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Snopes

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For the novels by William Faulkner, seeSnopes trilogy.

Snopes.com
Snopes logo
Type of site
Reference pages
Owner
Created byBarbara Mikkelson
David P. Mikkelson[3]
URLsnopes.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationRequired only on forums
Launched1994;30 years ago(1994)(asUrban Legends Reference Pages)
Current statusActive

Snopes(/ˈsnoʊps/), formerly known as theUrban Legends Reference Pages,is afact-checkingwebsite.[4]It has been described as a "well-regarded reference for sorting out myths and rumors" on the Internet.[5][6]The site has also been seen as a source for both validating anddebunkingurban legendsand similar stories inAmerican popular culture.[7]

History

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1990s

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In 1994,[8][9][10]David and Barbara Mikkelson created an urbanfolkloreweb site that would becomeSnopes.com.Snopeswas an earlyonline encyclopediafocused on urban legends, which mainly presented search results of user discussions based at first on their contributions to theUsenetnewsgroup alt.folklore.urban (AFU) where they'd been active.[11]The site grew to encompass a wide range of subjects and became a resource to which Internet users began submitting pictures and stories of questionable veracity. According to the Mikkelsons,Snopespredated thesearch engineconcept of fact-checking via search results.[12]David Mikkelson had originally adopted the username "Snopes" (the name ofa family of often unpleasant peoplein the works ofWilliam Faulkner) in AFU.[13][14][15][16]

2000s

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In 2002, the site had become known well enough that atelevision pilotby writer-director Michael Levine calledSnopes: Urban Legendswas completed with American actorJim Davidsonas host. However, it did not air on major networks.[14]

2010s

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By 2010, the site was attracting seven million to eight million unique visitors in an average month.[17][18] By mid-2014, Barbara had not written forSnopes"in several years"[3]and David hired users fromSnopes.com's message board to assist him in running the site. The Mikkelsons divorced around that time.[3][19]Christopher RichmondandDrew Schoentrupbecame part owners in July 2016 with the purchase of Barbara Mikkelson's share by the internet media management company Proper Media.[20]

On March 9, 2017, David Mikkelson terminated the brokering agreement with Proper Media, which was also the company that providedSnopeswithweb development,hosting,andadvertisingsupport.[21]The move prompted Proper Media to stop remitting advertising revenue and to file a lawsuit in May. In late June, Bardav—the company founded by David and Barbara Mikkelson in 2003 to own and operatesnopes.com—started aGoFundMecampaign to raise money to continue operations.[22]They raised $500,000 in 24 hours.[23]Later, in August, a judge ordered Proper Media to disburse advertising revenues to Bardav while the case was pending.[24]

In July 2018,Snopesabruptly terminated its contract with Managing Editor Brooke Binkowski, with no explanation.[clarification needed]By the timeSnopesco-founder and CEO David Mikkelson confirmed the termination to her, the situation was still not clear.[25]

In early 2019,Snopesannounced that it had acquired the websiteOnTheIssues.org,and is "hard at work modernizing its extensive archives".[26]OnTheIssuesis a website that seeks to "present all the relevant evidence, assess how strongly each piece supports or opposes a position, and summarize it with an average" in order to "provide voters with reliable information on candidates' policy positions".[27]

In 2018 and 2019,Snopesfact-checked several articles fromThe Babylon Bee,a satirical website, rating them "False". The decision resulted in Facebook adding warnings to links to those articles shared on its site.[28][29][30]Snopesadded a new rating called "Labeled Satire" to identify satirical stories.[31]

In 2019,Snopeswas embroiled in legal disputes withProper Media,with acourt casescheduled for spring 2020. By then Proper Media had become a co-owner of Bardav through acquiring Barbara Mikkelson's half-interest share, intending to take overall ownership of Snopes for its own "portfolio of media sites". The move failed as David Mikkelson had no intention to sell his share.[32]

2020s

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COVID-19 pandemic and misinformation

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Main article:COVID-19 misinformation

As theCOVID-19 pandemicstarted in 2020, many people tried to "educate themselves on the coronavirus" and find "any comfort, certainty, or hope for a cure [for the coronavirus]".[33][non-primary source needed]Snopeshas around 237 COVID-related fact-checking articles.[34][year needed]

Plagiarism by co-founder David Mikkelson

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On August 13, 2021,BuzzFeed Newspublished an investigation by reporter Dean Sterling Jones that showed David Mikkelson had used plagiarized material from different news sources in 54 articles between 2015 and 2019 in an effort to increase website traffic.[35][36][37]Mikkelson also published plagiarized material under a pseudonym, "Jeff Zarronandia".[35]TheBuzzFeedinquiry promptedSnopesto launch an internal review of Mikkelson's articles and to retract 60 of them the day theBuzzFeedstory appeared. Mikkelson admitted to committing "multiple serious copyright violations" and apologized for "serious lapses in judgment."[38]He was suspended from editorial duties during the investigation, but remains an officer and stakeholder in the company.[39][38]

