President Biden joking about running over a reporter and more round out today s top media headlines.
Facebook s fact-checking procedures are heavily flawed and spread misinformation themselves, the Manhattan Institute s John Tierney wrote on Monday after the social media giant flagged his article arguing mask-wearing harms children.
Facebook’s independent fact-checkers flagged Tierney s April article in the conservative think tank s City Journal about the risks of kids wearing masks, posting a disclaimer it was mostly false. In the piece, Tierney argued masks were ineffective and even harmful for children by hurting their ability to develop linguistic skills and causing psychological damage, among other side effects.
On the same day Facebook’s oversight board upheld its decision to ban former President Donald Trump from its platform, Facebook removed a Federalist article, claiming independent fact-checkers found the story was “missing context.”
The Federalist article, titled “Pentagon Develops Microchip Detecting COVID-19 By Tracking Your Blood” is based on a “60 Minutes” report by Bill Whitaker that aired on April 11. In the segment, Whitaker interviewed Dr. Matt Hepburn, a retired infectious disease physician in the army who headed up a U.S. Department of Defense initiative to develop a chip that goes under the skin. The chip, or sensor, tracks chemical reactions and sends notifications to an individual if they will have COVID-19 symptoms the following day.
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A third-party fact-checker on Instagram labeled a quote from Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) on racism in America as “missing context.” The post that was flagged came from Turning Point USA s account.
The fact-checker Science Feedback bizarrely warned users to “encourage the general public to wear face masks to reduce the COVID-19 transmission.” It added how “the same information was reviewed by independent fact-checkers in another post.”
Science Feedback is a member of the International Fact-Checking Network. Its stated goal is: “Science Feedback is a worldwide network of scientists sorting fact from fiction in science-based media coverage. Our goal is to help readers know which news to trust.” It doesn’t claim to be an expert on racism. At least officially.
Apr 23, 2021
AP Photo/Noah Berger, File
In this Dec. 3, 2020, file photo, Bruce McDougal watches embers fly over his property as the Bond Fire burns through the Silverado community in Orange County, Calif.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) Climate scientists have warned for years that a warming planet would cause more extreme storms, like the one that walloped Texas in February, knocking out power and leaving millions in a deep freeze.
Yet as the snow fell and the wind howled, some looked for other explanations for the storm and its resulting power outages. The conservative website The Gateway Pundit made the false claim that President Joe Biden’s energy policies somehow prevented Texas plants from generating the power the state needed and “led to Texans literally freezing to death.”
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Those who still deny a warming planet grasp for increasingly far-fetched explanations
Instead of focusing on denialism, climate misinformation is getting local, focused on extreme weather events tied to a changing climate.
By DAVID KLEPPERAssociated Press
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Bruce McDougal watches Dec. 3 as embers fly over his property as the Bond Fire burns through the Silverado community in Orange County, Calif. A
Noah Berger/Associate Press, file
PROVIDENCE, R.I. Climate scientists have warned for years that a warming planet would cause more extreme storms, like the one that walloped Texas in February, knocking out power and leaving millions in a deep freeze.