Horowitz: Facebook’s ‘independent’ fact checker on vaccines is funded by … you guessed it



Accurate information about the vaccines and other vital COVID-related topics hinges upon the ability to disseminate the facts on major social media platforms like Facebook. In turn, Facebook relies on FactCheck.org, among other shady organizations, to rule on what information is admissible. FactCheck.org is funded by a grant from an organization run by Obama's former CDC director, whose assets contain Johnson & Johnson stock. In other words, the vaccine companies control the flow of information about vaccines. Welcome to the world of "independent fact checkers."

Over the past year, Facebook has censored nearly every one of my articles and commentaries questioning the science behind lockdowns or mask mandates. More recently, it has placed a blockade on any information raising questions about the vaccines. Facebook has also blocked people from sharing my articles promoting cheap, lifesaving drugs, such as ivermectin, or even studies showing how sufficient doses of vitamin D and zinc can prevent critical illness from SARS-CoV-2.

In each instance of censorship, Facebook has posted a notice misleading anyone who wishes to share the article into thinking that the particular points raised in the article were independently fact-checked and found to be false. First, it's critical to note that almost no article Facebook employees censor is fact-checked by anyone; they merely rely on an initial fact-check of one person's article critical of masks — just to give an example — and then trot out that same fact-check as an excuse for zapping any article questioning the wisdom of mask-wearing, even if the points raised in said article are completely different from the issues addressed in the first fact-check.

However, there is something much more insidious going on with the fact-checking industry. The inmates are running the asylum and the foxes are guarding the henhouse. When the vaccines began to be dispensed to the public in December, FactCheck.org started "SciCheck's COVID-19/Vaccination Project" to specifically focus on the flow of information pertaining to the vaccines. The site has a disclaimer on the top of the website stating: "SciCheck's COVID-19/Vaccination Project is made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation."

Comically, the next sentence reads, "The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundation."

In fact, the views expressed almost assuredly do reflect the views of the foundation. FactCheck.org claims, "The goal is to increase exposure to accurate information about COVID-19 and vaccines, while decreasing the impact of misinformation." Yet have you ever seen the organization offer balanced coverage or flag a single post on the other side of this debate as false, no matter how outlandish the claim might be, including articles advocating experimental emergency use authorization vaccines for little children?

Indeed, we all know the goal is to promote only positive information and zero concerns about the vaccine at all costs. Facebook, which is the largest promoter of their work, has openly made this its policy.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is one of the largest supporters of this project, just happens to get 15% of its assets through Johnson & Johnson stock, according to its 2019 financial statement! And the CEO of the foundation is none other than Richard Besser, the former acting director of the CDC under Obama and ABC News' former chief health and medical editor. This is "the system" at its best! The only "independent" arbiter of fair news about the vaccines must come from a source tied to one of the very makers of this vaccine, with billions of dollars on the line. The government, media, and social media are all bound by a circuitous web of corrupt influence, misinformation, and cowardly censorship.

Remember, the omnibus bill that passed in December contained $1 billion of taxpayer funding to help market the vaccine. Thus, the regulation of speech through social media is not, at its core, coming from a private free market.

One of the most anti-scientific and self-serving lies promoted by FactCheck is the government-vaccine complex misinformation that somehow there is no natural immunity to this virus and that those already infected must be vaccinated, thereby incurring the risks of an experimental gene therapy for nothing.

Rep. Thomas Massie forced the CDC to correct a report that implied there is evidence that the current vaccines on the market can convey a greater degree of immunity than prior infection. FactCheck.org cannot allow Massie to get away with taking away market share from its donors by dissuading people with prior infection from getting the vaccines, so the site wrote a hit piece on him trying to suggest that he had made an error.

With over 3,400 reported deaths and tens of thousands of adverse reactions reported to the CDC's surveillance system – and it's well known that just a fraction of those events are reported – how can we allow the government to actively work with a corporate and tech monopoly, funded by the very people who stand to benefit, to censor important data, science, and medical information? We have already seen the government temporarily suspend one vaccine, while the CEO of Pfizer conveniently waited until people already got sucked in to say they will need a third shot and likely more. Nothing to see here? Pure as the wind-driven snow?

Based on the CDC's own statements in recent months, people like Fauci were wrong about surface transmission, they were wrong about sowing fear about outdoor transmission, they were wrong about limiting indoor transmission to droplets and six feet and therefore wrong about masks; they were wrong about Florida vs. lockdown states, and they were wrong about shutting schools and rampant child transmission. Are we really to believe that there is no need to have a fair and open debate about accurate information about an experimental and rushed vaccine built upon new biotechnology?

Facebook fact-checker forced to issue correction after Candace Owens challenged 'false' rating



Political commentator Candace Owens challenged a "false" rating from a third-party Facebook fact-checker and she won.

