I received this email today.
Notice, of course, the "Fwd: Fw" I've redacted the headers and spared you the garish, multiple font changes, and provided simply the text.
Some people have known that Snopes.com was kind of a shady organization for years. Personally, I'm particularly fond of the XKCD comic about it.
During the last presidential election, I had heard similar accusations about FactCheck.org. Stories about how if you follow the ownership up the chain, you'll eventually arrive back at Barack Obama.
The purpose of these emails and "questioning" is two-fold.
On the one side, it's sneering rebuke. It's supposed to be "proof" that all those Snopes articles you've sent along are wrong. In your misguided attempt to help along the slow, gullible ones who are falling farther and farther behind the rest of the herd, you've unfortunately hurt some feelings. So, no more. If they're sure that Miller Lite is really going to give away free beer, or are terrified about leaving the house on Halloween, just let them stay that way.
The other purpose here is not to enlighten people regarding the veracity or bias of Snopes' or FactCheck's research, but instead as a political ploy to cast doubt on an impartial third party. The message is clear, "Do not trust [Snopes/Factcheck/FoxNews/CNN/New York Times]. You can only trust me."
