# Unsubstantiated Claim

> Published by **Knowledge Company** (knowledgecompany.ai).
> Canonical source: https://knowledgecompany.ai/dictionary/unsubstantiated-claim
> Markdown mirror, generated 2026-09-02. Cite the canonical URL.

A public statement with no evidence recorded against it, whether or not the statement happens to be true.

Risk

OWNER — Knowledge Ops

LAST REVIEWED — 2026-09-02 21:09:47 UTC

[SOURCE — FTC — Policy Statement Regarding Advertising Substantiation ↗](https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/ftc-policy-statement-regarding-advertising-substantiation)

## What it is

An unsubstantiated claim is a public statement with no evidence recorded against it, whether or not the statement happens to be true. It is a governance state, not a factual verdict — a claim can be entirely accurate and still unsubstantiated. What is missing is the file that would let anyone demonstrate it.

## Why it matters

A claim you cannot check is a claim you cannot maintain. Nobody can answer a customer's question about its basis, and nobody will notice when the underlying fact moves, because there is no recorded link between the sentence and the thing it depends on. Treating the missing evidence as the defect — rather than waiting for the claim to become false — is what makes the problem findable while it is still cheap.

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## Related documents in this mirror

- [Dictionary](https://llms.knowledgecompany.ai/dictionary.md)
- [Approved Claim](https://llms.knowledgecompany.ai/dictionary/approved-claim.md)
- [Source of Truth](https://llms.knowledgecompany.ai/dictionary/source-of-truth.md)
- [Knowledge Drift](https://llms.knowledgecompany.ai/dictionary/knowledge-drift.md)
- [Retrieval Boundary](https://llms.knowledgecompany.ai/dictionary/retrieval-boundary.md)
- [Claim Registry](https://llms.knowledgecompany.ai/dictionary/claim-registry.md)
- [Substantiation](https://llms.knowledgecompany.ai/dictionary/substantiation.md)
- [Claim Owner](https://llms.knowledgecompany.ai/dictionary/claim-owner.md)

*This document is the markdown mirror of https://knowledgecompany.ai/dictionary/unsubstantiated-claim, published by Knowledge Company -
a knowledge freshness platform that detects, verifies and updates outdated claims in company content.*

*Mirror index: https://llms.knowledgecompany.ai/index.md - Generated 2026-09-02*