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Found out that 'fact check' site I trusted was actually a front for a lobbying group
I used to share stuff from this site called Clean Air Watch all the time. They had these great charts about how wind farms were killing thousands of birds. I sent one to my brother who works in renewable energy and he laughed at me. He pointed me to the Open Secrets database where I found out the group is funded by fossil fuel companies. The actual number from the US Fish and Wildlife Service is about 234,000 bird deaths from wind turbines per year. But cats kill 2.4 billion birds every year and nobody posts about that. Has anyone else found a source they trusted that turned out to be paid for by someone with a stake in the issue?
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quinn1614d ago
Yeah that tracks. Kinda like how every "consumer watchdog" site these days turns out to be funded by some corporation trying to kill regulations.
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stella224d ago
The trick is to dig a little before you buy into anything. A quick search for the site's listed address or parent company on state business records usually shows who's really pulling the strings. @quinn161 is right, these watchdog groups pop up with the same polished language and then you find out they're run out of a corporate law office. I've seen it with fire safety gear reviews, glowing endorsements for equipment that had known failures because the "independent" tester was paid by the manufacturer. Always check the "About Us" page for actual names and look up their funding on a non-profit tracker. If they're cagey about where the money comes from, that's your first red flag.
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It's like how every food blogger's "I just discovered this amazing superfood!" post magically overlaps with whatever their sponsor pays them to push. Makes you wonder who's really behind the "unbiased" info we're all sharing.
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