we get something wrong.
If you believe a profile contains a factual error, submit a discrepancy report. Every submission is reviewed by a human editor and responded to. We document corrections publicly when we make them.
We are not perfect. We try to be honest about what we know and where the evidence ends.
What This Methodology Is Not
It is not a guarantee that every fact is current. Companies make decisions every day; we publish profiles based on the best documented evidence available at the time of research.
It is not a personal attack on any company or its leaders. We report what is documented and let the rating speak.
It is not permanent. Profiles can be revised when new evidence emerges or when a company's behavior changes.
For our broader editorial standards, see Editorial Standards.
To file a correction: Submit a Discrepancy