- Snopes refused to correct an inaccurate fact-check calling it “unproven” that American Indian activist Nathan Phillips falsely claimed to be a Vietnam veteran.
- It’s a proven fact that Phillips falsely claimed to be a Vietnam veteran.
- Both Facebook and Google give Snopes preferential treatment on their platforms.
Snopes, a left-leaning fact-checking website given preferential treatment by both Facebook and Google, flubbed its fact-check of American Indian activist Nathan Phillips’ false claim of being a Vietnam veteran.
Phillips shot to national attention after a viral confrontation between him and a group of high school boys from Covington Catholic high school. Phillips, with the help of credulous national media outlets, said the boys mobbed and racially harassed him as he tried to leave the Indigenous People’s March. Video evidence debunked Phillips’s account.
In addition to botching the details of the confrontation, media outlets also inaccurately reported that Phillips is a Vietnam veteran.
Phillips described himself in interviews as a “Vietnam-times veteran” and groups affiliated with him told The New York Times that he fought in Vietnam. Phillips explicitly claimed in a 2018 Facebook video that he was a Vietnam veteran who served “in theater.”
Military records show that Phillips never deployed to Vietnam, though his military service did include a long stint as a refrigerator technician.
Snopes’s fact-check incorrectly labeled it “unproven” that Phillips had falsely claimed to be a Vietnam veteran. Snopes declined to change its misleading ruling despite definitive video evidence of Phillips doing exactly that.
Both Facebook and Google give Snopes preferential treatment on their platforms, though Snopes has struggled with accuracy in the past
Google placed Snopes’s misleading fact-check at the top of their search results about Phillips’s Vietnam claims.
Google promotes misleading Snopes fact check
Screenshot/Google.com
Facebook also placed Snopes’ inaccurate fact-check at the top of search results about Phillips’s non-existent Vietnam deployment. A blue “Fact-Checker” badge accompanies the post, lending Facebook’s credibility to the inaccurate fact-check.
Facebook elevates misleading Snopes fact-check Screenshot/Facebook.com
An emailed statement from Snopes said that Phillips didn’t explicitly say in recent interviews that he was a Vietnam veteran and used more nuanced language like “Vietnam-times veteran.”
In an update, Snopes questioned whether Phillips “deliberately” portrayed himself as a Vietnam veteran. (RELATED: Nathan Phillips And Other Protesters Storm DC Basilica, Demand Punishment For Covington Boys)
“It’s difficult to determine at this point whether Phillips has deliberately misrepresented the nature of his service, whether he has been so vague and ambiguous in many of his descriptions (unintentionally or otherwise) that misinterpretations have entered his narrative, or whether he has tried to be accurate but may have just occasionally slipped up in his many, many hours of conversation and sometimes neglected to include the qualifiers about his service that he has used in many other videos and press interviews,” Snopes wrote in an update to the fact-check.
But Snopes wasn’t fact-checking whether Phillips “deliberately misrepresented” his record. Snopes was fact-checking the question: “Did Nathan Phillips Falsely Claim He Was A Vietnam Veteran?” It’s a fact that Phillips falsely claimed he was a Vietnam veteran.
This isn’t the first time that Facebook and Google’s partnerships with Snopes have resulted in the tech giants amplifying misinformation.
In December, Snopes botched its fact-check of a viral meme that was mocked within political circles for spreading false information. Snopes claimed the meme was accurate.
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Snopes was proven to be a fraud long ago.
Facts don’t matter. It’s all about the feelings. Snopes feels like a teenager is a monster and the creepy Indian is a saint.
The topic of this article has very little relevence in your life when compared to much larger issues at hand. These only serves as distractions.
https://thefreethoughtproject.com/5-stories-americans-missed-while-fighting-over-a-viral-video-that-has-no-effect-on-their-lives/
Ned, thumbs up, this is typical divide and distract operation, conducted by MSM propaganda machine. They will never televise actual news any more at this point, it is all contrived drama.
The real news is the yellow vests in France, which is a foreshadow of things to come.
meanwhile, the corporations that own this country continue to fleece the taxpayers, as we are all to busy commenting on chief dixin mouth, and his stolen valor.
It IS relevant.
The boys were targeted by the Statists because they are white, male, Christian & wore Trump attire.
Like the yellow vests it is a sign of things to come.
They did not botch the fact check. They are liars and will continue to lie. Everything from those sources is suspect.
You ever watch someone who has been caught in a lie try to lie their way out of it? How painful it is to watch someone whose been caught out spin things like a hamster wheel, stopping periodically to accuse you of something from some other time just to keep from addressing whatever quicksand they’ve got their foot stuck in?
That’s all I see anymore. A rat in a trap ready to gnaw it’s paw off.
Hold on – he didn’t say he was “in theater”. He said he repaired refrigerators, and one of them was in a theater. According to Snopes, anyway.
Botched by design.
I am Jack’s frontal cortex, shrouded in disbelief.
Nathan Phillips called himself a Vietnam Vet Here is the proof
He is a STOLEN VALOR LIAR.
He was a Reservist who never left the United States…just anothera leftist activist Loon.
Gruntworks
January 22 at 4:14 PM ·
“We have his DD-214. Here is the truth…
Nathan Phillips aka Nathan Stanard was a refrigerator mechanic in the Marine Corps Reserves who went AWOL twice, and was confined to the brig and kicked out of the Marines as an E1 – Private in El Toro, CA after spending most of his USMC Reserve service in Lincoln, NE, and never left the States.
He was NOT a Recon Ranger (whatever the f*ck that is) which he is directly quoted as claiming. He also never went to Vietnam, even though he never corrected multiple major news outlets when they inferred that from his statements, and subsequently reported that he fought in Vietnam. Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Don Shipley already has records.”
Nathan Phillips, AKA Nathan Stanard, Native American Drummer Dude was NOT a Vietnam Vet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIXIzvyAlLA
lately he has stated in interviews that he is a “viet nam ERA veteran” and so he is. although not denying his AWOL status and a Marine private/rifleman(recalling his statement as to being force recon and never having served outside CONUS, making him a liar and stolen valor twit again). so mayhap he has corrected his earlier misstatement/lie about having the republic of viet nam service ribbon.
on the plus side, he has more american indian blood in him than fauxcahontas does. that has to count for something today, doesn’t it? Couldn’t he qualify for a job with snopes or cnn with those kind of credentials?
He also has a criminal record: https://flagandcross.com/report-indian-man-who-harassed-teens-escaped-from-prison-has-criminal-record/
This rotten toothed phony piece of shit either has Dentophobia or every dentist he’s ever gone to took one look and said, “Get the fuck out of here.”
I question his ‘honorable discharge’. More likely a ‘general discharge under honorable conditions’. That is what you get if you are an E-1 at the time of your discharge ( in the army at least). You are automatically promoted to E-2 upon completion of basic training and being assigned to a unit. The only way to regress to E-1 is via a disciplinary process.