‘Left-Leaning’ Reuters, AP to Be Twitter’s New Fact-Checkers

Twitter announced the two news orgs—with politically “left-leaning” tendencies—will help expand “efforts to identify and elevate credible information” on its platform.

QUICK FACTS:
  • Twitter has signed a deal with both Reuters and The Associated Press (AP) to help elevate what they deem “accurate information,” according to Townhall.
  • “Twitter said they will look to feature information from “reliable” resources, debunk circulating misinformation and explain the site’s trending patterns.”
  • This represents efforts by Twitter to “contextualize developing discourse” before such content goes viral.
WHAT TWITTER SAID:
  • “We are committed to making sure that when people come to Twitter to see what’s happening, they are able to easily find reliable information,” Twitter said in a blog post.
  • “Twitter will be able to expand the scale and increase the speed of our efforts to provide timely, authoritative context across the wide range of global topics and conversations that happen on Twitter every day.”
WHAT TOWNHALL IS SAYING:
  • Townhall—a popular conservative news source—has branded both Reuters and AP as “liberal media outlets” and “left-leaning.”
  • Townhall characterized the move by Twitter as one “that will not exactly ensure trust among individuals outside of the liberal sphere.”
BACKGROUND:
  • Reuters and AP are already fact-checking partners with Facebook, notes Townhall.
  • AllSides.com, which rates the political bias of media outlets, gives a “lean left” rating to AP’s “Politics and Fact Check sections.”
  • AllSides gives Reuters’ fact check section a “center” rating with the caveat, “though there may be some evidence of Lean Left bias, according to a July 2021 Small Group Editorial Review by AllSides editors on the left, center, and right.”
  • “There was some evidence of a slight Lean Left bias,” notes AllSides, “such as this article in which Reuters attempts to fact-check an opinion by adding more context. However, we did not necessarily identify a clear pattern of this because much of Reuters’ content is focused on international issues, not just U.S. politics, and our team is U.S.-based.”

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