Facebook fact-checker has ties to climate doubt
Facebook’s newest fact-checking partner is connected to an enterprise that was founded by a conservative Fox News host and that routinely promotes climate doubt.
The social media giant is partnering with CheckYourFact.com to provide third-party oversight of news on its platform, Facebook announced last week. Check Your Fact is an affiliate of The Daily Caller, the right-leaning news outlet co-founded by Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Climate scientists and advocates are worried that the new partnership means climate articles will be downplayed on Facebook.
The climate stories published by The Daily Caller create a false impression of the level of certainty about human-caused global warming within the climate science field, said Susan Joy Hassol, director of the science outreach nonprofit group Climate Communication.
In particular, The Daily Caller has mastered a form of partial truth-telling that isn’t technically wrong but doesn’t give the full picture, either, she said. [Continue reading…]