Did President Joe Biden quietly pardon 2,617 BLM protesters in his first days in office? No, that's not true: The claim is a work of satire published by a web network that trolls conservatives. Biden did not issue any pardons in the days after his inauguration on January 20, 2021.
The claim originated in an article published by dailyworldupdate.us on January 21, 2021 titled "Biden Quietly Pardons 2,617 BLM Protesters" (archived here) which opened:
Joe Biden has shown us all whose side he'll be on when it comes to law and order. In a sweeping secret pardon that includes more than 2,616 BLM "protesters," Biden gave a big eff you to law enforcement. Biden's pardon includes "anyone arrested for protesting in a non-violent manner." Basically, all they have to do is say "I dint do nuffin" and they're free to go.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Biden Quietly Pardons 2,617 BLM Protesters
Looks like law and order will be taking a back seat.
The site is part of the "America's Last Line of Defense" network of satire websites run by self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair from Maine along with a loose confederation of friends and allies. He runs several websites and Facebook pages with visible satire disclaimers everywhere. They mostly publish made-up stories with headlines specifically created to trigger Republicans, conservatives and evangelical Christians into angrily sharing or commenting on the story on Facebook without actually reading the full article, exposing them to mockery and ridicule by fans of the sites and pages.
Every site in the network has an "About" page that reads (in part):
About Satire
Before you complain and decide satire is synonymous with "comedy":sat·ire
ˈsaˌtī(ə)r
noun
The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you're still having an issue with that satire thing.
Articles from Blair's sites frequently get copied by "real" fake news sites who omit the satire disclaimer and other hints the stories are fake. One of the most persistent networks of such sites is run by a man from Pakistan named Kashif Shahzad Khokhar (aka "DashiKashi") who has spammed hundreds of such stolen stories into conservative and right-wing Facebook pages in order to profit from the ad revenue.
When fact checkers point this out to the people liking and sharing these copycat stories some of them get mad at the fact checkers instead of directing their anger at the foreign spammers or the liberal satire writers. Others send a polite "thank you" note, which is much appreciated.
NewsGuard, a company that uses trained journalist to rank the reliability of websites, describes dailyworldupdate.us as:
A network of sites that publish false stories and hoaxes that are often mistaken for real news, run by hoax perpetrator Christopher Blair.
According to NewsGuard the site does not maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability. Read their full assessment here.
