An article claiming that “millions” of Thanksgiving turkeys were recalled due to avian flu is merely satire (although it’s not very funny).
It was posted on the National Report, which bills itself as satirical. It includes fake quotes from the CDC and other officials.
The fake article reads, in part: “The virus is related to human influenza virus but was thought to lack the ability to infect humans. However, it appears that the virus has recently developed the ability to move from bird hosts into humans.”
The National Report used to have a disclaimer, but it was taken down some time ago. It used to say, “National Report is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within National Report are fiction, and presumably fake news. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental .”
Other fake news pieces from the National Report have headlines like “Graffiti Artist Banksy Arrested In London; Identity Revealed” (not true) and “2014 Federal Tax Refunds To Be Delayed Until October 2015” (not true either).
The turkey articles had tens of thousands of shares on Facebook.
The National Report also issued a statement that the media and users should not take the National Report as a real news source.
“It is our opinion that if a person is too lazy to check for multiple references [or at least one other source] ... and they spread misinformation around as fact, then they are to blame for their own stupidity, not us,” said the publication’s publisher, “Allen Montgomery” (probably a fake name).
