As Twitchy reported earlier, actor Mark Hamill didn’t get any sort of warning from Twitter that the list of “banned books” from Florida schools is fake. American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten had also posted the list as fact before realizing she’d been duped. Keep in mind, this is the same Randi Weingarten who cheered her union’s partnership with NewsGuard, a tool to help students identify misinformation — funny how the people who crow the most about misinformation are the ones who keep spreading it.
Bryan Griffin, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary, noted that Snopes didn’t rate the list as “false,” but rather having originated as satire.
The fake book ban list image doesn't get a "False" rating from @snopes but "Originated as Satire."
"Stripped of some satirical markings"?
"Audiences perceived as satirical"?
No it was a lie that went far and now gets PR cover work from a "fact checker."https://t.co/GLryQT8oke pic.twitter.com/19bxbz3Q6u— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) August 23, 2022
Snopes fact-checker Bethania Palma writes:
Amid a push by U.S. Republican legislators to limit children’s access to books in schools and libraries about sensitive topics, some social media users in August 2022 posted a list that allegedly contained titles of “banned” books in schools and libraries throughout the state of Florida.
It’s true an effort was underway in some school districts across the country, including some in Florida, to limit children’s access to certain materials that some adults consider objectionable….
…
The list was originally posted by the owner of a Twitter account using the profile name “Freesus Patriot.” That person stated the purpose of the original post was to mock various schools in Florida that were removing books from shelves in response to political pressure.
What are some of those “sensitive topics,” Palma?
The original poster defended it until he couldn’t defend it any more, then lied and said it was satire.
— max (@MaxNordau) August 23, 2022
I thought he defended it as protecting valuable sources and methods?
— Ricky Shah (@RickyShahatty) August 23, 2022
Why yes, yes he did.
The original poster is trying to pass it off as knowing it was satire, except he deleted the middle tweet in the thread which implies he believed it https://t.co/aXqK1lTAJo pic.twitter.com/ABopIK3F1y
— CaprisArdent 🇺🇸 🇵🇷 🌮 (@CaprisArdent) August 23, 2022
“Audiences perceived as satirical”??
We had numerous elected officials tweeting it as fact.
— Colin Duffy (@TheRightDuff) August 23, 2022
"The fault was clearly yours, as the reader…"
— Leon (Incredibly Huge And Ugly!) (@insomni_action) August 23, 2022
You have to hand it to these spin-masters and gaslighters. They are good at what they do. They convince the majority. Imagine excelling in deceit.
— Erika 🦁🦅🇺🇸😊 (@saccadicmaniac) August 23, 2022
Articles from @AP and @FLVoiceNews.
Even the AP was more objective than Snopes. pic.twitter.com/rTo7bSyXi8
— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) August 23, 2022
Snopes actually fact checked several articles from @TheBabylonBee and gave false ratings. Then snopes defends doing so by saying too many people believed the satire. Rather hypocritical to defend satire shared by Randi Weingarten that she actually believed at the time.
— Duane (@Ralph733) August 23, 2022
The Babylon Bee would like a word with Snopes about this one…
— Non Excidet (@NordicYank) August 23, 2022
Fact checkers suck at their job.
— Derek (@Just_Derek_Here) August 23, 2022
We noticed Snopes fact-checked the list, not the original poster or any of the big names who retweeted it as fact.
Related:
Mark Hamill apparently has the green light from Twitter to spread fake news about Florida Republicans https://t.co/65hyU34YAz
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 23, 2022
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