# Snopes is debasing itself by "fact-checking" satire websites that are obviously satire. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940 "2019-07-31T18:14:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/1 "2019-07-31T18:14:02Z")
Snopes is really stooping low and losing some of its respectability by “fact-checking” parody articles that are obviously satire to begin with: [Did CNN really buy laundry machines to “spin the news?”](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cnn-washing-machine/) This is so wildly nonsensical that it should have been obvious that this wasn’t even worth fact-checking. A story like **“CNN buys laundry machines to spin the news!”** is so blatantly obvious a joke that it is beneath the dignity of Snopes to try to investigate or fact-check it. The \*Babylon Bee \*is a spoof satire website, like _The Onion._ It would be like Snopes trying to “fact-check” a story, “is the Moon really made of cheese?” The job of Snopes should be to investigate and fact-check only things that are plausibly believable enough that people would mistake falsehood for truth, or think something is actually real. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/2 "2019-07-31T18:17:42Z")
There are a lot of Americans who, for some reason, can’t tell “fake news!” from news, so maybe Snopes is providing an unfortunately necessary service. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/3 "2019-07-31T18:17:59Z")
Except these days people are passing around obvious satire articles as a fact on social media. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/4 "2019-07-31T18:19:44Z")
From Babylon Bee: [Snopes Issues Pre-Approval Of All Statements Made During Tonight’s Democratic Debate](https://babylonbee.com/news/snopes-issues-pre-approval-on-all-statements-made-during-tonights-democratic-debate) Love that site. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/5 "2019-07-31T18:20:01Z")
There were seve4ralstories on _The Onion_ that were (and are still) believed to be true by The Gullible Right and Religious. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/6 "2019-07-31T18:22:04Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > There were seve4ralstories on _The Onion_ that were (and are still) believed to be true by The Gullible Right and Religious. Yes, and there are Babylon Bee articles that are plausible enough to be believed by people not familiar with the Bee - for instance, their recent spoof article claiming that Jessie Smollett was offered a job at CNN. That’s something that could be believed if not debunked. But **“CNN buys washing machines to spin the news”** is a laughably obvious joke. It’s pointless, and beneath the dignity of Snopes, to try to fact-check something like that. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/7 "2019-07-31T18:24:24Z")
It’s also not new. Here’s one about an Onion article from 2015: [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/false-42-million-dead-in-bloodiest-black-friday-weekend-on-record/](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/false-42-million-dead-in-bloodiest-black-friday-weekend-on-record/) I could probably find more but the Snopes search is terrible. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/8 "2019-07-31T18:25:21Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > [Did CNN really buy laundry machines to “spin the news?”](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cnn-washing-machine/) > > … > > The job of Snopes should be to investigate and fact-check only things that are plausibly believable enough that people would mistake falsehood for truth, or think something is actually real. Snopes, from the article you linked to: > [@](#): > > Although it should have been obvious that the Babylon Bee piece was just a spoof of the ongoing political brouhaha over alleged news media “bias” and “fake news,” **some readers missed that aspect of the article and interpreted it literally.** My bold. According to Snopes, they are doing what you say they should. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/9 "2019-07-31T18:25:51Z")
There are people who genuinely believe that there was some kind of sex ring involving prominent US politicians run from a pizza place. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/10 "2019-07-31T18:27:09Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > There are a lot of Americans who, for some reason, can’t tell “fake news!” from news, so maybe Snopes is providing an unfortunately necessary service. There is a great overlap between those who can’t tell “fake news” and those that believe Snopes is just a tool of the liberal media and nothing on the site can be trusted. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/11 "2019-07-31T19:29:12Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > There are a lot of Americans who, for some reason, can’t tell “fake news!” from news, so maybe Snopes is providing an unfortunately necessary service. What? It’s easy. Any news that I don’t agree with or I disapprove of is “fake news” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/12 "2019-07-31T19:53:02Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > There is a great overlap between those who can’t tell “fake news” and those that believe Snopes is just a tool of the liberal media and nothing on the site can be trusted. In which case, Snopes is performing a worthwhile service for the more incredulous who come across such “facts” via social media or email and go looking for verification. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/13 "2019-07-31T20:53:35Z")
I had always understood that Snopes decides what to fact check based on submissions from readers, unless that’s changed recently. So if they fact checked a story that to you is obviously satire, it’s because a lot of people emailed them asking them if it was true. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/14 "2019-07-31T20:58:49Z")
Snopes has been going down the drain for the past five years, especially when they started pumping out fake news themselves. There were a few articles that used outdated or wrong facts and figures to prove something “True” or “False” and when I emailed them with the correction they ignored it. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/15 "2019-07-31T22:28:26Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > In which case, Snopes is performing a worthwhile service for the more incredulous who come across such “facts” via social media or email and go looking for verification. They kind of lost me when they started making their own fake stories, and presenting them as real. Or, “real”. The pages still looked as real as actual debunking pages. WTF, Chucks? As if there isn’t enough confusion already (hence this thread) did they really need to start making their own? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/16 "2019-07-31T22:47:19Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > They kind of lost me when they started making their own fake stories, and presenting them as real. Or, “real”. The pages still looked as real as actual debunking pages. WTF, Chucks? [This is what](https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:aZXBHCS0CEIJ:https://nowiknow.com/nopes/+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us) (cached version due to the live one possibly trying to download malware): > [@](#): > > Snopes is predicated on the idea that what one reads online should be taken with a grain of salt. (Although, to be fair, that’s true offline, too.) That rule of thumb, they believe, applies to them as well — “common sense dictates that you should never fully rely upon someone else to do the fact checking for you,” one page reads. So they concocted a section called “The Repository of Lost Legends” (“TROLL”), consisting of nine stories made up by the Snopes duo, five of which they flagged as “True.” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/17 "2019-08-01T01:46:17Z")
I can beat that. For some reason, in the left column of Google News it keeps offering me “fact check” articles from India, usually about fake stories that I’ve never heard of and “famous” people I’ve never heard of. Right now there is a fact check from Africa being suggested to me, explaining that certain photos [aren’t of a returned Jesus touring Africa](https://factcheck.afp.com/actor-and-evangelist-florida-preaching-kenya-not-jesus-african-tour). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/18 "2019-08-01T12:37:21Z")
I wonder if some sort of link sharing is going on. Snopes links to the BB and the BB links to Snopes. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/19 "2019-08-01T12:37:25Z")
The other side of this coin is that to many of the people on the Right, Snopes is an irredeemably biased left-wing source, that can’t be trusted. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940/20 "2019-08-01T13:25:10Z")
> [@lawoot](#): > > The other side of this coin is that to many of the people on the Right, Snopes is an irredeemably biased left-wing source, that can’t be trusted. It must be left-wing - it keeps pointing out that things that right-wingers believe without question are false. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-is-debasing-itself-by-fact-checking-satire-websites-that-are-obviously-satire/837940.md?page=2)