Change of ownership

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On September 16, 2022, David Mikkelson stepped down as CEO and was succeeded by shareholder and board memberChris Richmond.[1]Richmond and fellow shareholder Drew Schoentrup together acquired 100% of the company, ending the ownership dispute which began in 2017.[1]

Main site

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Snopes aims to debunk or confirm widely spread urban legends. The site has been referenced by news media and other sites, includingCNN,[40]MSNBC,[41]Fortune,Forbes,andThe New York Times.[42]By March 2009, the site had more than six million visitors per month.[43]David Mikkelson ran the website from his home inTacoma, Washington.[44]

Mikkelson has stressed thereferenceportion of the nameUrban Legends Reference Pages,indicating that the intention is not merely to dismiss or confirm misconceptions and rumors but to provide evidence for such debunkings and confirmation as well.[45]Where appropriate, pages are generally marked "undetermined" or "unverifiable" when there is not enough evidence to either support or disprove a given claim.[46]

In an attempt to demonstrate the perils of over-reliance on the Internet as authority,Snopesassembled a series of fabricated urban folklore tales that it termed "The Repository of Lost Legends".[47]The name was chosen for its acronym, T.R.O.L.L., a reference to the definition of the wordtroll,meaning an internetpersonaintended to be deliberately provocative or incendiary.[15]

In 2009,FactCheck.orgreviewed a sample ofSnopes's responses to political rumors regardingGeorge W. Bush,Sarah Palin,andBarack Obama,and found them to be free from bias in all cases.[48][49]In 2012,The Florida Times-Unionreported thatAbout.com's urban legends researcher found a "consistent effort to provide even-handed analyses" and that Snopes' cited sources and numerous reputable analyses of its content confirm its accuracy.[50]

Mikkelson has said that the site receives more complaints of liberal bias than conservative bias, but added that the same debunking standards are applied to all political urban legends.[48]

Funding

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In 2016,Snopessaid that the entirety of its revenue was derived from advertising.[51]In the same year it received an award of $75,000 from theJames Randi Educational Foundation,an organization formed to debunk paranormal claims. In 2017, it raised approximately $700,000 from a crowd-sourcedGoFundMeeffort and received $100,000 from Facebook as a part of a fact-checking partnership.[52]Snopesalso offers a premium membership that disables ads.[53]

On February 1, 2019,Snopesannounced that it had ended its fact-checking partnership with Facebook.Snopesdid not rule out the possibility of working with Facebook in the future but said it needed to "determine with certainty that our efforts to aid any particular platform are a net positive for our online community, publication and staff".Snopesadded that the loss of revenue from the partnership meant the company would "have less money to invest in our publication—and we will need to adapt to make up for it".[54][55]

