The social media platform modified its “fact check” of Seymour Hersh’s Nord Stream claims amid cries of censorship
Facebook has changed its position on a report implicating the US in the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, and now warns readers that the story is “partly false” rather than “false information.” The platform was heavily criticized for labeling the report in the first place.
On Thursday, Facebook users attempting to share Seymour Hersh’s account of the Nord Stream bombings found that their posts were hidden behind a semi-opaque black box with a message informing readers that the article contained “false information.” Facebook directed readers to a different article – in Norwegian – supposedly compiled by trustworthy “fact checkers” via a link below the box.
Hersh argued that US naval divers and their Norwegian counterparts planted explosives on the Russia-Germany gas lines in an operation organized by the CIA on behalf of the White House. He based his conclusion on a US source with “direct knowledge of the operational planning.”
BREAKING: Facebook has changed its censorship of Seymour Hersh’s article, removing the black box and changing the warning from “False information” to “Partly false information.” @briebriejoy @robbysoave pic.twitter.com/cqibwhgVg0
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) April 21, 2023
As of Friday, the black box has been removed, and links to Hersh’s article now receive a smaller tab below informing readers that “this information has some factual inaccuracies” and is “partly false.”
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