John Stossel doesn’t want to sue Facebook. Unfortunately, he told his followers last week, the platform has left him with no other choice.
Stossel is suing the social-media giant for defamation after Climate Feedback — one of Facebook’s international “fact-checking partners” — tagged two of the libertarian journalist’s Facebook videos as “missing context” and “partly false,” respectively. He says the labels have suppressed the reach of his posts on Facebook, and, in a court filing, argued that his “professional reputation has been significantly and irreparably damaged” by Climate Feedback.
The controversy stems from two videos Stossel posted about climate change. The first, titled “Are We Doomed?,” was posted in November 2019 and sought to dispel claims of impending climate catastrophe. Facebook deemed it “partly false.” The second, “Government Fueled Fires,” was posted in September 2020 and argued — contra Gavin Newsom — that the spate of wildfires in California had more to do with poor forest management than climate change. Facebook slapped a “missing context” label on Stossel’s video and limited its circulation after its fact-checking partner claimed the video “misrepresents a complex reality.”
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