Earlier today, I wrote about the Facebook fact-checkers calling an urgent meeting, now that Mark Zuckerberg is no longer going to pay their groups to censor Facebook and Instagram.

I had to deal with Facebook’s fact-checkers censors on a number of occasions over the years, whether as the Facebook account owner, a moderator, or a poster. Generally, I found the fact checkers obtuse. But one recent incident really stands out. A link to a post here at Mind Matters News was removed on November 20 of last year for violating community standards. Here’s the link.

Did someone at Facebook follow the link? Here’s the MMN post:

Nature reports, somewhat cautiously, that trust in scientists in the US is “starting to recover,” after plunging during the pandemic:

The survey, released today by the Pew Research Center in Washington DC, found that the proportion of those polled who believe that scientists act in the best interests of the public rose from 73% a year ago to 76% now (see ‘Modest rise in trust’). That’s still lower than the 87% who trusted scientists in April 2020, shortly after lockdowns began. But it marks a new shift “away from the declines in trust in science that we saw during the pandemic”, says Alec Tyson, the lead author of the report and an associate director of research at the Pew centre.

Alix Soliman, “November 14, 2024”

The article doesn’t really get into the question of why public trust fell so much during the COVID years. Perhaps an anecdote will help:

Once, during the height of the restrictions in maybe 2022, I was standing on a chilly street corner in Victoria, BC, waiting for the walk light. There was a young fellow beside me, about 19, I would guess.

All of a sudden four police cars appeared out of nowhere, lights flashing and sirens blaring, roaring through the intersection at top speed in the direction of the University district.

I expect it was due to a big traffic pileup down there. But I couldn’t quite resist turning to the guy and saying, “They must have found some woman in a donut shop who was not wearing a mask.”

We both laughed as the light changed.

We need serious public inquiries into how much of the response to COVID was sound science and how much was simply official panic. Not asking that question will not help people place more trust in science.

If that violated the fact checkers’ community standards, they need a new community or new standards.

Looks like Zuckerberg thinks they need a new community. Not his.

Note: According to Spiked Online, the fact-checkers saw part of their role as cracking down on wisecracks.