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-Land of the Free
No Joke: Babylon Bee Sics Lawyers On Snopes Over "Fact Checks"
2019-07-31
[Hot Air] Even the satirists at the Babylon Bee have a limit to jokes ‐ and the attempts by Snopes to "fact check" their humor doesn’t qualify. In a message to subscribers yesterday, the Bee declared that Snopes was attempting to exploit its position as a Facebook partner to "deplatform" the conservative satire site. In response, the Babylon Bee has decided to sic their very real and non-humorous attorneys against the urban-legend site to put an end to their harassment:
As you know, fake news‐which is distinguished from satire by its intent to mislead‐was widely considered a serious issue in the last election cycle. As a result, social media networks like Facebook began partnering with fact-checkers to try and limit the distribution of fake news on their platforms. Snopes was one of them. At one point, a piece of ours was rated "false" by Snopes, prompting Facebook to threaten us with limitations and demonetization. We made a stink about this, and after some media attention shed light on the problem, Facebook apologized for their handling of the matter and admitted that satire is not the same as fake news.

We came out on top last time, but this latest smear from Snopes is both dishonest and disconcerting. We have no choice but to take it very seriously. For better or worse, the media, the public, and social networks all look to Snopes for authoritative answers. By lumping us in with fake news and questioning whether we really qualify as satire, Snopes appears to be actively engaged in an effort to discredit and deplatform us. While we wish it wasn’t necessary, we have retained a law firm to represent us in this matter.
Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon confirmed the accuracy of the statement published yesterday to readers in an e-mail to Hot Air this afternoon, so this is no satirical joke. The move follows a long Twitter thread Friday by founder Adam Ford on Snopes’ most recent "ridiculous article," in which they questioned whether poking fun at Georgia state representative Erica Thomas could be considered "satire." What follows on Ford’s tweetstorm is what we’d have called an old-fashioned Fisking in the blogosphere a few years back:
Posted by:Besoeker

#12  Snopes reported falsely on the taharrush mass molestation incident in Cologne,

Dron64066, I don’t check Snopes for such things — I was involved in real time in collecting the articles on the subject now in Rantburg’s archive. But they rely on news reports for contemporaneous things; at the time the German press, police, and politicians loudly pooh-poohed the reports until the flood of witnesses became overwhelming, at which point they backtracked as slowly and minimally as they thought they could get away with, until finally they confessed most of it. So I don’t blame the Snopes team for getting that really wrong.
Posted by: trailing wife   2019-07-31 22:29  

#11  Snopes has declared war on the Babylon Bee. They have chosen poorly. The Babylon Bee is not only fighting Snopes in court, their satire is absolutely skewering Snopes.

Two websites enter. Only one will leave. This should be fun.


Posted by: The peanut gallery   2019-07-31 20:38  

#10  TW, Snopes reported falsely on the taharrush mass molestation incident in Cologne, and related attacks on girls, organized by muslim youth via internet on new year's eve some years back. Their original post was scornful and made fun of the report.

Snopes said then that it was a hoax and someone had linked a few unrelated incidents to present 'refugees in a bad light'. There was an uproar on social media and news agencies too got on the case, Snopes had to change it to more ambiguous wording, but they still claim there was no such action.
Posted by: Dron66046   2019-07-31 13:08  

#9  Snopes is fine for real urban legends like whether or not pirate-hunting cruises are being organized off the coast of Somalia, or most of the silly things your Aunt Suzy used to send in mass emails and now sends in mass private Facebook messages. It’s just that, like Wikipedia, on political questions they’ve allowed themselves to become politicized.

Here’s hoping the Babylon Bee’s lawsuit is effective.
Posted by: trailing wife   2019-07-31 12:12  

#8  What do you mean become? They've always been a shill for the left
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2019-07-31 10:17  

#7  Snopes has always been little more than a propaganda machine. The fact that Facebook is using them to prop up each other's propaganda is proof enough.

Hit back twice as hard, BB.
Posted by: DarthVader   2019-07-31 10:15  

#6  Snopes has become worthless.
Posted by: JohnQC   2019-07-31 09:42  

#5  sic their very real and non-humorous attorneys against

I like that.☺
Posted by: Dron66046   2019-07-31 08:43  

#4  The left shall not be mocked by stinging satire.
Posted by: Besoeker   2019-07-31 08:33  

#3  Snopes writer Dan Evon wrote, "... the entertainment website Babylon Bee."

So they are not confusing the Bee with (what they consider to be) a real news site. Will Snopes be fact-checking other 'entertainment' sites, like - say - People magazine?
Posted by: Bobby   2019-07-31 08:28  

#2  Snopes lost all credibilities a long time ago. I don't pay attention to Snopes anymore, haven't for years now.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance   2019-07-31 07:31  

#1  ...in which they questioned whether poking fun at Georgia state representative Erica Thomas could be considered "satire."

I'm so old I remember when people made fun of both political parties. Snopes et. al. have made that a one way street. Good on the Bee for fighting back.
Posted by: Raj   2019-07-31 07:10  

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