Candace Owens Challenges Facebook Fact-Checker PolitiFact, Wins Correction

Candace Owens, a conservative commentator and political activist, in Washington on June 25, 2019. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

A self-described fact-checking website recently issued a correction after labeling a post by Candace Owens saying Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden isn’t president-elect as “false.”

PolitiFact issued a statement following a threat of legal action from the popular conservative commentator.

“Correction: PolitiFact originally labeled this video false in our capacity as a third-party fact-checker for Facebook,” PolitiFact said. “On Nov. 20, an appeal to that decision was made on behalf of Ms. Owens. PolitiFact approved the appeal on Nov. 20, determined that a correction was appropriate, and removed the false rating.”

Biden has declared victory in the presidential election and many news outlets have been referring to him as president-elect. The Epoch Times isn’t calling the race until all litigation contesting the election results plays out.

In the video, Owens discussed how Biden isn’t president-elect until the Electoral College decides who to vote for and those votes are counted in a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.

“Joe Biden is literally and legally not the President-elect. So why is the media pretending he is?” Owens wrote in an accompanying caption.

The Facebook logo is displayed on a mobile phone in this picture illustration taken on Dec. 2, 2019. (Johanna Geron/Reuters)

PolitiFact rated the assertion false, prompting the threat of legal action from Owens.

“Weeks ago, @Facebook censored a post of mine which truthfully stated that @JoeBiden is NOT the President-elect. So I got lawyers involved. Conclusion? @PolitiFact uncensored the post & admitted that they LIED by rating my post false. The fact-checkers are lying for Democrats,” Owens wrote on Nov. 28, after the correction was issued.

The correction wasn’t added to PolitiFact’s website.

PolitiFact, which receives funding from Facebook, is one of about a dozen websites utilized by the social media platform to perform fact checks, which have been widely criticized for their oft-subjective nature.

Most Facebook fact-checkers are dominated by left-leaning funding, personnel, and organizations, The Epoch Times reported in September.

PolitiFact published an article earlier this month saying Biden “is president-elect of the United States,” although the website acknowledged that there is still more left in the process and that the declaration is subjective.

PolitiFact didn’t respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson previously told The Epoch Times that the website has passed the International Fact-Checking Network vetting process test repeatedly.

Petr Svab contributed to this report.