US digging into Elon Musk for exposing Twitter’s ‘nefarious’ activity is ‘deeply alarming’: Mollie Hemingway
The Federalist editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway and Fox News contributor Harold Ford Jr. joined ‘MediaBuzz’ to discuss the FTC’s recent request for sweeping records from Twitter.
Noted Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler was fact-checked himself by Twitter community notes on his clarification on whether George Soros "funds" Alvin Bragg.
Kessler posted a fact-check analysis on Saturday about the "incendiary claim" by Republicans that left-wing billionaire George Soros helped to fund the Manhattan district attorney’s election campaign in 2021. In his review, Kessler gave Republicans three Pinocchios, calling the claim "slippery" and warning about antisemitic implications.
"Republicans are being slippery here. Claiming Soros ‘funded’ Bragg is simply false, but many rely on the more ambiguous phrase of ‘backed,’ which is technically correct by several degrees of separation. But it’s still misleading and worthy of Three Pinocchios," Kessler wrote. "The incendiary focus on Soros raises more difficult questions. Given the tenuous connection between Soros and Bragg, it’s a dangerous game that plays into stereotypes of rich Jewish financiers secretly controlling events."
However, Twitter community notes corrected this fact-check, reporting that Soros did, in fact, donate money to an organization that supported Bragg.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been criticized by Republican politicians for his election campaign receiving money connected to left-wing billionaire George Soros. ((Photo by ALEX KENT/AFP via Getty Images))
"Soros donated $1 million to the Color of Change PAC, the largest individual donation it received in the 2022 election cycle, days after it endorsed Bragg for district attorney and pledged more than $1 million in spending to support his candidacy," the note read.
Kessler pushed back, saying that "Twitter trolls" did not read his fact-check.
"Twitter trolls who posted a ‘community note’ to this tweet apparently have not read the actual fact check. Click the link and you will find that Color of Change did not spend $1 million in independent expenditures on Bragg, as people often claim," Kessler tweeted.
This referred to another tweet Kessler had, reading, "One interesting finding: Color of Change, a progressive criminal justice group that received money from Soros, had claimed it would spend $1 million on behalf of Bragg. But state elections records show it only spent about $420,000."
"And the link in the community note leads to an article headlined ‘Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's ties to billionaire George Soros are not as close as Republicans claim,’" he added.
Twitter's community notes have provided additional "context" to tweets, including ones from politicians. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The latest tweet ironically faced another community note from Twitter, correcting Kessler’s claim on the previous note.
"The original Community Note does not say that the Color of Change PAC spent the $1 million it originally pledged. Soros donated $1 million to the PAC days after it endorsed Bragg and pledged more than $1 million in spending to support his candidacy," the second community note read.
MUSK INVITES TWITTER FACT-CHECKER COMMUNITY TO CHECK BIDEN’S CONDEMNATION OF ‘MAGA’ REPUBLICANS
Twitter CEO Elon Musk likewise ridiculed Kessler’s original fact-check.
"Only thing on fire are Kessler’s pants," Musk tweeted.
The Twitter community notes is a feature that allows users to sign up and provide "missing context" regarding certain tweets. More recently, the feature has been used to correct various mainstream media claims as well as politicians’ tweets.
Most notably, Twitter users fact-checked a tweet from the White House that claimed Social Security checks increased in November.
The White House deleted a tweet on Social Security after it was corrected by community notes on Twitter. (White House)
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"Seniors are getting the biggest increase in their Social Security checks in 10 years through President Biden's leadership," the original tweet read.
The note under the tweet read, "Seniors will receive a large Social Security benefit due to the annual cost of living adjustment, which is based on the inflation rate."
After the backlash, the White House eventually deleted the tweet.
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