Facebook teams with rightwing Daily Caller in factchecking program

[Rhiannon12866]

Site co-founded by Fox News host Tucker Carlson has promoted misinformation and is known for pro-Trump content

Facebook’s controversial factchecking program is partnering with the Daily Caller, a rightwing website that has pushed misinformation and is known for pro-Trump content.

The social network said Wednesday it had added CheckYourFact.com, which is part of the Daily Caller, as one of its US media partners in an initiative that has faced growing backlash from journalists and internal problems. The collaboration was first reported by Axios.

Factcheckers in the program are tasked with debunking potential false stories on Facebook to help stop their spread, but some journalists have said the effort hasn’t been effective, and one of its major American partners, Snopes.com, cut ties earlier this year.

The Daily Caller, co-founded by the far-right Fox News host Tucker Carlson, publishes conservative news stories and commentary and has faced repeated accusations of running false and offensive content. In January, the site was widely condemned for the way it reported on a fake nude photo of the congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and its coverage of immigration and the White House has typically aligned with Trump’s agenda.

Check Your Fact is billed as the “fact-check department” of the Daily Caller, and the site says it is “non-partisan” and “loyal to neither people nor parties”. It has dedicated reporters rating content as true and false and says it is a for-profit subsidiary of the Daily Caller Inc, of which Carlson is a majority owner.


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/apr/17/facebook-teams-with-rightwing-daily-caller-in-factchecking-program



The Fox News host Tucker Carlson founded the Daily Caller. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

[Tech]

1. Who are they trying to kid?

I quit fb a long time ago. To be honest I had become the left wing version of the worse of the right wing. I felt I was getting very preachy. I was also discouraged at how many republicans i knew who drank the cool aid of first Scott Walker and his I'll and then Trump.

But th has gotten worse from what I hear. My husband still uses it, but is able to keep his politics private. It's nice that he keeps me informed, and he shows me pictures.

[TheBlackAdder]

5. The more I see the Zuckerberg's in action, the more I believe Facebook was not their concept.

[2naSalit]

2. I have never had any doubt

about fb, and I never joined it. This should clear up any questions about what they are up to. recall that one of the major funders, early in the fb history is one of pootin's own and they are still there now as shareholders.

[Rhiannon12866]

3. I never did either.

To me, it just seemed way too foolhardy to put your actual name and anything personal out on the world wide web! And people are surprised that something could go wrong??

[2naSalit]

4. And it has the same

effect as the fuxnooz, people won't look away or turn it off or get away from it. It's always, "but, but..." when you tell them what the dangers are. It's amazing in the same way.

[Rhiannon12866]

6. With all the news that has come out, it's baffling that anyone still uses it, even if it's too late

But it doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure what could go wrong offering your real name and personal information right out there on the internets. Your cousin and your BFF from fourth grade aren't the only ones who can see it. I was even quite nervous when I signed up for DU!

[2naSalit]

7. I figured it for a major PI gathering outfit

a long time ago. I am reluctant to sign up for anything online, even here. I have figured out that when I want to pay for something online, it's best to get one of those prepaid gift credit cards for $5 above the amount.

I already get tons of crank calls on my tracphone, it just never ends, why people don't get that they offer up so much online or through their phones. And I wonder if people somehow fail to equate being online with internet on their phones. Just using a device that is also a well established thing, like a phone, and placing it online may not seem like the same thing, I don't know, I have avoided a smartphone device so far. Maybe that is part of it but the wandering about like zombies is just going to lead to trouble somewhere down the road.