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String of high-profile incidents highlights incompetence of “fact checkers”

Snopes has been caught in a few unflattering incidents recently. In one high-profile case, they blatantly lied about an American Indian activist named Nathan Phillips. Phillips was thrust in the spotlight after a confrontation between himself and some high school boys went viral. It was said that the boys mobbed him and harassed him when he tried to leave the Indigenous People’s March, even though video evidence shows otherwise.

Some media outlets reported that the man was a Vietnam veteran, but military records proved he was never deployed to Vietnam. Yet somehow Snopes’ team of fact checkers decided to label the idea of Philips falsely claiming to be a Vietnam vet as “unproven.” Even when video evidence proved that Phillips was the instigator of the confrontation, beyond a doubt, they still refused to change their stance.

They also botched a fact check of a viral meme depicting a picture of President Trump surrounded by lawmakers and others in his administration after the House voted to repeal Obamacare. In the photo, a red X is stamped across 33 people, along with a caption saying, “Everyone with an X has since been voted out of Congress.” The photo, which was shared by a former campaign staffer for Hillary Clinton, was immediately mocked, with Politico’s Jake Sherman calling it “more incorrect than correct.”

Even though the Clinton staffer ultimately acknowledged its inaccuracy, a Snopes fact checker somehow reached the conclusion that it was “true.” The truth is that not everyone with an X was a lawmaker to begin with, but many of those who did have the X on their face did, in fact, win re-election after all.

On another occasion, they labeled a story by a Christian satire site “false” despite it being an obvious joke; the piece was in the style of The Onion and talked about CNNpurchasing washing machines to spin the news. This prompted Facebook to threaten the site by reducing its distribution and removing its ability to monetize and advertise.

Snopes was caught lying and helping cover for fake news media several times, but they’re not the only ones jumping ship at Facebook. The AP, another fact-checking partner of Facebook, is also reportedly pulling out, with the firm confirming it has stopped checking articles and its future relationship is up in the air.

See Snopes.news for more news about Snopes.

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