In a world where social media is already part of our daily lives, two things do exist: misinformation and disinformation. False, inaccurate, or misleading information is misinformation, while something deliberately deceptive is considered disinformation.
I already lost count of the number of times Facebook tagged my posts (on my personal timeline) as either false, inaccurate, or misleading information – when I am just quoting reliable news sources. Well, it is their platform and I am just a user therein.
Well, someone took a stand and challenged the way Facebook does this “fact-checking” and court documents submitted revealed some intriguing things.
Stossel vs Facebook Inc. et al
In September this year, American TV presenter, author, and journalist John Frank Stossel sued Facebook, Inc. (now known as Meta Platforms, Inc.), Science Feedback, and Climate Feedback. Stosell filed a personal injury lawsuit against the social media giant seeking injunctive and declaratory relief and award for damages along with costs for alleged defamation.
The complaint states, “in the last year, Stossel posted on Facebook two short video reports in which he interviewed experts in the climate change arena about facts and data that Defendants concede are true. Without identifying a single false fact contained in the video reports -- and in one instance, apparently without even bothering to review the video at all -- Defendants publicly announced that Stossel’s reporting had failed a fact-check.”
In a document submitted by the attorneys of Meta Platforms, Inc. to the United States District Court (San Jose, California Division) last 29 November 2021 (for case Case 5:21-cv-07385-VKD), Facebook has admitted that fact-checks are merely opinions or opinion assertions, and not factual at all.
In an article written by Stossel and published by Fremont News-Messenger last 04 December 2021, he said: “Facebook often censors things that should be talked about... I sympathize with Facebook. Some users spread lies... But there's no way Facebook can police all the posts, so it does destructive things like partnering with Poynter Institute ‘fact-checkers’.”
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The school owns the Tampa Bay Times and the International Fact-Checking Network. They also operate PolitiFact.
With Facebook admitting that their so-called “fact-checkers” merely rely on opinions, perhaps it is time for the social media network to re-label them as “opinion-checkers” from here on.