Thread by @JuddLegum

1. Zuckerberg and other Facebook execs love to talk about the company's third-party fact-checking program.

But how much content is actually fact-checked?

And how much does Facebook actually invest in the initiative?

Not much.

popular.info/p/the-facts-ab…

2. Facebook has 7 active fact-checking partners that review content in the US

In January, they fact-checked 302 pieces of content.

There are more than 200 million Facebook users in the US

This is like draining the ocean with a thimble

popular.info/p/the-facts-ab…

3. Why is so little content fact-checked?

One reason is that Facebook spends very little money on the program.

My best estimate is that Facebook spent $1.2 million on the program in 2019.

That's an investment of 0.0016% of its 2019 revenue

4. Facebook uses its fact-checking program for PR purposes but doesn't release any data about what it does

Independent accountability journalism can help fill in the gaps

For more of this work, try out my newsletter, Popular Information

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5. A former Facebook employee told me that, after 2016, there was a discussion about developing fact-checking capacity internally at Facebook.

But that idea was rejected as too politically risky.

Instead, 3rd parties shield Facebook from criticism

popular.info/p/the-facts-ab…

6. Although there were just 302 fact checks on US content in January, that overstates the impact of the program

Many of these fact checks were performed a week or longer after the content was posted, making them fairly useless in stopping disinformation

popular.info/p/the-facts-ab…

7. 50 of the 302 fact checks were conducted by The Daily Caller, the website founded by Tucker Carlson w/a history of inaccurate reporting

It's fact-checking program is funded by The Searle Freedom Trust, a major funder of climate change disinformation

popular.info/p/the-facts-ab…

8. If you have more information on Facebook's fact-checking program, please contact me securely at [e-mail]