Zebra Fact Checks

Fact checks and commentary articles that fact check fact checkers

PolitiFact stands pat with misleading Bush v. Gore narrative

PolitiFact published an explainer of the Trump ballot removal case before the Supreme Court. The Feb. 8, 2024 article had what we consider an ambiguous description of the Supreme Court case Bush v. Gore from 2000: The last time the Supreme Court played such a pivotal role in the presidential race was in 2000, when the justices ruled 5-4 to…
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More fetal pain follies at LogicallyAI (“Logically Facts”)

As detailed in our Aug. 24, 2023 post “Fetal pain follies at Logically AI,” Zebra Fact Check submitted a correction request to “Logically Facts,” the fact-checking arm of LogicallyAI. Though “Logically Facts” promises a response to any complaint within 48 hours, to date Zebra Fact Check has heard nothing back, though we found the fact checker “revised” its fact check…
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Fetal pain follies at LogicallyAI (Updated)

AI-assisted fact checker published an inexcusably inept fact check on fetal pain Do fetuses experience pain during an abortion? Zebra Fact Check occasionally spot checks “verified” signatories of the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. Our evidence strongly suggests the IFCN so far cannot begin to deliver on its claims that it verifies compliance with its code. Also, our evidence…
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PolitiFact ‘Mostly’ endorses Kamala Harris falsehood about Florida’s Black history standards (Updated)

On July 24, 2023 PolitiFact published a supposed fact check of Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris claimed “(T)hey (Florida) decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefitted from slavery.” PolitiFact rated Harris’ claim “Mostly True” on its trademarked “Truth-O-Meter.” Doubtless DEI directors and Democrats will largely cheer the ruling. We’ll explain how PolitiFact botched the ruling in…
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Correction request submitted to Snopes.com, July 16, 2023

In a December 2022 fact check, Snopes.com claimed PolitiFact debunked the claim that a diary for a time in the possession of Project Veritas was authentic. That claim was false. We know the diary is authentic even if alleged contents of the diary have not been confirmed. PolitiFact’s fact check “debunked” claims about the contents of the diary, not the…
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Is Donald Trump the least accurate politician PolitiFact has ever covered?

Popular mainstream fact checker PolitiFact published an article on Nov. 14, 2022 flatly proclaiming Donald Trump counts as the least accurate politician it has ever covered. The claim creates a problem for PolitiFact, for an objective proof of “least accurate” presents an exceptionally tall order. If PolitFact lacks that proof then its article ends up expressing a derogatory opinion about…
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PolitiFact’s FEMA ‘clarification’: Was it enough?

Zebra Fact Check logo

When Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said Vice President Kamala Harris spoke words amounting to the claim that disaster victims might receive faster FEMA aid depending on the color of their skin, fact checkers leapt into action to defend the vice president. Fact checkers, including PolitiFact, said critics took Harris’ words out of context. PolitiFact’s version of the fact check included…
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Reuters Fact Check dumps context to fact check abortion tweet

Zebra Fact Check found Reuters Fact Check using the same fallacy four fact-checking organizations “verified” as to their compliance with the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles used in rating a claim from anti-elective-abortion group Live Action. Live Action said abortion is never medically necessary to save the life of the mother. Facebook justified censoring the offending meme by citing…
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Is abortion ever medically necessary? Second-guessing AP Fact Check

AP Fact Check w/strikethrough

When AP Fact Check looked at the question of whether abortion ever counts as medically necessary, we found its reasoning of a kind with the Health Feedback/Science Feedback fact check we panned back in 2019. Both fact checks equivocated on the key term “abortion,” and AP Fact Check went further by failing to identify key sources. The Equivocation Game In…
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PolitiFact’s ‘great replacement’ smear of Tucker Carlson

After PolitiFact published an article supposedly explaining “great replacement theory,” with Tucker Carlson as a key focus, PolitiFact published a preposterous piece on May 19, 2022 claiming Carlson feigned not knowing about “great replacement theory.” Fox News host Tucker Carlson falsely claimed he was unfamiliar with the racist and antisemitic “great replacement theory” cited by the mass shooter in Buffalo,…
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