Did the European Union rename itself to "Association of Regional States of Europe" in order to invalidate the Brexit referendum? No, that's not true: the "news" was invented by a satirical website. It is not real.
The story originated from an article published on August 6, 2018 titled "EU changes its name to Association of Regional States of Europe, making 2016 referendum VOID" (archived here) which opened:
In a dramatic. last gasp attempt to stop the United Kingdom from leaving the European Union, a Brussels supremo has confirmed that the bloc is about to change its name from the 'European Union' to the 'Association of Regional States of Europe.'
According to legal experts, this will stop the United Kingdom withdrawing from the European Union as it will technically no longer exist.
Dr Bernard Gurnard told our news desk that this could be 'air tight' as there was no mention of the new name on the June 2016 ballot paper.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
EU changes its name to Association of Regional States of Europe, making 2016 referendum VOID
In a dramatic. last gasp attempt to stop the United Kingdom from leaving the European Union, a Brussels supremo has confirmed that the bloc is about to change its name from the 'European Union' to the 'Association of Regional States of Europe.' According to legal experts, this will stop the United Kingdom withdrawing from the ...
But we found no online trace of this "Dr Bernard Gurnard" anywhere online, which makes sense since The Southend News Network is a satirical site pretending to be a news organisation by the English coast in Southend. They have a disclaimer on their about page that reads (in part):
Southend News Network was originally started in October 2015 with no real aims or objectives in mind other than to add a satirical/spoof-like touch to issues that people are passionate about in Southend On Sea. Above all else, SNN is all about having the occasional 'dig' at the powers that be, as well a slightly bigger and more frequent 'dig' at certain elements of local media!
Several of their stories have been mistaken for real news in the past and the site was recognized by the local authorities as an "official news outlet".
We wrote about southendnewsnetwork.net before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:
- Fake News: LETHAL WEAPON 5 NOT To Hit Cinemas In 2019
- Fake News: Tommy Robinson NOT Released From Prison After Huge Campaign
- Fake News: School Did NOT Ban England Flags Ahead Of The World Cup For Safety Reasons
- Fake News: Man Did NOT Die After Being Overcome By Smell Of Scented Soaps In Lush
- Fake News: Thousands Did NOT Protest On The Streets After Arrest Of Tony Robinson
