Fake News: Prime Minister Did NOT Issue Reminder To UK Parents That The State Owns Their Children

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: Prime Minister Did NOT Issue Reminder To UK Parents That The State Owns Their Children

Did U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May remind parents in the U.K. that the state owns their children and that they were "getting a little too attached" to them? No, that's not true, she didn't remind them of that. The article that claimed she said that originated on a Christian themed satire website.

The fake quote appeared in an article published on April 24, 2018 titled "Prime Minister Issues Friendly Reminder To UK Parents That The State Owns Their Children" (archived here) which opened:

LONDON--Upon the news of a high court ordering life support removed from 2-year-old Alfie Evans, English Prime Minister Theresa May issued a brief, friendly reminder to citizens of the U.K. that the all-powerful state actually owns their children.

In a video circulated online, May informed parents who were "getting a little too attached" to their children that they need to keep in mind that the United Kingdom is the actual legal parent, and the kids are simply on loan to them until the State decides it's time for them to die.

Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail might have mistaken it for a real news article:

Prime Minister Issues Friendly Reminder To UK Parents That The State Owns Their Children

LONDON--Upon the news of a high court ordering life support removed from 2-year-old Alfie Evans, English Prime Minister Theresa May issued a brief, friendly reminder to citizens of the U.K. that the all-powerful state actually owns their children. In a video circulated online, May informed parents who were "getting a little too attached" to their ...

The story was satirical in nature and was meant to offer commentary on the Alfie Evans case:

Alfie Evans case - Wikipedia

The Alfie Evans case is a case in 2018 involving Alfie Evans, an infant boy from Liverpool suffering from an undiagnosed neurodegenerative disorder. The case became controversial because the medical team and parents disagreed about treatment in the best interests of the child.

"The Babylon Bee" comes with following dislaimer on every page:

The Babylon Bee is Your Trusted Source For Christian News Satire.

Some of their greatest past hits include:

With a track record like that it is clear that you shouldn't take anything posted on the site seriously and you definitely shouldn't confuse it with real news.

We wrote more about babylonbee.com recently, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:

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  Maarten Schenk

Lead Stories co-founder 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

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