It seems "Independent Fact Checkers" simply parrot whatever other mass media outlets say regardless of facts.
Facebook gets to say "look, someone else verified it", knowing that "someone else" here thinks and acts accordingly. If they don't they probably get fired and replaced.
Given that this about 2020 California fires, I suspect this had to do with Trump or someone from his administration blaming forest management. And then, naturally, most of the media made fun of that and quickly went to debunk it, including the aforementioned "Independent Fact Checkers". Had Stossel waited a year, and applied the article to the 2021 fires, the fact checkers might have given him a pass.
"Independent Fact Checkers" is a rhetorical persuasion play. If you think about it, what does "Independent" actually mean? Does it really matter if a cohort of "fact checkers" aren't owned by the same conglomerate when they are cut from the same ideological cloth?
Facebook gets to say "look, someone else verified it", knowing that "someone else" here thinks and acts accordingly. If they don't they probably get fired and replaced.
Given that this about 2020 California fires, I suspect this had to do with Trump or someone from his administration blaming forest management. And then, naturally, most of the media made fun of that and quickly went to debunk it, including the aforementioned "Independent Fact Checkers". Had Stossel waited a year, and applied the article to the 2021 fires, the fact checkers might have given him a pass.