Screenshots of satirical tweets about escaped zoo animals have gone viral out of context in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. They are from a parody Twitter account that appropriates CNN’s name and logo. Let’s take a look at the facts.
NewsLit takeaway
Rumors of wild animals infiltrating flooded cities after major storms are common — so much so that some have achieved joke-meme status online. Cases of “stolen satire,” in which joke posts and satirical graphics are copied and circulated out of context, are also common. Be sure to fact-check sensational claims in the wake of major events like natural disasters before sharing.
Resources
- “Lateral Reading” tutorial and reverse image search tutorial (NLP’s Checkology® virtual classroom).
- “Fact check: Viral posts falsely claim animals escaped zoo in New Jersey amid Ida”(McKenzie Sadeghi, USA Today).
- “Animals didn’t escape zoo in NJ storm” (Ali Swenson, The Associated Press).
- “Fact Check-Text message claiming that zoo animals in New Jersey escaped during Storm Ida is fake” (Reuters Fact Check).
NLP’s viral rumor rundown is a regular feature in The Sift, its weekly email newsletter for educators, and in Get Smart About News, its weekly email newsletter for the general public. You can subscribe to these newsletters here. Send suggestions, questions or feedback on this rumor or on the viral rumor rundown blog to thesift@newslit.org.
