TWITTER’S fact-checking “community notes” service might want to have a look at the basics after it failed miserably at correcting a speech by the SNP’s Mhairi Black.
Black, the SNP depute leader at Westminster, was speaking at the party’s convention on independence when she took a look back at history.
She told delegates: “I want to leave you with a statistic that Westminster can actually be proud of. I know it’s ironic but this is one that they should wear a badge of honour for.
“According to the Guinness World Book of Records, the UK is the country from which most countries have gained independence.”
Amid applause, she went on: “Since 1939, 62 countries have gained independence from Westminster and not a single one has ever asked to come back.”
🏴 @MhairiBlack on top form as ever, at the #SNPIndyConvention. "Since 1939, 62 countries gained independence from Westminster - and not a single one has ever asked to come back." Let's keep up the hard work, stay focused, and ensure Scotland is the 63rd! pic.twitter.com/BJmiARxotl
— Olaf Stando 🌻 (@olafdoesstuff) June 24, 2023
Twitter took exception to the completely correct claim, adding in a note beneath the video: “In 1956, the island of Malta held a referendum on whether to join the United Kingdom or not. The ‘join’ side won.”
It then shared a link to a Wikipedia page on that referendum.
Eagle-eyed history buffs will note that that 1956 referendum happened eight years BEFORE the Malta Independence Act of 1964. The country can hardly have been asking to "come back" under UK rule before it had even left.
In fact, the 1956 Maltese vote – which was boycotted by the pro-independence side so managed a turnout of just 59% – wasn’t about rejoining the UK after independence at all.
At the time, the Mediterranean island was a British colony, even being run by the “Colonial Office”. People in Malta voted in that questionable referendum to get themselves some seats in the Commons. It was more a vote to end their colonial status than anything else.
So, on Elon Musk’s rapidly declining Twitter platform, a true statement from an SNP politician appears to have been “corrected” by an irrelevant note.
The Jouker tried to ask Twitter about the process behind it, and if anyone bothers to fact-check the platform's notes – it certainly doesn’t look that way.
The response was exactly as expected, mainly because Musk already made clear exactly what any attempts to ask Twitter for clarity on anything would yield.
“press@twitter.com now auto responds with [poo emoji]” he wrote in March.
press@twitter.com now auto responds with 💩
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 19, 2023
Charming.
