Snopes forced to scale back fact-checking in face of overwhelming COVID-19 misinformation

Fact-checking organization Snopes has been forced to scale back its routine content production and special projects, as the amount of misinformation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed its fact-checkers.

In a blog post that was later published as a series of tweets, the organization said the pandemic is “overwhelming” its small team and that it can’t ask them to ramp up productivity at a time when everyone’s personal lives are being placed under such strain. “Yes, publishing less may seem counterintuitive,” the organization wrote, “but exhausting our staff in this crisis is not the cure for what is ailing our industry.” Going forward, it said it intends to focus its efforts “only where we think we can have a significant...

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