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Fact check: What are the current roles of David and Barbara Mikkelson in the fact-checking community?
Executive summary
David and Barbara Mikkelson were the founders of Snopes and central figures in U.S. fact‑checking for decades, but their active operational roles have been greatly reduced and contested amid plagiarism, litigation, and ownership changes. Different sources show David was suspended from editorial duties while still reported as a major shareholder as recently as late 2024, and by early 2025 Snopes’ leadership and ownership are described as controlled by new co‑owners and a new CEO, with Barbara’s involvement limited to past ownership disputes and litigation [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. How the founding couple built—and then lost—day‑to‑day control
David and Barbara Mikkelson co‑founded Snopes in 1994 and were long presented as the public faces and operators of the site; their names are inseparable from Snopes’ origin story. Over time both became entangled in commercial arrangements and disputes that shifted control. Reporting and legal filings document that Barbara at one point sold her stake to parties tied to Proper Media, and that the couple later faced litigation over ownership and financial management of Snopes’ parent company [6] [5]. That history explains why contemporary descriptions of Snopes’ leadership emphasize new executives and owners rather than the Mikkelsons; the transfer of significant stakes and formal management arrangements created a practical separation between founder status and operational control [7] [4].
2. David Mikkelson’s editorial suspension and the ownership puzzle
Multiple contemporaneous accounts report that David Mikkelson was suspended from editorial responsibilities following identified plagiarism, yet he was described in some reports as retaining a large ownership stake and executive title. A late‑September 2024 report states he was suspended from editorial production but “remains CEO and a 50% shareholder,” signaling a split between editorial authority and ownership claims [1] [2]. Other sources, including later organizational profiles, describe a transition to new leadership and list Chris Richmond and Drew Schoentrup as owners and Richmond as CEO by early 2025, indicating that either formal titles changed, reporting captured different stages of the dispute, or ownership transfers rendered older descriptions outdated [3] [8] [4].
3. Barbara Mikkelson’s public role: litigation, sale, and a fading profile
Barbara Mikkelson appears in court documents as a defendant in disputes about Snopes’ ownership and finances, and reporting notes she sold her stake to individuals associated with Proper Media during the business conflicts that followed the founders’ divorce. Her contemporary public role in the fact‑checking community is limited mainly to legal and historical mentions rather than active editorial participation, according to the available documents and coverage [5] [6]. The contrast between being a founding figure and being absent from current leadership listings underlines the practical decline in her operational presence, even as her name remains relevant to the site’s ownership and legal history [7].
4. Conflicting timelines: why sources disagree about “current” roles
The sources supplied span several years and reflect different reporting moments: mid‑2017 corporate disputes, 2019 retrospectives, 2021 apologies and suspensions, ownership consolidation in 2022, and leadership profiles into 2024–2025. That chronology explains apparent contradictions—a 2024 article can report a suspension and retained title, while a 2025 profile can name a new CEO and co‑owners after formal transfers were completed [1] [2] [3] [4]. The practical effect is that any single snapshot may be true for its date but misleading if presented as the up‑to‑date picture without noting subsequent transfers and lawsuits that altered titles and control.
5. Bottom line: what their “current roles” mean for fact‑checking credibility
Factually, both David and Barbara Mikkelson are best described as founding figures whose ongoing operational influence over Snopes and active editorial roles are, at minimum, substantially diminished and in some accounts formally ended. David was publicly disciplined from editorial duties and various reports conflict on whether he retained executive titles as ownership arrangements evolved; Barbara’s participation is recorded mainly through past ownership transfers and litigation [1] [2] [5] [3] [4]. For readers and researchers, the practical takeaway is that contemporary decisions about Snopes’ editorial direction and business strategy are attributed to Chris Richmond and Drew Schoentrup in the most recent organizational descriptions, while the Mikkelsons remain important historical and legal actors whose precise present titles depend on which documented date one treats as authoritative [3] [8] [4].