Fact-checking: from censorship to admission of failure ?

creative commons

While Zuckerberg has just announced the removal of his fact-checking service in the United States, and the European media are panicking about the implications of this decision for their own services, general practitioner Véronique Baudoux recalls on X (Twitter) the schizophrenia, hypocrisy or more simply the stupidity that the methods of fact-checkers have engendered, to the detriment of those who have really suffered from the vaccination campaign and the side effects of the vaccine.

The Twitter post can be summed up as follows: In November 2022, an anti-Fake News conference was held in the Belgian Senate during which the representative of Meta explained that Facebook was working with the authorities to remove “false information” concerning Covid vaccines, RTBf also developed partnerships with international fact-checking networks.

During the conference, he It is explained that fact-checking platforms can act directly on social networks to correct false information, including, for example, that of a woman who shares a study saying that it proves the link between vaccines and myocarditis.

This symposium followed the hearing report published in October 2021 in which we could read that Facebook/Instagram had deleted more than 12 million messages worldwide concerning Covid vaccines between March and October 2020.

Today, RTBf is offended by Zuckerberg's decision to remove moderation on Facebook. But Zuckerberg believes that fact-checking had contributed to reducing trust rather than improving it. For RTBf, freedom of expression is the loser, it is a threat to democracy and uses a quote from Hannah Arendt to raise the specter of the “bygone past” by reversing the accusations of “opinion manipulation”.

According to RTBf, when Facebook deleted information about the side effects of vaccines (including myocarditis), it was not opinion manipulation and was simply better for “democracy”.

The general practitioner then illustrates her point: “When I tried to share the French Senate report also confirming that Facebook had “fought against disinformation on social networks”, Facebook deleted my comment, warning me that it did not meet “community standards”. Facebook was therefore censoring publications demonstrating Facebook's censorship… QED”

READ ALSO

Zuckerberg shakes up his moderation policy… no more fact-checkers to ensure censorship, and von der Leyen suspends investigations against GAFAM while waiting for Trump Is this the beginning of a new era ? One that would mark the end of propaganda and censorship ? Between Mark Zuckerberg who sounds the death knell for the moderation policy… January 09, 2025 – 15:19 Politics Welcome to the world of denunciation Many of us had sensed that the introduction of the “health pass” with its all-anti-covid “app” was only the prolegomenon of a surveillance strategy… January 10, 2025 – 11:18 Opinions COVID-19 vaccine scandal: 22nd Florida State Grand Jury exposes questionable practices and major systemic failures Renowned epidemiologist and statistician, former professor at Harvard University, Martin Kulldorff published on X this Tuesday that “an honest assessment of our response… January 08, 2025 – 11:44 Politics

You liked the article ? It mobilized our editorial staff, which lives only on your donations.
Information has a cost, especially since competition from subsidized editorial staff requires increased rigor and professionalism.

With your support, France-Soir will continue to offer its articles free of charge  because we believe that everyone should have access to free and independent information for form your own opinion.

You are the sine qua non condition for our existence, support us so that France-Soir remains the French media that allows the most legitimate people to express themselves.

Natasha Kumar

By Natasha Kumar

Natasha Kumar has been a reporter on the news desk since 2018. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Times Hub, Natasha Kumar worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my natasha@thetimeshub.in 1-800-268-7116