Snopespublishes a yearly summary detailing expenses and sources of income.[52]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^abc"Snopes Co-Owners Acquire All Remaining Shares of the Company, Bringing Total Stake to 100%".www.yahoo.com.Archivedfrom the original on September 23, 2022.RetrievedSeptember 23,2022.
  2. ^"Disclosures".Snopes.com.Archivedfrom the original on October 31, 2021.RetrievedNovember 20,2022.
  3. ^abc"How the Truth Set Snopes Free".Webby Awards.October 19, 2016.Archivedfrom the original on December 17, 2016.RetrievedDecember 10,2018.
  4. ^"Snopes.com: Debunking Myths in Cyberspace".NPR.August 27, 2005.Archivedfrom the original on September 11, 2005.RetrievedAugust 27,2005.
  5. ^Allison, Melissa (March 4, 2007)."Companies Find Rumors Hard to Kill on Internet".Herald and Review.Archivedfrom the original on June 12, 2018.RetrievedJune 9,2018.(image 3).
  6. ^Same article:"Corporations Combat Insistent Urban Legends on Internet".The Courier.March 4, 2007.Archivedfrom the original on June 12, 2018.RetrievedJune 9,2018.(image 7).
  7. ^Henry, Neil (2007).American Carnival: Journalism Under Siege in an Age of New Media.University of California Press. p.285.ISBN978-0520243422.The most widely known resource for validating or debunking rumors, myths, hoaxes, and urban legends in popular American culture is the website run by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson at www.snopes.com....
  8. ^"Triangulation 343 David Mikkelson, Snopes.com".TWiT.tv.Archivedfrom the original on April 26, 2018.RetrievedApril 25,2018.
  9. ^"About Us".Snopes.Archivedfrom the original on June 3, 2023.RetrievedJune 3,2023.
  10. ^Tattoli, Chantel; Jones, Dean Sterling (June 6, 2023)."Inside Snopes: the rise, fall, and rebirth of an internet icon".Fast Company.Archivedfrom the original on June 3, 2023.RetrievedJune 3,2023.
  11. ^Aspray, William; Cortada, James W. (August 12, 2019).From Urban Legends to Political Fact-Checking: Online Scrutiny in America, 1990-2015.Cham, Switzerland:Springer Nature(published 2019). p. 24.ISBN978-3-030-22951-1.Archivedfrom the original on July 16, 2023.RetrievedJune 3,2023.{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help)
  12. ^Stelter, Brian(April 4, 2010)."Debunkers of Fictions Sift the Net".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on April 22, 2023.RetrievedApril 5,2010.
  13. ^"Frequently Asked Questions".Snopes.Archivedfrom the original on October 31, 2021.RetrievedJune 9,2006.What are 'snopes'?
  14. ^abBond, Paul (September 7, 2002)."Web site separates fact from urban legend".SFGATE.Archivedfrom the original on August 5, 2018.RetrievedJuly 17,2012.
  15. ^abPorter, David (2013)."Usenet Communities and the Cultural Politics of Information".Internet Culture.Routledge.p. 48.ISBN978-1135209049.Archivedfrom the original on July 16, 2023.RetrievedSeptember 13,2016.The two most notorious trollers in AFU,Ted Frankand snopes, are also two of the most consistent posters of serious research.
  16. ^Seipp, Cathy(July 21, 2004)."Where Urban Legends Fall".National Review.Archived fromthe originalon August 12, 2004.RetrievedFebruary 7,2014.
  17. ^Stelter, Brian (April 4, 2010)."Debunkers of Fictions Sift the Net".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on April 6, 2010.RetrievedMarch 19,2013.
  18. ^"Snopes.com Audience Insights".Quantcast.Archivedfrom the original on October 13, 2017.RetrievedJanuary 19,2018.
  19. ^Madrigal, Alexis C. (July 24, 2017)."Snopes Faces an Ugly Legal Battle".The Atlantic.Archivedfrom the original on May 12, 2019.RetrievedJune 20,2018.
  20. ^Bruno, Bianca (May 10, 2017)."Fact-Checker Snopes' Owners Accused of Corporate Subterfuge".Courthouse News.Archivedfrom the original on June 21, 2018.RetrievedJune 20,2018.
  21. ^Farhi, Paul (July 24, 2017)."Is Snopes.com, the original Internet fact-checker, going out of business?".The Washington Post.Archivedfrom the original on July 27, 2017.RetrievedJanuary 19,2018.
  22. ^Victor, Daniel (July 24, 2017)."Snopes, in Heated Legal Battle, Asks Readers for Money to Survive".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on July 25, 2017.RetrievedJanuary 19,2018.
  23. ^"Snopes Meets $500K Crowdfunding Goal Amid Legal Battle".Bloomberg.Associated Press.July 25, 2017.Archivedfrom the original on December 22, 2017.RetrievedDecember 18,2017.
  24. ^Dean, Michelle (September 20, 2017)."Snopes and the Search for Facts in a Post-Fact World".Wired.RetrievedDecember 10,2018.
  25. ^"Snopes fired its managing editor and she doesn't know why".Poynter Institute.July 31, 2018.Archivedfrom the original on August 13, 2021.RetrievedAugust 24,2021.
  26. ^"Snopes Acquires On The Issues".Snopes.RetrievedApril 13,2019.[dead link]
  27. ^Potash, Eric (November 4, 2016)."Why It's So Hard to Find Out Where the Candidates Stand".Washington Monthly.Archivedfrom the original on April 13, 2019.RetrievedApril 4,2019.
