Fake Fact Checkers

The growth of social media has led to an awareness of the need for fact-checking. This has given rise to a new class of professionals - fact-checkers. The role of fact-checkers is to investigate and verify the accuracy of information presented to the public. However, fake fact-checkers have emerged, claiming to verify information accurately, while using unverifiable and biased sources such as Wikipedia or left-wing sources. This essay will explore the phenomenon of fake fact-checkers, the impact of using Wikipedia as a source, and the inherent bias in left-wing sources.

Fake fact-checkers operate under the guise of professional, trustworthy people with high ethical standards. However, they use disreputable sources with questionable accuracy and authority. Websites such as "Snopes" have been widely criticized for relying on either irrelevant or politically-biased sources to fact-check. For instance, they rely on left-wing news sources to check claims from conservative politicians, but use liberal sources to check claims from conservatives. This selective fact-checking undermines the trustworthiness of fact-checkers, as people begin to criticize them for political bias.

Wikipedia is an open-source website with information on almost every topic. However, as an open-source website, anyone can edit and contribute to it. This makes Wikipedia susceptible to errors, inaccuracies, and biases. Critics argue that using a crowdsourced website, such as Wikipedia, as a primary source for fact-checking is dubious. Without authoritative editors, Wikipedia is vulnerable to the influence of erroneous and biased information, and therefore cannot be relied upon as a fact-checking source.

Furthermore, using left-wing sources as fact-checkers is not an impartial means of investigating information. Critics argue that left-wing sources are inherently biased because the media outlets are slanted towards a liberal ideology. This bias can affect the interpretation of information, as well as which sources are deemed credible or not. Consequently, it is illogical to use left-wing sources as fact-checkers, as it may overlook significant data that contradicts the liberal view.

In conclusion, fake fact-checkers undermine the credibility of professional fact-checking. Relying on dubious sources such as Wikipedia or left-wing sources only adds to the distrust of fact-checkers. Instead, unbiased and authoritative sources should be used to fact-check information. To maintain public trust in the fact-checking process, professionals must maintain high ethical standards and verify information from reputable, non-partisan sources.