Facebook’s “Related Articles” fact check feature is still warning readers away from a satirical Babylon Bee article, nearly a day after the tech giant claimed to have rectified the mistake Friday.
Facebook mistakenly threatened the satire site The Babylon Bee with demonetization and reduced viewership after the left-leaning Snopes website “fact checked” one of its blatantly satirical articles Thursday. Facebook told The Daily Caller News Foundation that it had rectified the mistake Friday, but Babylon Bee Founder and Editor Adam Ford claimed readers were still seeing the article being fact-checked, with Snopes’ fact check being highlighted under the article. TheDCNF has now confirmed that is the case, but Facebook maintains that the article isn’t being penalized and doesn’t have a “false” rating, Facebook spokeswoman Lauren Svensson told TheDCNF.
The article titled “CNN Purchases Industrial-Sized Washing Machine To Spin News Before Publication,” was deemed false by Snopes Thursday. While Facebook has withdrawn the threat of demonetization, the tech giant’s fact check feature is still displaying Snopes’ article under the original article.
Facebook using “related articles” to fact check The Babylon Bee (Screenshot/Facebook)
Facebook announced in December 2017 that it would use “Related Articles” to combat “false news” on its site and expose readers to “additional perspectives.”
“There’s a difference between false news and satire,” Facebook said in its original statement to TheDCNF. “This was a mistake and should not have been rated false in our system. It’s since been corrected and won’t count against the domain in any way.”
Send Tips: anders@dailycallernewsfoundation.org
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.