Zebra Fact Check sent a correction request to PolitiFact on April 17, 2024 regarding an apparently duplicated fact check. We received PolitiFact’s standard (automated?) response in reply.
Dear Truth-O-Meter,
When I saw a new version of the PolitiFact Wisconsin fact check containing an error in need of correction (correction request documented here), I dared to hope PolitiFact had chosen a weird method for making a correction.
How wrong I was!
Upon investigation, it seems PolitiFact has re-published its April 1, 2024 fact check of Donald Trump with an April 16, 2024 version. I’d hoped that reaching out on X to Katie Sanders would adequately flag the problem, but apparently that’s not the case.
I also had Bing Copilot review the two versions for differences. It found (as I did) that the only difference is the alleged source of the claim. The April 1 version looks at claims from a radio interview. The April 16 version says it looks at claims from a TV interview, at least on the deck. But the body of the fact check looks at statements from a radio interview.
The present state of affairs has a number of potential implications, including the appearance of self-plagiarism or outright plagiarism.
Swift action seems in order.
If the April 16, 2024 version is supposed to reflect a fact check of a television interview, obviously the text of the fact check should reflect that.
Best of luck with this one. Cheers.
Pre-republication update: March 4, 2026: PolitiFact unpublished the April 16, 2024 version of the fact check on April 17, 2024. PolitiFact announced the removal of the second version on X.com. Other than that, we were unable to detect any PolitiFact mention of this corrective action.