Big Tech Fact Checkers and the Voice; Election Interference By James Reed
While the corporates are flooding the election area with money for the YES campaign, another great threat to the NO side comes from Big Tech censorship. It is predictable given the way Big Tech interfered in the 2020 US election. Now, Sky New Australia has uncovered that Meta/Facebook is engaging in an effort to censor the NO side. It is done by fact checkers, who are themselves checked by the Soros-funded International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), so right from the start there is a Left-wing bias. But even so, many of the fact checkers’ certifications have expired, so they are not qualified to do what they are doing, according to their paradigm.
Investigator Jack Houghton told Andrew Bolt on Sky News’s Bolt Report, ““They seem to be just targeting views of people who are against the Voice [referendum],” Houghton said. He later added that “All of the 17 Voice [referendum fact] checks were checking semantics, or slight verbal missteps or just comments from people who don't want the Voice to go ahead.” Highlighting the bias he added, “there was plenty of stuff on the yes side that could have been fact-checked.” He noted political leaders who made claims oversimplifying the legislative process.”
There is not much that can be done about this at this late date; it is a general problem across the globe dealing with Big Tech. Still, they have an audience on social media which is probably largely converted anyway, and it may be best to focus energies upon those not under the black magic of social media.
“Fact-checkers rule the Wild West of Facebook and have now expanded their efforts to interfere in Australian elections. But if they can do it there, they can do it in America too just in time for 2024.
Australia is voting on a referendum on whether to amend its constitution this fall, and according to a Sky News Australia investigation, Meta-paid so-called fact-checkers are already taking sides. "The entire operation is a sham," Sky News host and lead investigator Jack Houghton told Andrew Bolt on Sky News’s Bolt Report. He noted that Facebook defers to the Soros-funded International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) to certify its fact-checkers as credible. However, those certifications expire, and both Meta and IFCN have reportedly allowed wildly biased fact-checkers with expired credentials to police election-related speech on Facebook. As he noted in the segment, if Meta and IFCN can unfairly censor in Australia they can do it anywhere—even in America.
Sky News examined 17 fact-checks from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Fact Lab (RMIT) that Facebook tacked onto content between May 3 and June 23. All of the content examined was related to the Voice to Parliament referendum, which if affirmed, would create a new legislative advisory body in Australia. The result was disturbing.
“They seem to be just targeting views of people who are against the Voice [referendum],” Houghton said. He later added that “All of the 17 Voice [referendum fact] checks were checking semantics, or slight verbal missteps or just comments from people who don't want the Voice to go ahead.” Highlighting the bias he added, “there was plenty of stuff on the yes side that could have been fact-checked.” He noted political leaders who made claims oversimplifying the legislative process.
It also seems Facebook is complicit in this election-interfering bias. In his investigative report, Houghton wrote, “Meta maintains its fact-checking operation is at arm’s length and independent, but Sky News can reveal the tech giant signed a secret commercial contract directly with RMIT which allows the fact-checking unit to be paid up to $740,000 [AUD] [$478,685. USD] a year from an Irish Meta subsidiary.”
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