Twitter users have been wondering whether a surge in new fact-checks of progressive figures is part of a new egalitarian business model for Elon Musk’s social media site, which has previously been slammed for targeting conservative accounts before going private.
Many on the political left and in the media expressed strong displeasure at the idea of Elon Musk taking control of Twitter. But one apparent change noted by many since it became official on Oct. 26 is an uptick in fact checks of liberal politicians like Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren. Additionally, false claims about Republicans, such as one implying racism against Virginia’s Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, have also been debunked.
"What we're seeing right now is Twitter trying new features; charging for blue checkmarks, for example, and relaunching Birdwatch, a crowdsourced fact-checking program. It's giving users more choice in how they want their Twitter experience to be, and for the free market lovers that should be viewed as a good thing," Hallberg added.
Conservatives have long complained that fact-checking organizations skeptically look at Republican claims while often ignoring questionable comments from liberals and Democrats. NewsBusters Executive Editor Tim Graham on Sept. 28 published a study on the first year of Biden’s presidency. He found that "Biden was fact-checked 40 times, while Biden critics were checked on 230 occasions," a disparity of six-to-one.
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