Facebook removes fact check from anti-abortion video after criticism

The Hill ^ | SEPT. 12, 2019 | Harper Neidig -

[Morgana]

Facebook has removed a fact check from a video posted by an anti-abortion group after Republican senators accused the platform of censorship.

The moves comes after the group, Live Action, as well as Republican lawmakers, complained after Facebook’s third-party fact-checkers deemed that a video in which the group’s president, Lila Rose, claims that “abortion is never medically necessary” was inaccurate.

They argued that the fact check was not impartial because two of the physicians involved in reviewing the claim had ties to abortion rights groups.

The fact check was published by the group Health Feedback, part of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), which is partnered with Facebook to crack down on misinformation on the platform. Health Feedback’s reviews rated Rose’s claim as inaccurate, saying, “Certain medical conditions such as placenta previa and HELLP syndrome can make abortion a necessary medical procedure in order to prevent the mother’s death.”

Live Action said that after the fact check was posted late last month, the group was notified by Facebook that its page’s content would be subject to “reduced distribution and other restrictions because of repeated sharing of false news.”

After a group of Republican senators, including Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday with accusations of politically motivated censorship, the social media company removed the fact check from Live Action’s posts.

[Morgana]

COUGH COUGH COUGH bullshit COUGH COUGH COUGH.