Snopes - True or False

Lately I have been browsing the headlines on Google News and they frequent feature links to Snopes, the trusted truth-judging website.

One thing I've noticed is that Snopes frequently proves conspiracy theories are false by mischaracterizing the claims. One of the recent ones is a supposed claim that five environmental scientists died recently in an airplane crash when they were flying to the site of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Snopes found this claim to be false. False despite the fact that five environmental scientists who had in fact been involved in the East Palestine tragedy investigation had in fact died recently in an airplane crash during a flight to Ohio. Just not East Palestine, Ohio.

What do they call that? There's a name for that particular technique in a debate. It's considered a fallacy in logic, something I wouldn't expect Snopes - or any other liberal media outlet for that matter- to have a whole lot of respect for. What is that fallacy called... hmmm...

Anyway, I have a suggestion for Snopes.

There is a conspiracy theory that claims not only that the Covid-19 virus was engineered in a biological research lab but that it was deliberately released. Considering that it is becoming common knowledge that Covid-19 was indeed engineered in a biological research lab in Wuhan, China from where it was leaked into the public, Snopes can claim the whole theory false merely by denying that the release was deliberate.

Any wagers on how long it will take Snopes to come up with this one? I seriously doubt that Snopes will credit me with the tip, though.