The Babylon Bee is a Christian satire website. The website describes itself as “Your trusted source for Christian news satire.” Most people who read the website’s articles know they are tongue in cheek, but recently Facebook failed to understand that the site was satire.
Facebook flagged the Babylon Bee for supposedly proliferating “fake news,” due to its article “CNN Purchases Industrial-Sized Washing Machine To Spin News Before Publication.”
According to Relevant Magazine, the Babylon Bee’s site owner Adam Ford shared the notification they received from Facebook:
“A page you admin (The Babylon Bee) recently posted the link (CNN Purchases Industrial-Sized Washing Machine To Spin News Before Publication) that contains info disputed by (Snopes.com), an independent fact checker. Repeat offenders will see their distribution reduced and their ability to monetize and advertised [sic] removed. Learn more here: https://fb.me/fact-checking-help.”
Snopes.com apparently fact-checked the Babylon Bee’s CNN story, concluding that it was false, but completely mised the satire.
Facebook has since apologized for the mistake, stating, “There’s a difference between false news and satire. 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.”
Ford, however, believes that it may have been more than an innocent mistake on Facebook’s part.
“There is no question in my mind that Snopes and Facebook are biased against conservative-leaning content,” he told the Washington Post. “It’s clear that this is the case. There are always going to be some people who misinterpret satire, but we were intentional from the get-go about not blurring the line between satire and misinformation.”
Photo courtesy: Facebook/Bablyon Bee
Publication date: March 5, 2018
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