The Alabama Senate seat is up for grabs later today, December 12, and it’s going to be a close call. Things have been further complicated by several pieces of fake news on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, as well as websites.
Politifact’s fact-checking exercises have exposed several fake news items. Here are a few:
Fake News Item #1: “Roy Moore’s accuser arrested and charged with falsification.”
According to this story in the USA Mirror News websites, “Alabama Attorney General John Simmons filed charges of falsification (against) Mary Lynne Davies, who said Roy Moore seduced and molested her when she was 14 years old.”
The only problem is, there’s no Mary Lynne Davies among the nine women who have accused Moore so far. What’s more, the current Alabama Attorney General is Steve Marshall (R), not John Simmons.
Of course, there are attorneys with that name, the most notable of whom is John Simmons of Simmons Hanly Conroy, the largest mass tort law firm in the country. But this John Simmons is a Democrat who’s contributed (since 2003, along with partners and employees) $2,600,993 to Democratic candidates running for national office.
The USA Mirror News article does have this disclaimer: “satirical publication that may appear sometimes to be telling the truth. We assure you that’s not the case. We present fiction as fact and our sources don’t actually exist.” But that’s part of the navigation bar and would only be seen by someone if they clicked on it.
Fake News Item #2: “Breaking: Woman says she was offered big money by Washington Post to accuse Roy Moore of misconduct”
That’s the headline on a “news” piece on Evening World’s website. It’s based on a tweet from an account that is fake and has since been removed.
The tweet, dated November 10, said “A family friend who lives in Alabama just told my wife that a WAPO reporter named Beth offered her 1000$ to accuse Roy Moore????”
Beth Reinhart, one of the Washington Post reporters covering the Moore story, denied the allegation. Moreover, the user, one Doug Lewis using @umpire43, has a history of spreading hoaxes. And a Daily Beast investigation into his past proved that none of his profile claims were true, which included being a Navy veteran, a baseball umpire and a worker in the US Consulate in Calgary.
Fake News Item #3: “WE CALLED IT! Gloria Allred Accuser **ADMITS** She Tampered With Roy Moore’s Yearbook ‘Signature.’ ”
This Gateway Pundit story, Fox News and Breitbart all reported that Beverly Young Nelson (represented by lawyer Gloria Allred) had either forged all or part of Moore’s inscription in her yearbook, or tampered with his signature in some way.
The real story, as told by Nelson to ABC News’ Tom Llamas a few days ago, is that she added “12-22-77, Olde Hickory House” to Moore’s inscription in the yearbook.
A hat tip to Politifact and Snopes for digging into the facts and setting the records straight. All of these sensational reports are fake news, and have been exposed as such. But it may not be enough to tilt the vote in Jones’ favor, especially after his video ad misrepresenting Judge Roy Moore’s dissents on cases he’s presided over in the past, which can only serve to help Moore win the Senate seat.
Today is the day of the election, and it will be up to the voters to decide who gets Jeff Sessions’ empty seat in the Senate.
+++ + +++
