As Twitchy just reported, USA Today has again run a “fact-check” on a piece from satire site The Babylon Bee. And as we noted in that post, USA Today discloses that its fact-checking is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.
Facebook owns Instagram.
And there’s a post on Instagram about Joe Biden and his 1994 crime bill that we can’t see because it’s been fact-checked by … USA Today. USA Today claims that whatever was written in that Instagram post we’re not allowed to see is false: “Independent fact-checkers say this information has no basis in fact.” But how is USA Today an independent fact-checker when Facebook is paying for its fact-checking?
Biden was hit hard during the Democratic primary debates on his crime bill and how it led to the mass incarceration of black Americans; and as Glenn Greenwald points out, it was OK to say when it was coming out of Corey Booker’s mouth.
Instagram is Using False “Fact-Checking” to Protect Joe Biden’s Crime Record From Criticismshttps://t.co/l1yiShqWoJ
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 17, 2020
"The Facebook-owned platform’s denunciation of a well-established view about Biden" — a view voiced by Cory Booker, Bill Clinton, Kamala Harris and many others — "shows the dangers of internet censorship and the fraudulent use of 'fact-checking.'”
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 17, 2020
The only thing that is demonstrably “false” here is Instagram’s Biden-shielding assertion that there is a “fact-checking” consensus that this criticism of Biden’s 1994 crime bill is false. Don't trust Silicon Valley giants to police our discourse:https://t.co/l1yiShqWoJ
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 17, 2020
Look at what an absolute joke this Facebook/Instagram "fact-checking" is — to protect Biden.
On the left: Instagram denouncing a random user for "disinformation"
On the right: Cory Booker making the same point.
Pleading with Silicon Valley to regulate our discourse is lunacy: pic.twitter.com/IEnA7bip1R
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 17, 2020
As @ggreenwald points out, the "content moderation" era isn't just about protecting people like Joe Biden from criticism. It's also about deciding who gets to criticize. In this case, it's okay if Cory Booker says one thing, but not okay if Brad Troemel says the same thing. https://t.co/rZnaeQNOiF
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 17, 2020
That's the weirdest and most cowardly part of all of this. Instagram and USA Today hid behind fact-checks of random, obscure Instagram users, ignoring the fact that major politicians — Booker, Harris, Clinton, etc. — and research groups all said the same.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 17, 2020
Being arbitrary is an integral job duty for the Arbiters of Truth
— Defund oligarchs & their military/police—Fund Life (@TrumanBurrbank) December 17, 2020
That isn't weird. they are building a technofeudal global society. That means you are either a lord or a serf. And serfs don't get to criticize.
— d00msect (@d00msect) December 17, 2020
"…It's also about deciding who gets to criticize.". Exactly!
— Tiago Rinaldi (@phacus) December 17, 2020
And when. It was OK to criticize Biden’s crime bill during the primaries, but not before the general election and certainly not now.
Looking at the responses to this post…several fellow liberals would rather you ignore the 'content moderation'. Don't blame them…FACTS can hurt.
— OceanRescue386 (@rescue386) December 17, 2020
Liberals — being one and the same as the mainstream media — aren’t going to allow any facts to get through that could damage Biden. And where were all these fact-checkers when Biden claimed Republicans led by Mitt Romney were going to “put y’all back in chains”?
Related:
‘Whoa’: Glenn Greenwald resigns from The Intercept — which he cofounded — after editors censored his article critical of Joe Biden https://t.co/J0RbSv9TuQ
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) October 29, 2020
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