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Little story for you guys from my own experience about this charming feature of Facebook's culture. Thread. 1/
In December 2016, Facebook was about to roll out its collaboration with third party fact checkers: ABC News, Snopes, PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, and AP, all of them participants in Poynter.org's International Fact Checking Network. niemanlab.org/2016/12/clampi… 2/
Before the announcement was made, I got a call from the communications team at Facebook, asking me what I thought of this agreement, which was of course a response to intense criticism that the company was not doing enough to combat misinformation on its platform. 3/
They were trying to game out what the reaction would be to their announcement the next day. I agreed to keep the details confidential for 24 hours in order to hear their plans. Which was no big deal to me because I am not a tech industry reporter trying to scoop competitors. 4/
After the Facebook rep explained the details of their partnership with third-party fact checkers ABC, Snopes, PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, and the AP, I said it sounded reasonable enough, but I wanted them to know what would happen when they announced it the next day. 5/
I told Facebook that shortly after the news broke the company would be denounced by the right wing for its alliance with the liberal media, and that they should have a response ready. I remember the reply from the Facebook rep: "Well, we don't have a political agenda here..." 6/
I explained that it doesn't matter if you have a political agenda or not, you are going to be denounced by the so-called alt right for contracting with the likes of ABC News and the AP, because claiming to be victims of media bias is basic to how they do politics— so be ready! 7/
In response to this, the Facebook rep said it again: "We're not trying to be ideological here." Realizing that I was not going to break through on this particular point, I simply said "good luck!" and added that I would be watching with interest. 8/
The next day, the announcement came. newsroom.fb.com/news/2016/12/n… Here is what Breitbart said: "Facebook has announced it will introduce warning labels on stories they deem to be 'fake news,' with the help of partisan 'fact checking' organisations such as Snopes and PolitiFact." 9/
More from Breitbart: "Business Insider reports that these organisations will include the likes of Snopes, ABC, Politifact, and FactCheck.org, all of which have records of left-wing partisanship — particularly throughout the 2016 election." breitbart.com/tech/2016/12/1… 10/
The Facebook rep called me the next day to say, rather sheepishly, "I guess you were right." I asked what they planned to do in reply. Answer: they were going to add to the partnership conservative fact-checking sites. There was a pause... Then I said, "good luck with that." END
