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Last time Facebook done fact checking on something, they got accused by the republicans for skewing news. If they started removing false political ads they woul

by yoz-y 7y ago

Last time Facebook done fact checking on something, they got accused by the republicans for skewing news. If they started removing false political ads they would be in a whole new level of shitstorm.

makomk 7y ago
It's not just the Republicans they'd have to worry about. For example, when the Washington Post tore apart Bernie Sander's claim that 500,000 Americans were bankruped by medical bills each year, he doubled down and demanded they retract the fact check - and a good chunk of the press sided with him on the basis that only Republican claims should be subject to this kind of fact checking. Some outlets even accused them of "partisan fact checking" and undermining democracy for not turning their fact checking into a partisan weapon. This wasn't some minor detail either; he was suggesting his big expensive flagship policy could save hundreds of thousants of Americans a year from bankrupcy when it really couldn't. He stands by the bogus claim to this day. Now imagine what kind of headache it'd cause Facebook if they pulled a Sanders ad for using that or any other bogus debunked talking point...
- AlexandrB 7y ago
  > For example, when the Washington Post tore apart Bernie Sander's claim that 500,000 Americans were bankruped by medical bills... Are you talking about this[1]? Have you read it? The Post makes several factual errors - like claiming that the study which was the main source for the claim was not peer-reviewed - and ironically commits the same sin of cherry-picking data that it accuses Bernie of by choosing to favour a much more conservative estimate that only includes "bankruptcy caused by a hospitalization". [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/28/sanderss-flawed-statistic-medical-bankruptcies-year/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/28/sanderss-...
  - makomk 7y ago
    Yes, and of course I have. The big problem isn't that it's "cherry picked" or that it wasn't peer reviewed - it's that the research Bernie Sanders based his claim on doesn't even support his claim that medical bills are what bankrupted those people. (I believe there's also other research that shows medical bills are actually a really small proportion of the vast majority of those people's overall debt load at bankrupcy.)

by yoz-y 7y ago

Last time Facebook done fact checking on something, they got accused by the republicans for skewing news. If they started removing false political ads they would be in a whole new level of shitstorm.

makomk 7y ago

It's not just the Republicans they'd have to worry about. For example, when the Washington Post tore apart Bernie Sander's claim that 500,000 Americans were bankruped by medical bills each year, he doubled down and demanded they retract the fact check - and a good chunk of the press sided with him on the basis that only Republican claims should be subject to this kind of fact checking. Some outlets even accused them of "partisan fact checking" and undermining democracy for not turning their fact checking into a partisan weapon. This wasn't some minor detail either; he was suggesting his big expensive flagship policy could save hundreds of thousants of Americans a year from bankrupcy when it really couldn't. He stands by the bogus claim to this day. Now imagine what kind of headache it'd cause Facebook if they pulled a Sanders ad for using that or any other bogus debunked talking point...

AlexandrB 7y ago
> For example, when the Washington Post tore apart Bernie Sander's claim that 500,000 Americans were bankruped by medical bills... Are you talking about this[1]? Have you read it? The Post makes several factual errors - like claiming that the study which was the main source for the claim was not peer-reviewed - and ironically commits the same sin of cherry-picking data that it accuses Bernie of by choosing to favour a much more conservative estimate that only includes "bankruptcy caused by a hospitalization". [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/28/sanderss-flawed-statistic-medical-bankruptcies-year/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/28/sanderss-...
- makomk 7y ago
  Yes, and of course I have. The big problem isn't that it's "cherry picked" or that it wasn't peer reviewed - it's that the research Bernie Sanders based his claim on doesn't even support his claim that medical bills are what bankrupted those people. (I believe there's also other research that shows medical bills are actually a really small proportion of the vast majority of those people's overall debt load at bankrupcy.)