Wherever the Left is challenged, you can count on the so-called "independent fact-checkers" to fan out and attack...followed by Twitter promoting what "fact-checkers say."
This week, it was the Canadian trucker convoy arriving in Ottawa to protest the COVID vaccine mandate imposed by socialist prime minister Justin Trudeau. There were false impressions to check, but they all seem to run one way.
First, Twitter promoted checks around the theme "Miscaptioned images from around the world are being falsely associated with the trucker protest in Canada, fact-checkers report." That included images of a 2018 event in Alberta and a 2021 event in Italy.
But mostly, the liberal pack wanted to downplay any large estimates of attendance.
Associated Press wanted you to know "Trucks, crowds at Canada anti-vaccination protest exaggerated."
Reuters proclaimed "Reports on social media that 2.3 million people and 130,000 trucks took part in Canada’s Freedom Convoy have been misattributed to Ottawa Police. Experts told @ReutersFacts that it is 'highly unlikely' the figures cited online are accurate."
PolitiFact insisted "Some social media posts have claimed that the number of truckers participating in the “Freedom Convoy” protesting a vaccine mandate in Canada is as many as 250,000, but available evidence suggests otherwise."
Snopes argued "All available evidence suggests that the so-called “freedom convoy” to protest COVID-19 vaccinations consists of a few thousand trucks, at most."
Then Twitter highlighted "Photo of a social media post attributed to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau is fabricated, fact-checkers say." Someone faked a Trudeau message saying “If you have family or friends that still haven’t been vaccinated, do not allow them to family dinners, do not speak to them on the phone, do not reply to their texts. You need to do everything you can to make life difficult for them until they comply.”
Both Associated Press and Reuters were on the case.
No one has fact-checked Trudeau. Because he's on the Right Side of History.
Naturally, Toronto's own Daniel Dale was on the case, attacking Rep. Chip Roy for the CNN "Facts First" team:
Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, has twice in the past three days promoted a fictional online rumor that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fled to the United States because of a protest in Ottawa by a group of truck drivers and others opposed to vaccine mandates, Covid-19 restrictions and Trudeau himself.
But there was never any good reason to believe that Trudeau, who earned another minority government in Canada's September federal election, had fled his country as if he were a toppled dictator. A source in the Trudeau government and a source in the Biden administration told CNN that the claim is entirely false. Ottawa-based Canadian journalists who cover Trudeau also scoffed at Roy's baseless words.
The flood continues as long as the protests do! Check out a Twitter search for "freedom convoy fact check" for more checks from USA Today and Agence France-Presse (AFP)...
