Image PolitiFact.com [retrieved 11-Nov-2021]
People who repeatedly share false information might have their posts moved lower in News Feed so other people are less likely to see them.
On November 11th, we briefly shared this amusing meme from The Patriot Post –
It was probably up for about 15 minutes before we deleted it and decided to go with something else.
The next day we received this notice from Facebook –
From the fact check –
A reader asked us to fact-check an image widely shared on Facebook that takes a shot at electric cars.
The image shows some type of unit connected to the charging portal of a Tesla that’s parked on a roadside.
The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
If you click on the image above, you’ll discover that they, in fact, did not perform a fact check –
There wasn’t a clear claim to fact-check in the post, or enough information to determine whether the text is an accurate description of what’s going on.
First off, we’re gonna call BS that “a reader asked us to fact-check” a photo of an electric car being charged. Who would do that? What is there to fact check? Don’t electric cars need to be charged? You don’t need an investigation to figure that out.
Most egregiously, there is nothing accurate about Facebook’s warning –
- Facebook says the post has been fact checked – it has not.
- Facebook says the post is misleading – it is not.
There’s all kinds of crazy on many liberal Facebook posts. Try to find a misleading or false information claim on any of them. You likely won’t. Maybe Facebook is looking to lose it’s Section 230 status.
UPDATE: We followed Facebook’s appeal process and sent an appeal request email to PolitiFact on Friday, November 12th. They responded on Tuesday, November 17th as follows –
Thank you for emailing PolitiFact’s appeals process. After reviewing the “Missing Context” rating on this meme, we determined that it is not an appropriate rating for this post under the terms of Facebook’s third-party fact-checking program. We have removed the rating from the post.