Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "The Babylon Bee" in English language version.
Elon Musk had his sights set on bringing back the Twitter account for right-wing, Christian satire website The Babylon Bee on day one as Twitter's CEO in October. The account had been banned for anti-trans tweets aimed at a member of the Biden administration. The site's account was reinstated on Sunday, three weeks after his takeover of Twitter.
But it does not spare the right. In 2019 it poked fun at Donald Trump for boasting that he had "done more for Christianity than Jesus". The article went viral, leading Snopes, a fact-checking outfit, to label it as satire after some people believed it was a real story. Then, last September, Mr Trump actually said in an interview: "Nobody has done more for Christianity, or for evangelicals, or for religion itself than I have." The Bee now frequently tweets its original satire side by side with a real media headline that fulfilled it.
Snopes, which didn't respond to Reason's interview request, has said that a significant percentage of social media users mistake satire for real news. But Mann says that when making this claim, Snopes cited a methodologically flawed study in which participants were shown Babylon Bee headlines reworded and taken out of context.
Editors' Note: Some readers interpreted wording in a previous version of this fact check as imputing deceptive intent on the part of Babylon Bee in its original satirical piece about Georgia state Rep. Erica Thomas, and that was not the editors' aim. To address any confusion, we have revised some of the wording mostly for tone and clarity. We are in the process of pioneering industry standards for how the fact-checking industry should best address humor and satire.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The satire site, which began in early March, features witty headlines that poke fun at the foibles of churchgoers. The site is the brainchild of Adam Ford, 32, a Detroit dad who quit his day job a year and a half ago to produce Web content. His first project was Adam4d.com, a Web comic supported by small group of donors and a few ads. He's aiming bigger with the Babylon Bee, which he said attracted more than 1 million visitors in its first three weeks.
The satire site, which began in early March, features witty headlines that poke fun at the foibles of churchgoers. The site is the brainchild of Adam Ford, 32, a Detroit dad who quit his day job a year and a half ago to produce Web content. His first project was Adam4d.com, a Web comic supported by small group of donors and a few ads. He's aiming bigger with the Babylon Bee, which he said attracted more than 1 million visitors in its first three weeks.
But it does not spare the right. In 2019 it poked fun at Donald Trump for boasting that he had "done more for Christianity than Jesus". The article went viral, leading Snopes, a fact-checking outfit, to label it as satire after some people believed it was a real story. Then, last September, Mr Trump actually said in an interview: "Nobody has done more for Christianity, or for evangelicals, or for religion itself than I have." The Bee now frequently tweets its original satire side by side with a real media headline that fulfilled it.
Snopes, which didn't respond to Reason's interview request, has said that a significant percentage of social media users mistake satire for real news. But Mann says that when making this claim, Snopes cited a methodologically flawed study in which participants were shown Babylon Bee headlines reworded and taken out of context.
Editors' Note: Some readers interpreted wording in a previous version of this fact check as imputing deceptive intent on the part of Babylon Bee in its original satirical piece about Georgia state Rep. Erica Thomas, and that was not the editors' aim. To address any confusion, we have revised some of the wording mostly for tone and clarity. We are in the process of pioneering industry standards for how the fact-checking industry should best address humor and satire.
In response our CEO, Seth Dillon, instructed our lawyers to demand an edit of the article and appealed to the public on social media. The scolds at Snopes seemed to comply and removed the worst bits from their piece. But they then rolled out a new rating, "Labeled Satire," which is meant to suggest that we are somehow making jokes in bad faith. Here's the explanation of the new rating: "Not all content described by its creator or audience as 'satire' necessarily constitutes satire, and this rating does not make a distinction between 'real' satire and content that may not be effectively recognized or understood as satire despite being labeled as such."
Elon Musk had his sights set on bringing back the Twitter account for right-wing, Christian satire website The Babylon Bee on day one as Twitter's CEO in October. The account had been banned for anti-trans tweets aimed at a member of the Biden administration. The site's account was reinstated on Sunday, three weeks after his takeover of Twitter.
But it does not spare the right. In 2019 it poked fun at Donald Trump for boasting that he had "done more for Christianity than Jesus". The article went viral, leading Snopes, a fact-checking outfit, to label it as satire after some people believed it was a real story. Then, last September, Mr Trump actually said in an interview: "Nobody has done more for Christianity, or for evangelicals, or for religion itself than I have." The Bee now frequently tweets its original satire side by side with a real media headline that fulfilled it.
In response our CEO, Seth Dillon, instructed our lawyers to demand an edit of the article and appealed to the public on social media. The scolds at Snopes seemed to comply and removed the worst bits from their piece. But they then rolled out a new rating, "Labeled Satire," which is meant to suggest that we are somehow making jokes in bad faith. Here's the explanation of the new rating: "Not all content described by its creator or audience as 'satire' necessarily constitutes satire, and this rating does not make a distinction between 'real' satire and content that may not be effectively recognized or understood as satire despite being labeled as such."
In response our CEO, Seth Dillon, instructed our lawyers to demand an edit of the article and appealed to the public on social media. The scolds at Snopes seemed to comply and removed the worst bits from their piece. But they then rolled out a new rating, "Labeled Satire," which is meant to suggest that we are somehow making jokes in bad faith. Here's the explanation of the new rating: "Not all content described by its creator or audience as 'satire' necessarily constitutes satire, and this rating does not make a distinction between 'real' satire and content that may not be effectively recognized or understood as satire despite being labeled as such."