Earlier this month, Owens announced that she was taking legal action against the fact-checkers used by social media platforms. Owens brought the case because she became tired of being censored on Twitter and Facebook by third-party fact-checkers, as well as seeing fellow conservatives being silenced on social media.

Owens retained a pair of lawyers to represent her in the lawsuit, including attorney Todd McMurtry, who was part of the legal team representing former Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann. Owens is reportedly suing fact-checkers from USA Today and Lead Stories, according to the Daily Wire.

"It is time to fact-check the fact-checkers," Owens said. "I'm going to put these suckers through discovery and figure out what the relationship is that they have with Facebook."

Guess what?! I am OFFICIALLY suing the “Fact-Checkers” who are really just activists. https://t.co/nvLBLZaQEH https://t.co/UGbJzMrMk0
— Candace Owens (@Candace Owens)1604623964.0

Owens launched a website titled "Fact-Check Zuck," which says, "Our freedoms are being stripped away. The overlords of Big Tech are determining what Americans can and cannot say, share, like, and post."

"Support our legal efforts today as we fight back against Facebook's fact-checkers, confronting those who are suppressing free speech, thought, and expression across our great country," the site says.

"I wanted to show that these fact-checkers just lie, and they usually go unchecked because most people don't have the money, don't have the time, and don't have the platform to go after them — and I have all three," Owens said.

Owens celebrated her first victory in the case against the social media behemoths on Saturday.

"Weeks ago, @Facebook censored a post of mine which truthfully stated that @JoeBiden is NOT the President-elect," Owens wrote on Saturday. "So I got lawyers involved. Conclusion? @PolitiFact uncensored the post & admitted that they LIED by rating my post false. The fact-checkers are lying for Democrats."

"At 8 Months pregnant, I unfortunately cannot fight on the ground alongside patriots like I am used to, but I am taking every measure to fight these communists in the court room," the conservative firebrand added. "It is my goal to expose these lying 'fact-checkers' one by one. @JoeBiden is NOT the President-elect."

At 8 Months pregnant, I unfortunately cannot fight on the ground alongside patriots like I am used to, but I am tak… https://t.co/t4ItNav6ri
— Candace Owens (@Candace Owens)1606578390.0

PolitiFact issued a correction and removed the false rating.

"Correction: PolitiFact originally labeled this video false in our capacity as a third-party fact-checker for Facebook," PolitiFact wrote on Facebook on Nov. 25. "On Nov. 20, an appeal to that decision was made on behalf of Ms. Owens. PolitiFact approved the appeal on Nov. 20, determined that a correction was appropriate, and removed the false rating."

Owens argued that Joe Biden is not technically the president-elect as of yet, he was only named as the president-elect by media outlets, which is not authorized to name the president-elect. Biden is projected to be the winner of the 2020 presidential election, but the president-elect will not officially be named until the Electoral College cast its votes on Dec. 14, once all states have officially certified their results.

President Donald Trump is currently challenging the results in the election and has filed several lawsuits in critical swing states.

Candace Owens sues Facebook fact-checkers for defamation: 'Time to fact-check the fact-checkers'



Conservative commentator and activist Candace Owens is suing Facebook for what she says is defamation.

What are the details?

According to the Daily Wire, Owens said that Facebook fact-checkers — who are employed to flag what they deem to be misinformation — are targeting her and their fact-checking has led to a demonetization of her Facebook page.

"Quite literally a doctor gave his opinion about COVID-19, which I shared, and Facebook issued a strike on my account because they said only information that they agree with about COVID-19 ... was acceptable," she explained. "I decided I was not going to give up and sit down. The fact-checkers ... are activists for the left that shut down your speech if they don't like it."

"It is time to fact-check the fact-checkers," the conservative firebrand added. "I'm going to put these suckers through discovery and figure out what the relationship is that they have with Facebook."

According to the outlet, Owens launched an online website to help crowdfund her forthcoming legal battle against the social media giants.

"Our freedoms are being stripped away," Owens' site, titled "Fact-Check Zuck," says. "The overlords of Big Tech are determining what Americans can and cannot say, share, like, and post. Support our legal efforts today as we fight back against Facebook's fact-checkers, confronting those who are suppressing free speech, thought, and expression across our great country."

Fox News reported that Owens retained a pair of lawyers to represent her in the suit, including attorney Todd McMurtry — who was part of former Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann's legal team.

Owens shared further information in a video posted to Twitter earlier in the month.

She captioned the announcement, "Guess what?! I am OFFICIALLY suing the 'Fact-Checkers' who are really just activists."

Guess what?! I am OFFICIALLY suing the “Fact-Checkers” who are really just activists. https://t.co/nvLBLZaQEH https://t.co/UGbJzMrMk0
— Candace Owens (@Candace Owens)1604623964.0