  28. ^Wemple, Erik (March 5, 2018)."Opinion | Facebook working on approach to classifying satirical news pieces".The Washington Post.Archivedfrom the original on July 31, 2019.RetrievedDecember 28,2020.
  29. ^Chokshi, Niraj (August 3, 2019)."Satire or Deceit? Christian Humor Site Feuds With Snopes".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Archivedfrom the original on August 13, 2019.RetrievedAugust 16,2019.
  30. ^Broderick, Ryan (July 31, 2019)."A Christian Satire Site Says Fact-Checkers Are Helping De-Platform Conservatives".BuzzFeed News.Archivedfrom the original on August 13, 2019.RetrievedAugust 16,2019.
  31. ^"Let's Make Fact-Checking Even Better".Snopes.August 16, 2019.Archivedfrom the original on June 15, 2021.RetrievedAugust 17,2019.
  32. ^"Tacoma-based Snopes, debunker of fake news, is locked in a nasty legal dispute".The Seattle Times.June 4, 2019.Archivedfrom the original on August 27, 2021.RetrievedAugust 27,2021.
  33. ^"Snopes on COVID-19 Fact-Checking".Snopes.com.March 21, 2020.Archivedfrom the original on January 15, 2022.RetrievedJanuary 15,2022.
  34. ^"The Coronavirus Collection: Snopes Fact Checks About COVID-19".Snopes.com.February 28, 2020.Archivedfrom the original on January 15, 2022.RetrievedJanuary 15,2022.
  35. ^abLyons, Ron Jr. (August 13, 2021)."The CEO of fact-checking site Snopes was caught plagiarizing dozens of articles".Business Insider Australia.Archivedfrom the original on August 13, 2021.RetrievedAugust 16,2021.
  36. ^Lyons, Kim (August 13, 2021)."Go read this report about a Snopes editor who plagiarized other news sites".The Verge.Archivedfrom the original on August 13, 2021.RetrievedAugust 13,2021.
  37. ^"The Cofounder Of The Fact-Checking Site Snopes Was Writing Plagiarized Articles Under A Fake Name".BuzzFeed News.Archivedfrom the original on August 13, 2021.RetrievedAugust 14,2021.
  38. ^abMurphy, Heather (August 13, 2021)."Snopes Retracts 60 Articles Plagiarized by Co-Founder: 'Our Staff Are Gutted'".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Archivedfrom the original on August 14, 2021.RetrievedAugust 14,2021.
  39. ^Jones, Dean Sterling (August 13, 2021)."The Cofounder Of The Fact-Checking Site Snopes Was Writing Plagiarized Articles Under A Fake Name".BuzzFeed.Archivedfrom the original on August 13, 2021.RetrievedAugust 13,2021.
  40. ^Nissen, Beth (October 3, 2001)."Hear the rumor? Nostradamus and other tall tales".CNN.Archivedfrom the original on August 25, 2004.RetrievedJune 7,2009.
  41. ^"Urban Legends Banned-April Fools'!".MSNBC.April 1, 2007. Archived fromthe originalon October 13, 2013.RetrievedJune 7,2009.
  42. ^"Urban Legends Reference Pages: Who Is Barack Obama?".Snopes.August 24, 2008.RetrievedJanuary 22,2008.
  43. ^Hochman, David (March 2009)."Rumor Detectives: True Story or Online Hoax?".Reader's Digest.Archived fromthe originalon March 18, 2009.RetrievedMarch 29,2016.
  44. ^Lacitis, Erik (October 10, 2018)."Lies, lies and more lies. Out of an old Tacoma house, fact-checking site Snopes uncovers them".The Seattle Times.Archivedfrom the original on November 6, 2018.RetrievedNovember 6,2018.
  45. ^"Urban Legends Reference Pages: Frequently Asked Questions".Snopes.Archivedfrom the original on October 31, 2021.RetrievedJune 9,2006.How do I know the information you've presented is accurate?
  46. ^"Urban Legends Reference Pages: Round Rock Gangs".Snopes.July 21, 2011.Archivedfrom the original on April 4, 2022.RetrievedMay 3,2009.
  47. ^"Urban Legends Reference Pages: Lost Legends".Snopes.RetrievedJune 9,2006.
  48. ^ab"Ask FactCheck: Snopes.com".FactCheck.org.April 10, 2009.Archivedfrom the original on January 4, 2022.RetrievedNovember 4,2011.
  49. ^"Fact-checking the fact-checkers: Snopes.com gets an 'A'".Network World.April 13, 2009. Archived fromthe originalon July 7, 2014.
  50. ^Fader, Carole (September 28, 2012)."Fact Check: So who's checking the fact-finders? We are".The Florida Times-Union.Archivedfrom the original on July 15, 2016.RetrievedJuly 20,2016.
  51. ^Streitfeld, David (December 25, 2016)."For Fact Checking Website Snopes, a Bigger Role Brings More Attacks".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on December 28, 2016.RetrievedDecember 27,2016.
  52. ^ab"Disclosures".Snopes.com.Archivedfrom the original on October 31, 2021.RetrievedMarch 3,2021.
  53. ^Izadi, Elahe (April 15, 2020)."There are so many coronavirus myths that even Snopes can't keep up".The Washington Post.Archivedfrom the original on April 23, 2020.RetrievedMay 3,2020.
  54. ^Green, Vinny; Mikkelson, David (February 1, 2019)."A Message to Our Community Regarding the Facebook Fact-Checking Partnership".Snopes.com.Archived fromthe originalon April 26, 2019.RetrievedFebruary 2,2019.
  55. ^"Snopes says nope to Facebook's money and leaves fact-checking program".The Verge.February 1, 2019.Archivedfrom the original on February 24, 2021.RetrievedFebruary 22,2021.
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