Fact Checkers Try to Spin IRS Hiring Agents Willing to Use Deadly Force

Social media giant Facebook has censored an accurate claim that the IRS is seeking to “arm agents to use deadly force” after a fact checker flagged it as “false.”

An IRS job posting was uncovered earlier this month which announced the agency was seeking to hire new agents who are ready to kill.

One of the “major duties” listed in the ad was to be able to “carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force, if necessary.”

See below:

But the ad stoked controversy after it went viral, prompting the IRS to quickly delete the job posting.

Later, a 2021 IRS annual report was also uncovered, which showed heavily armed agents simulating an assault on a suburban home, which was part of their “training.”

After the Heritage Foundation and Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) posted the information on Facebook, the social media giant deployed one of their ‘fact checkers,’ Lead Stories, which slapped a warning label saying the post constituted “partly false information.”

Not only do fact checkers add labels to posts deemed “false,” but they also bury content in Facebook’s algorithm, so large numbers no longer see it of people.

The headline of the article by Lead Stories read, ‘Fact Check: IRS Is NOT Trying To Arm All Its Agents’

However, as Christina Maas notes, “The Heritage Foundation never said the IRS was arming all of its agents.”

“In its article, Lead Stories singles out pro-liberty youth organization Young Americans for Liberty (YAL),” the group said.

The youth group posted a screenshot of the original job posting and wrote:

“The IRS is hiring! The government wants its IRS agents armed and its citizens disarmed. We’ll let everyone just marinate on that for a second.”

“Lead Stories tried to make it look like YAL said the IRS is arming all of its employees. “Is the IRS trying to arm all its employees?” asked Lead Stories.

“No, that’s not true: A job posting from the IRS Criminal Investigation unit, which carries firearms, does refer to carrying firearms,” the Fact Checker added.

Fact Checkers use various tactics like selecting a piece of language that was used, or not used, which may slightly exaggerate the claim, then declare that the entire story is “false information.”

To put things in more perspective, Facebook fact checkers previously declared the Hunter Biden laptop story “Russian disinformation.”

Earlier this year, USA Today, used as a ‘fact checker’ by social media platforms, was forced to delete 23 articles after an investigation found one of its reporters had fabricated sources.

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases