Facebook has blocked a post from the conservative education platform PragerU for being “Partly False,” even though the third-party “fact-check” on the post confirms that the information is factually correct.
The Facebook post contains a screenshot of a tweet which reads:
“Did you know?
In 2006, Hillary Clinton voted for a fence on the Mexican border.
So did Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and 23 other Senate Democrats.
Now, a border wall is considered racist. ?
Why has the Left shifted so far on the issue of immigration?”
However, the screenshot is being hidden behind a warning message that says “Partly False” and encourages people to visit the website of third-party fact-checker PolitiFact to “See Why.”
The only way to remove this warning message and view the post is to tap the small “See Photo” link below the post.
The specific claim being fact-checked by PolitiFact is: “Did top Democrats vote for a border wall in 2006?”
PolitiFact’s article confirms the claims in PragerU’s screenshot and states:
“Mulvaney said that Obama, Schumer and Clinton voted for a border wall in 2006.
They did vote for the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which authorized building a fence along about 700 miles of the border between the United States and Mexico.”
Despite this, PolitiFact then goes on to say the claim is only “Half True” because it supposedly “misses important context”:
“Still, the fence they voted for is not as substantial as the wall Trump is proposing. Trump himself called the 2006 fence a “nothing wall.”
Mulvaney’s statement is partially accurate, but ignores important context. We rate it Half True.”
The fact-check appears to be suggesting the claim is “Half True” because top Democrats voted for a border fence and not a border wall. However, PragerU’s post states that they voted for a fence so it’s unclear why this fact-check is being used to rate it “Partly False.”
Not only does this fact-check hide PragerU’s post behind a warning message but it also results in it appearing lower in the News Feed which, according to Facebook, “significantly reduces the number of people who see it.”
In addition to this, if PragerU’s posts are repeatedly fact-checked in this way, its Page may also have its distribution further reduced and its ability to monetize or advertise removed. PragerU could also lose its ability to create new Pages.
This fact-check on PragerU’s post comes a couple of months after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg agreed there “clearly was bias” in a Facebook fact-check of pro-life non-profit Live Action. In this instance, two of the supposedly independent fact-checkers for Facebook turned out to be pro-abortion activists who were labeling Live Action’s posts “false.”
Facebook has also previously come under fire for fact-checking and suppressing jokes from pro-Trump comedian Terence K. Williams.
