"The problem is, like it or not, The New York Times is considered a reliable source. So, you know, when the social networks are looking to decide who's satire, who's misinformation, who's fake news...they look to The New York Times, they look to Snopes, they look to CNN," Dillon said. The Babylon Bee CEO recently threatened to sue The New York Times for their false claims.
"They're making these mischaracterizations about us. We have to take it seriously and we've got to come on here and do it, even though we don't want to. We want to keep things light. We got to send demand letters. We got to threaten to sue because otherwise we're going to get mis-characterized and we're going to get the boot from social media," Dillon said firing back at the New York Times.
"We depend on the social networks for traffic to our site. If we lose the social networks, we lose our business. So, it's really a self-preservation thing. It's about survival," Dillon said.
Carlson slammed The New York Times and asked Dillon if "The New York Times calling you [Babylon Bee] a disinformation site is in effect, threatening to shut you down?"
"Yeah, I think that's a deliberate strategy," Dillon said.
"I mean, look, the fake news has been a concern, for social networks for the last several years. They've been trying to find ways to fact check de-platform, de-monetize and de-boost people who are spreading fake news on their platforms. And so, the legacy media, leftist media, is taking advantage of that." Dillon expressed to Carlson.
"You know, that last segment you're talking about comedy and how comedians need to be leading the way. We're one of the few comedians who are leading the way," Dillon emphasized. "We're not trailing this. We're out ahead of it. We're making fun of the things that need to be made fun of. We're ridiculing bad ideas."
"TheNew York Times has incredible disdain for us, I would guess. By the way they're treating us, in the way they're handling this, because they know better." Dillon added that it is "comically ironic" that The New York Times is using misinformation to smear the Babylon Bee as being a source of it.
The Post Millennial reported that The New York Times has since retracted false claims that Babylon Bee is a "far-right misinformation site" following threats of legal action.
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