Here's the article from Mike Isaac, tech reporter at the New York Times:
The premise of the piece is basically defending liberal cartoonists whose satirical comics were being pulled from Facebook.
But Mr. Isaac threw this malevolent little paragraph in there:
But satire kept popping up as a blind spot. In 2019 and 2020, Facebook often dealt with far-right misinformation sites that used "satire" claims to protect their presence on the platform, Mr. Brooking said. For example, The Babylon Bee, a right-leaning site, sometimes trafficked in misinformation under the guise of satire.
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Yeah, this clown at NYT called the Bee a right-wing misinformation site — the Bee was the only example he gave to substantiate the claim that "In 2019 and 2020, Facebook often dealt with far-right misinformation sites that used 'satire' claims to protect their presence on the platform."
You'll notice that his words "trafficked in misinformation" contain a hyperlink. You would assume — Mr. Isaac being the consummate professional that he is, working for the prestigious Gray Lady — that the link would take you to a story substantiating his claims that the Bee, you know, "trafficked in misinformation." It does not. It leads you to this story about how the Bee is a successful and legitimate satire site that takes shots at both sides of the aisle:
Read the whole thing. No mention of "misinformation" at all.
This is the only paragraph that even comes close:
The Bee found itself walking the thin line between satire and fact in 2018, when it joked that CNN purchased an "industrial-sized washing machine for spinning the news." However obvious it should have been that the comment resided on the satirical side of the ledger, it still led to an awkward vetting by the fact-checking website Snopes and Facebook.
The author of that article clearly admits that the fact-check was stupid and "awkward" because the article Snopes went after was absurd and nonsensical and clearly satirical.
Yet Mr. Isaac feels perfectly comfortable implying that the Bee is a "far-right misinformation site" and straight up saying that the Bee "traffics in misinformation under the guise of satire," using as his source an article that says nothing of the sort and even disproves this accusation.
What the heck? How is that even remotely OK?
And don't miss the irony that this shot was lobbed at the Bee in an article defending liberal satire.
Bee CEO Seth Dillon weighed in:
I'm pretty sure there's a legal term for it, too. Accusing one of the most popular satire sites in the world of pushing "misinformation under the guise of satire" is extremely damaging to the brand.
Mr. Isaac and the New York Times better fix this.
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Update: Mr. Isaac changed his story to remove his most egregious defamatory statement and fill its place with this weak sauce:
But satire kept popping up as a blind spot. In 2019 and 2020, Facebook often dealt with far-right misinformation sites that used "satire" claims to protect their presence on the platform, Mr. Brooking said. [Updated March 22, 2021: The Babylon Bee, a right-leaning satirical site, has feuded with Facebook and the fact-checking site Snopes over whether the site published misinformation or satire.]
I don't think this will be sufficient. I will post more updates when necessary.
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Full disclosure: Adam Ford is founder and part-owner of The Babylon Bee.
