Claim: "Cutting fact checkers from social platforms is like disbanding your fire department." Who said it: Alan Duke, the former CNN journalists who cofounded Lead Stories, one of the professional fact-checking outlets Meta (formerly Facebook) pays to combat the spread of so-called misinformation on social media. Duke said this in an interview with CNN for an article about how professional fact-checkers are currently battling a "blaze" of "conspiracy theories" about the wildfires burning through Los Angeles.