Thread by @ChristopherJM

Setting aside for moment problems with @stranaua, this is prime example of what I was afraid of when @Facebook made @StopFakingNews official "fact-checker." StopFake "fact-checking" here is only saying far-right group C14 isn't far-right, didn't attack Roma b/c it said it didn't.

@stranaua @Facebook @StopFakingNews More @StopFakingNews fact-checking: violence and attacks against minorities from C14 (group takes name from '14 words') is well documented. @stranaua calls group far-right, says Kyiv Mayor granted them power to patrol streets w/ police during coronavirus quarantine.

StopFake says that's all false because the group isn't far-right (it is) and plus many of them are war vets (who says you can't be far-right and a vet at the same time?) But what's really incredible is that StopFake says C14 has never attacked Roma groups. Well, that's false.

C14 has posted about the attacks on its own social media and has live-streamed the attacks. Here's a screenshot of one of C14's leaders tearing down the tent of a Roma family near Kyiv. He boasted about doing it and posted this on his personal Facebook page.

Why does this matter? Because @StopFakingNews isn't actually fact-checking and labeling stories that don't align with its own politics and views as "fake." When it reports these stories to its new official partner, @Facebook, those stories lose priority & disappear from timelines

For reference, here is the original @stranaua story, which @StopFakingNews labeled fake: strana.ua/news/256399-mu…

Here's StopFake's "fact-check" stopfake.org/ru/fejk-v-kiev…

And Strana's report about it: strana.ua/news/258174-st…

For more evidence of violence targeting Roma by C14, see my many reports on the subject.

Here: rferl.org/a/ukraine-poli…

Also here: rferl.org/a/ukrainian-mi…

Oh, and here: rferl.org/a/ukraine-far-…

If this is the sort of "fact-checking" that StopFake is going to be doing (and this is what they've been doing for years now) then @Facebook and @Kateryna_Kruk should seriously reconsider having them as official fact-checking partners.

There's a lot more info on Facebook and StopFake's agreement here:

https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1243535215496237057?s=20