The Guardian controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
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2021
Snopes addresses plagiarism in its published stories
Issue disclosure
Snopes acknowledged problems involving unattributed material in its stories. The article reports that David Mikkelson used material from other outlets without citing sources, and that Snopes identified 140 stories with possible problems, including 54 found to contain appropriated material. Snopes said it was removing unattributed content and working to archive and retract offending stories.
Company response
Investigation — Snopes
He has been suspended from editorial production pending the conclusion of an internal review but remains CEO and a 50% shareholder in the company, according to a statement from Snopes’ senior leadership.
Remediation — Snopes
Senior management said in the statement that Snopes was removing unattributed content while leaving up individual pages. An editor’s note will be used to outline the issues and link to original sources.
Remediation — Snopes
“We are in the process of archiving and retracting all of the offending stories, along with disabling any monetization features on those posts,” the statement said.
Apology — Snopes
“We will attempt to contact each news outlet whose reporting we appropriated to issue an apology.”
Source excerpt
Mikkelson used his own name, a generic Snopes byline and a pseudonym when he lifted material, including single sentences and whole paragraphs on such subjects as same-sex marriage and the death of David Bowie, without citing the sources, BuzzFeed and Snopes said.
Snopes said it has identified 140 stories with possible problems, including the 54 found to include appropriated material.
The co-founder and CEO of the fact-checking site Snopes.com has acknowledged plagiarizing from dozens of articles done by mainstream news outlets over several years, calling the appropriations “serious lapses in judgment.”