Still BUTTHURT! ThinkProgress' Judd Legum has 'inside story' on how Weekly Standard became Facebook fact-checker (lol!)

It would appear ThinkProgress editor, Judd Legum, just can’t DEAL with the fact that Facebook used The Weekly Standard to fact-check a story from his outlet. He’s STILL going on about it days later, this time accusing the ‘right-wing magazine’ of having a history of pushing misinformation.

Among other things.

Don’t make that face, we didn’t write it.

1. I have the inside story on how The Weekly Standard, a right-wing magazine with a history of pushing misinformation, became an official Facebook fact-checker

It's not pretty.https://t.co/BNPHZ8sY0I

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 13, 2018

From Popular.info:

The Weekly Standard, a right-wing magazine with a long history of pushing false and misleading claims, has been anointed by Facebook as an official fact checker. The designation gives the outlet extraordinary powers to severely limit the distribution of any article on Facebook it deems “false.”

What could go wrong?

Facebook approved The Weekly Standard, which had virtually no track record of independent fact-checking, after a pressure campaign from right-wing publishers.

I spoke to the independent evaluator who reviewed the Weekly Standard’s nascent fact check program to determine if it was qualified. He told me that he concluded that the conservative magazine was not yet ready for the job.

See? Sheesh dude, you guys were just fact-checked. It’s not the end of the world.

Time to move on.

Did we mention he wrote a thread on this?

2. In response to criticism following the 2016 election, Facebook launched a fact-checking program.

The initial partners were Politifact, the AP and a few other non-ideological outlet.

The right-wing went NUTS claiming these outlets were biasedhttps://t.co/BNPHZ8sY0I

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 13, 2018

Yes, it’s the ‘right-wing’ that went nuts.

4. The Weekly Standard had no fact checking program to speak of. But in October 2017, they struck a deal with Facebook to join the fact-checking program

A source told Quartz that the purpose of including TWS was to "appease all sides"https://t.co/BNPHZ8sY0I

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 13, 2018

Or you know, present unbiased fact-checking.

5. But in order for Facebook to select them, the Weekly Standard need to get approved by Poynter. So they started checking facts on November 1 and after a grand total of 10 fact checks submitted their application https://t.co/BNPHZ8sY0I

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 13, 2018

6. I spoke w/Mark Coddington, a journalism professor who Poynter had review TWS's application.

He told me he thought there really wasn't enough of a track record to make a full evaluation

He advised Poynter wait 3 months before deciding to certify themhttps://t.co/BNPHZ8sY0I

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 13, 2018

Judd is SO MAD.

Heh.

7. Coddington's recommendation was ignored and TWS was approved by Poynter a few days later.

Poynter acknowledged to me they knew Facebook had made the deal with TWS before they even applied, but that didn't influence their decision https://t.co/BNPHZ8sY0I

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 13, 2018

It’s all a plot!

8. So on the strength of a handful of fact checks that an independent expert deemed insufficient, The Weekly Standard now has the ability to effectively censor any piece of content on the Facebook platform https://t.co/BNPHZ8sY0I

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 13, 2018

Welcome to social media, Judd.

Ain’t it fun?

9. Before joining TWS, the total journalistic experience of the individual who wields this power was 4 months at The Daily Caller

Now he can reduce the distribution of any article on Facebook by 80%.

There is no appeal, except back to him.https://t.co/BNPHZ8sY0I

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 13, 2018

Garble argle RAR!