Snopes may shut down over partnership battle – PB/TK
One of the most prominent sites calling out fake news may shut down because it’s being held ‘hostage’ by ad vendor – By Maxwell Tani / July 24 2017
Fact-checking website Snopes said it may shut down over a dispute with a vendor that is withholding advertising revenue.
The 23-year-old site announced on Monday said it was “in danger of closing its doors” over a dispute with Proper Media, whom Snopes founder David Mikkelson claimed is holding Snopes “hostage” by barring the site from making modifications, placing new ads, and receiving revenue from existing ads.
A GoFundMe set up by Snopes to fund its staff of 16 and operating costs had raised over $200,000 within hours of launching on Monday.
“In a general sense, I’m chagrined, because we have always been a self-supporting company, and I don’t like asking the public for money,” Mikkelson told Business Insider in an interview. “But we’ve been boxed into this position, we’ve been cut off from what we usually get, we don’t have any other way.”
Snopes’ fundraising drive caps what is a contract and partial-acquisition gone wrong.
Continue to businessinsider.com article: http://www.businessinsider.com/snopes-shutting-down-hostage-advertiser-2017-7
