President of Polynter Institute, owner of PolitiFact, says that big tech has always “called the shots” and calls Zuckerberg’s speech “disappointing”
Polynter Institute President Neil Brown called Meta’s decision to end fact-checking on social media “disappointing” and stated that there was never any censorship on the part of the checkers. The statement came after Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the social platform, who decided to adopt the community notes method, similar to what was implemented by Elon Musk on X (formerly Twitter).
The Polynter Institute is the company that owns PolitiFact, which acted as one of Meta’s fact-checking partners on Facebook and Instagram. Brown said that big technology always “gave the cards” and that “facts are not censorship”.
“It is a perpetuation of a misinterpretation of the program. Facts are not censorship. Fact checkers have never censored anything. And Meta always called the shots. It’s time to stop invoking and inflaming false speeches against the role of journalists and fact-checking”, the president of the Polynter Institute.
In a publication on the company’s website, Politifact stated that Meta has 10 independent fact-checking partners and 119 around the world, as stated on the big tech website. The company highlights that it was one of those chosen in 2016 to launch Facebook’s fact-checking program.
Politifact highlighted the fact that, despite Zuckerberg’s allegations of censorship, fact-checking companies never removed content from the platform and that this was Meta’s own role.
“Zuckerberg repeated several times in the video that he was concerned about ‘censorship’, but Meta rarely removed content from its platforms. When it was removed, it was Meta’s own decision, not the fact-checkers’ decision. The third-party fact-checking program never had the power to remove content from Meta’s platforms”, explica a Politifact.
The company also briefly detailed the fact-checking process adopted by Meta with its partner companies.
“Fact checkers verified the information that appeared in Meta and, using editorial organization parameters that designated what should be checked, chose what to analyze. Fact checkers then produced reports from primary sources, interviews, public data and analysis. They used these facts to review and evaluate the veracity of topics that were in evidence on Meta’s platforms, but the program focuses on allegations that are proven to be false or erroneous.”, described Politifacts.
The company also pointed out that it analyzed 3 issues that were in evidence on Meta’s social networks. They are:
- A false claim that 22 American states would not validate the election results;
- A false claim from January 4th, saying that a 2nd attack had occurred in New Orleans, in reference to the mass hit-and-run that resulted in the deaths of 15 people on January 1st;
- A viral image of a child who was reportedly found unattended by police officers, but each post located the child in a different US city.
Another company that was a partner of Meta, , also announced on its official website the end of the relationship with big tech.
The company stated that it began the partnership in 2016, but that fact-checking has been part of the company’s mission since before it had ties with Meta and that fact-checking work will continue.
“Fact checking is a service of public interest in journalism and we are more certain than ever of its importance in the midst of a turbulent political scenario,” the company said.
