Snopes launches online fundraiser amid legal battle

Fact-checking website Snopes.com has launched an online fundraiser amid a legal battle with an outside vendor that Snopes says is holding it hostage.

Snopes started a GoFundMe campaign Monday to raise $500,000 for the site. It says Proper Media cut it off from advertising income, will not return control of the site, is inserting its own ads on it and is withholding advertising revenue.

A lawyer for Proper Media, Karl Kronenberger, tells The New York Times that Snopes founder David Mikkelson didn't properly cancel the contract and Mikkelson retains control of the Snopes.com domain name.

Both sides have sued each other in California court.