Snopes Raises Over $500,000 for Legal Dispute
The fact-checking website Snopes gathered more than half a million dollars in donations after launching a crowdfunding campaign to help fund their intensifying legal battle with an outside vendor.
On Monday, Snopes founder David Mikkelson published an announcement that his company was "in danger of closing its doors" thanks to a legal dispute with the web development company Proper Media, alleging the San Diego-based company was withholding all advertising revenue to starve the site of its only source of income. Additionally, Mikkelson set up the #SaveSnopes crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe with a set goal of $500,000. Within approximately 24 hours, donations skyrocketed to over $560,000.
Proper Media has disputed the allegations and filed a lawsuit claiming to be co-owner of Snopes' parent company Bardav. In their version of the events, Mikkelson's ex-wife Barbara Mikkelson sold 50 percent of Bardav to Proper Media in 2016 for $3.6 million after her divorce. The case is scheduled to be heard on August 4th.
This isn't the first time Mikkelson's divorce made it into the public eye. In December of last year, The Daily Mail published an investigative report claiming that Mikkelson married a former escort and adult film actress immediately after his divorce and subsequently hired his new wife as an administrative employee at the website. Additionally, The Daily Mail reported that Mikkelson's former wife Barbara accused him of embezzling $98,000 from their company to spend on exotic trips and prostitutes.
The article was published days after a major announcement by Facebook, who revealed that Snopes would provide fact-checking services to help curb the spread of fake news on the social networking site.
While the ultimate outcome of this long-running legal battle is far from clear, Snopes' loyal readers will be keeping the site running along for now.
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QWOPPER
>Googles "Snopes bias".
>First result: "Is snopes.com biased?"
>Sees "snopes.com" in URL
Welp, I got my answer…
Iso
Anything politically charged and Snopes is right out as a source. They've let themselves fall into the trap of political correctness and it's directly damaged their ability to discern fiction from fact.
Sad to see the old urban legend debunking Snopes go, but the 'new' Snopes can die for all I care.
SigmaShaped
Friendly reminder that even Snopes have said to use your own judgement and not rely on them too much. That was the point of the TRoLL section.
Evilthing
Free speech is as strong as its weakest link.
ZanardBell
Wait, the cat man and the cat lady got a divorce? But they were so good together.
ValjeanLafitte
Right? As someone who followed the site for years, it seriously bums me out that I'll no longer get to read Barbara Mikkelson's articles and that she and David split up.
Panuru
Here's the one thing I'll say for Snopes: they always link their sources. Like pretty much every media outlet these days, they've jumped on the clickbait political bandwagon and often make "conclusions" that seem specious. But ye gods it drives me crazy when an article says "a recent report showed" and leaves it at that. Snopes always gives a link straight to that report so that you can look at it yourself, and that's what everybody needs to do.
Xyz_39808
Meanwhile EncyclopediaDramatica is still dying.
The Glorious Lobster Emperor
And the bad news?
Hootanic
And they only need 1/10th of the money to fight their SLAPP suit, too – they ain't askin' for no half-million $$$
RemChi
Its dying due to a false copyright case.
WezliGiantsbane333
Is this for real? I'd better check Snopes to be sure.
Sonata Arctica
"Fact checking".
Whenever someone pulled Snopes as a source of anything it was contradicting its own statement or was simply false.
Nothing of value would be lost I think.
ObadiahtheSlim
If it was the old snopes that challenged urban myths I would be sad. But recently it's been partisan politics so I'm not so sad. Sure they still dispel some fake stuff, but I gotta go there with some skepticism that there is political spin to what they report to be truthful.
Pat Bateman
They've had some biases in their reporting before, but I'm wholly in favor of supporting the GoFundMe to keep them open.
Genry
My trust for snopes took a nosedive after I read their schoolgirl panty vending machine article, which was posted as early as 2007, and pushed the whole "ew, creeeepy Japan!" narrative, calling it "a culture with a long history of regarding women more as sex toys than as people" and "a sexual culture so dominated by roricon (Japlish for 'Lolita complex')".
NotaDick
kek