Just Because It's Trending Doesn't Mean It's True

Hoax Alert: Pope Francis Did Not Endorse Bernie Sanders for President

  • by: Maarten Schenk
  • (Mon, 26 Oct 2015 22:10:43 Z)

Well known hoax site usatoday.com.co (not 'usatoday.com'!) reported the following today:

Vatican City - In a final speech to the synod, Pope Francis endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for President of the United States, while taking some clear swipes at conservatives who hold up church doctrine above all else, and use it to cast judgment on others. "The synod experience also made us better realize that the ... The post Pope Francis Endorses Bernie Sanders for President appeared first on National Report.

This is of course not true. But the news started trending earlier today anyway:

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About the author:

Maarten Schenk is our resident expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread made-up things on the internet.  He can often be found at conferences and events about fake news, disinformation and fact checking when he is not in his office in Belgium monitoring and tracking the latest fake article to go viral.

Read more about or contact Maarten Schenk