Did Saquon Barkley (or any other professional athlete) just launch Freedom Ranch, a $6 million sanctuary for horses? No, that's not true: This is a made-up story. A network of Facebook pages run from Vietnam and other countries are generating new cut-and-paste versions every day. Each variation on the Freedom Ranch theme includes the name of a professional athlete accompanied by photos of the athlete in uniform and of horses receiving care. There are several real facilities named Freedom Ranch, but this made-up story is not about a real sanctuary -- it's just a trick to get people to click a link to a website.
One example of the fake story appears in a post (archived here) published by the Facebook page Philly Fly Zone Fans on Sept. 20, 2025 . It was captioned:
Saquon Barkley, ѕtar of the Baltіmore Ravenѕ, haѕ launched Freedom Ranch -- a 150-acre ѕanctuary іn Calіfornіa worth over $6 mіllіon, dedіcated to reѕcuіng abandoned and abuѕed horѕeѕ. "Thіѕ іѕ more than a ѕhelter," Saquon ѕaіd. "We offer rehab, retraіnіng, 24/7 veterіnary care, and a рlace for kіdѕ to connect wіth theѕe horѕeѕ. Moѕt іmрortantly, we gіve them a ѕecond chance at lіfe." Freedom Ranch aіmѕ to become a natіonal model and іnѕріre other athleteѕ to take actіon for anіmal welfare...
This is the photo montage included with the post:
(Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot of facebook.com/share/p/1HUpvqfMqS.)
The post caption above contains an error, which should be obvious even to those who don't follow sports. The photo (above left) shows Saquon Barkley in a Philadelphia Eagles uniform -- he does not play for the Baltimore Ravens. Errors like this are a feature of copy-and-paste campaigns like this one. Another example of a post was published on Sept. 22, 2025 by the page "Ravenous Fans" (pictured below). It has virtually the same caption but with a different athlete named -- Mark Andrews, who is a player for the Ravens. Both posts feature the same additional photos of generic horse scenes.
(Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot of facebook.com/share/p/1C5uL8jD1L.)
In both cases the first comment under the post contains a link to a website; one directs to new365.azontree.com (archived here) and the other to sportnewss.livextop.com (archived here). In the page transparency reports of both of these Facebook pages for American football fans, Vietnam is the location listed for their page managers (here and here). Since about Sept. 18, 2025 a variety of sports pages have been churning out stories to the respective fan bases about this fictional "Freedom Ranch" horse sanctuary. The clickbait formula is not limited to football players but includes NASCAR driver Chase Elliot, tennis stars Alexandra Eala and Carlos Alcaraz, retired Dodgers baseball star Eric Karros, and basketball legend Larry Bird.
The Lead Stories composite image (pictured below) shows twenty four variations on this theme found on Sept. 24, 2025 with a Facebook Search using the phrase, "launched Freedom Ranch a 150-acre ѕanctuary". Even more examples have appeared since then.
(Image Source: Lead Stories composite image with screenshots from facebook.com.)
