The 2020 election is going to be fought online and the left has decided to create its own fact-check unit.
The Democratic National Committee started a “counter-disinformation unit” to “serve[] as a knowledge base and intelligence unit” for the party. CEO Seema Nanda tweeted, “Nothing poses a greater existential threat to our democracy than online disinformation.” Of course, that group’s information is based on biased anti-conservative content.
Among the tips to find disinformation included links to MediaBiasFactCheck.com, which calls itself “the most comprehensive media bias resource on the internet.” This site found a way to discredit conservative and right-leaning sites such as the Drudge Report, CNSNews.com, PragerU, Turning Point USA, Judicial Watch, Breitbart, and IDW magazine Quillette.
“The DNC is working with major social media companies to combat platform manipulation,” announced the official website for the Democrats.
The DNC’s chief security officer, Bob Lord, is engaging social media platforms to “identify, monitor, and disrupt” efforts at disinformation. The announcement included the accusation, “Republicans have turned to echoing false conspiracy theories pushed by Russian intelligence.”
MediaBiasFactCheck.com has one section labelled “Questionable Sources,” which includes neo-Nazi publications such as The Daily Stormer, but also slams reputable conservative outlets.
- The Drudge Report is listed as “questionable,” due to “promotion of propaganda and conspiracy theories, as well as for publishing fake news and the use of highly questionable sources.” The aggregator was also slammed for publishing columns from “right-wing journalists” such as Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh.
- CNSNews.com (a division of the Media Research Center) was also labelled as a “questionable” source. The reason given was “extreme right wing bias, promotion of propaganda, and numerous failed fact checks.” The site criticized some of the commentary, or opinion pieces, which were published on CNS as depending on “questionable language.”
- PragerU was slammed as a “questionable source” for its “publication of misleading information regarding immigration and climate change.” MediaBiasFactCheck.com also found that some of the videos featured Fox News host Tucker Carlson and popular conservative YouTuber Steven Crowder, who “have very poor track records with fact checkers.”
- Turning Point USA failed five fact checks, “which moves them from Right Biased to the Questionable category.” The piece also alleged that the organization’s founder, Charlie Kirk, “routinely publishes false information on [T]witter.”
Other “questionable targets” include: Alliance Defending Freedom, American Family Association, Bongino.com, Breitbart, Daily Mail, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, Judicial Watch, Memri, Quillette, and RedState.
In another section labelled “Conspiracy-Pseudoscience,” pro-life groups and climate change skeptics were lumped in with 9/11 truthers. The Christian Broadcasting Network, Climate Depot, and pro-life group Live Action were discredited as conspiracy sites.
