Elon Musk has made many changes to Twitter since he took over the company in October of 2022, but “Community Notes” has been providing the most fun by calling out the lies of politicians and blowhards. The crowdsourced fact-checking and context-adding feature was added by former CEO Jack Dorsey but was called “Birdwatch” and was only available to U.S. users; in December of 2022, Musk made it visible around the world and took steps to ensure that moderators maintain a high standard.
American Federation of Teachers President (AFT) President Randi Weingarten is the latest to get embarrassed, but it’s not even her debut performance—she’s doubling down on the misinformation she’s already been called out on. As my colleague Brittany Sheehan reported, in late April Weingarten was fact-checked repeatedly for her testimony on Capitol Hill claiming that she was a leading proponent of getting kids back in school during the COVID pandemic—a laughable assertion considering she and her union did everything humanly possible to delay returning to the classroom.
Weingarten clearly hasn’t learned her lesson and has been taking to Twitter to repeat her ridiculous claims. Community Notes took notice:
Yes we did @kbelokopitsky . We worked together 3 years ago to get our kids back to in person schooling in a way that was safe for kids & staff. There was much unknown & much fear. NY helped w/needed science backed guidance & resources. Quite a contrast then from DeVos & DeSantis. https://t.co/XOgpknTOZy
— Randi Weingarten 🇺🇦🇺🇸💪🏿👩🎓 (@rweingarten) May 8, 2023
“We worked together 3 years ago to get our kids back to in-person schooling in a way that was safe for kids & staff,” she wrote in the above tweet on May 8. Notes (which have to be upvoted by a range of divergent users) quickly hit back, writing “Weingarten is misrepresenting her prior positions. She called attempts to reopen schools in the fall of 2020 ‘Reckless, callous, cruel’” and linked to a story backing up their claim.
Another said, “Her union pushed aggressively at the local level,” while a third piled on with “Areas with high union influence remained closed much longer.”
But did Weingarten get the message that nobody was buying what she was selling? Evidently not. She’s now been slapped down multiple times:
Here are Randi's first four tweets that were slapped with Community Notes. Three of them were her pinned tweets. pic.twitter.com/ABbUxHWd14
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 9, 2023
The joy of Community Notes comes from the fact although Weingarten has closed off comments to anyone she hasn’t approved—because she doesn’t want to hear from you—she can’t turn off the fact-checkers:
Randi keeps closing her replies like she closed the schools.
She can close her replies.
She can close the schools.
But she cannot close Community Notes. pic.twitter.com/qjdYzDlMkM
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 9, 2023
Weingarten deserves to be shamed because her conduct has been shameful. She has turned her union into an extremist, politicized organization that focuses on far-left ideals and didn’t seem particularly interested in the actual welfare of kids during the pandemic. (Read: As We Celebrate Labor Day, Don’t Forget the Awful Behavior of Teachers Unions.)
Where is she now after this latest drubbing? Is she at home, licking her wounds and soul-searching to try and figure out why she has become such a fount of misinformation? Is she talking with colleagues, trying to figure out how to help all the children who suffered massive learning loss because of the school lockdowns?
No. She is in Ukraine. Again.
No, we are not sitting down, the Mayor of Kyiv is really that tall! #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/ZUb3AfTWiM
— Randi Weingarten 🇺🇦🇺🇸💪🏿👩🎓 (@rweingarten) May 9, 2023
How visiting a foreign country that is not involved in our children’s education helps our kids, I couldn’t tell you. But whatever her explanation is, Community Notes will probably need to fact-check it.
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