Snopes pulls out of its fact-checking partnership with Facebook • Hacker News Board

Re: Snopes pulls out of its fact-checking partnership with Facebook

#51

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Feb 01, 2019, 10:53 PM UTC

athenot wrote: post #26

Oddly, it seems that Facebook needs Snopes more than Snopes needed Facebook.

[deleted]

Re: Snopes pulls out of its fact-checking partnership with Facebook

#52

Post by deogeo » Fri, Feb 01, 2019, 10:56 PM UTC

fitpolar wrote: post #49

0x262d wrote: post #46

fact checking has always been a silly, hopeless attempt to find a technocratic solution to fundamentally political problems.

It's a hopeless quest until AI reaches a certain level of objective interpretation. Regarding humans, most people who are capable of researching truth without any bias, don't have a voice. Human history is riddled with partisan extremists presenting biased information as neutral and factual. Snopes is no exception.

Do you trust whoever trained or is controlling the AI?

Re: Snopes pulls out of its fact-checking partnership with Facebook

#53

Post by Mirioron » Fri, Feb 01, 2019, 10:58 PM UTC

elefanten wrote: post #38

IronWolve wrote: post #30

When hyperbole, exaggeration, rounding, jokes are called false and lies, its not a fact checker its a political tool.

When hyperbole, exaggeration, rounding and jokes are repackaged, decontextualized and repeated as sober truth, they become false / lies. Do you have examples of Snopes going out of their way to label hyperbole, etc. as lies in a rhetorical / dishonest manner? Or do you have examples of them clarifying what's hyperbole vs reality? I ask because people usually produce examples of the latter.

This is an example of snopes not doing their job well: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nathan-phillips-vietnam-ve...

Snopes claimed that Phillips hadn't claimed that he was a Vietnam veteran until the 24th of January, when a Twitter post became popular with that information. Apparently these clips were found on Phillips' Facebook page. You would expect a fact-checking website to check facts. At least check their Facebook page.

This isn't a perfect example of what you're asking for examples of, but it is a very recent one, where relying on snopes would've kept you misinformed.

Re: Snopes pulls out of its fact-checking partnership with Facebook

#54

Post by fitpolar » Fri, Feb 01, 2019, 10:59 PM UTC

deogeo wrote: post #52

fitpolar wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a hopeless quest until AI reaches a certain level of objective interpretation. Regarding humans, most people who are capable of researching truth without any bias, don't have a voice. Human history is riddled with partisan extremists presenting biased information as neutral and factual. Snopes is no exception.

Do you trust whoever trained or is controlling the AI?

At this point nothing is trustworthy. But I have more faith that AI is going to do a better job in future than humans ever have. We may be 100 years away from that though, or 1000 years. Who knows?

Re: Snopes pulls out of its fact-checking partnership with Facebook

#55

Post by nkurz » Fri, Feb 01, 2019, 11:02 PM UTC

goldcd wrote: post #41

goldcd wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glad you asked - https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/on-tap/ This is demonstrably bullshit. It does work. Many years ago I got a bee-in-my-bonnet over this and tried to correct them - and got told to ~"piss off". God, I'd almost manage to push this out of my mind, until your post.. Just to address the article (to you, another uncaring audience) - "However, tapping does nothing to reincorporate the carbon dioxide into t…

Right. You've made me do it. Tomorrow I'm buying Coke-Zero cans, chilling them, I will shake together, toss coin tap heads on the bottom, and open simultaneously (providing I can work out how to hold my phone and two cans at the same time) and will post unedited results on a youtube link. ALL I ask is whoever downvoted me, at least checks back. F'it - I really don't care. I've been an oppressed minority for so long i…

I've upvoted rather than downvoted you because I appreciate your passion, but I'm eager to see your results. Posting here to remind me to check back tomorrow.

Re: Snopes pulls out of its fact-checking partnership with Facebook

#56

Post by ransford » Fri, Feb 01, 2019, 11:06 PM UTC

Was the $100K mentioned in this article the total amount Facebook gave Snopes? Because that's, like, one new-grad signing bonus.

Re: Snopes pulls out of its fact-checking partnership with Facebook

#57

Post by abtinf » Fri, Feb 01, 2019, 11:09 PM UTC

RealClearPolitics has an interesting guide to the different fact-check providers. In particular, it calls out the difference between fact-checks and opinion-checks.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/fact_check_review/

Re: Snopes pulls out of its fact-checking partnership with Facebook

#58

Post by jamesku » Fri, Feb 01, 2019, 11:11 PM UTC

Good! Snopes is a cancer rewiring the brains of youth as to what impartial fact checking actually should be. Snopes passing off as factual is exactly the same as Fox's previous rhetoric of being "fair and balanced", just on the other side of the political spectrum.

There are a few examples already in this thread on Snopes bias with inaccurate inclusions. But historians know that you are just as biased in what you choose to omit, as much as what you choose to include.

An example would be the way they paint Antifa in a positive light. Why is there nothing on the recent arrests of Antifa members for beating up an innocent Jewish bystander, and 2 Mexican-American marines while yelling racial slurs? https://www.snopes.com/?s=anitfa+marines https://www.snopes.com/?s=did+anitfa+beat+up+marines%3F https://www.snopes.com/?s=did+antifa+beat+up+a+jew%3F

Re: Snopes pulls out of its fact-checking partnership with Facebook

#59

Post by nitwit005 » Fri, Feb 01, 2019, 11:18 PM UTC

If Facebook was only willing to devote $100,000 to it, it seems like they basically spent the minimum amount possible so that they could claim they were doing something. The expense doesn't remotely match up to the scale of the problem.

Re: Snopes pulls out of its fact-checking partnership with Facebook

#60

Post by abtinf » Fri, Feb 01, 2019, 11:20 PM UTC

deogeo wrote: post #4

sarcasmatwork wrote: post #2

Good! Snopes != a fact checker. https://outline.com/EcMCbp

Examples of false or misleading fact-checks by Snopes would be far more persuasive. That article only calls into question the neutrality of the people behind Snopes, but for all I know they could still put their biases behind them when at work.