Timothy Birdnow

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John Stossel Sues Facebook Alleging Defamation Over Fact-Check Label, Seeks at Least $2 Million

In one video, "Government Fueled Fires,” about the 2020 wildfires in California, Facebook and its fact-checking partners "falsely attributed to Stossel a claim he never made, and on that basis flagged the content as ‘misleading’ and ‘missing context,’ so that would-be viewers would be routed to the false attribution statement.” The complaint says that Stossel’s video "explored a scientific hypothesis” that "while climate change undoubtedly contributes to forest fires, it was not the primary cause of the 2020 California fires.” Per the suit, Stossel says he never made the claim that "Forest fires are caused by poor management. Not by climate change,” which was in Facebook’s fact-check.

On the second video, "Are We Doomed?”, Facebook added a "partly false”/"factual inaccuracies” label. That video questioned claims made by those Stossel refers to as "environmental alarmists,” including "claims that hurricanes are getting stronger, that sea level rise poses a catastrophic threat, and that humans will be unable to cope with the fallout.” Stossel claims the Facebook fact-check didn’t actually challenge any facts in the video, and he argues that the company’s fact-check process "is nothing more than a pretext… to defame users with impunity, particularly when Defendants disagree with the scientific opinions expressed in user content.”

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 08:23 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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