About

Fake News Article Screenshots refers to fictional headlines, often created for humorous purposes, that gain viral notoriety. The posts containing the screenshots are often accompanied with a caption expressing disbelief. The phenomenon became especially prominent in the first half of 2022 with the spread of fake news edited to look like screenshots of real articles or search results on Twitter.

Origin

The practice of photoshopping and creating fake news headlines goes back to at least the early 2010s and the Breaking News Parodies photoshopping/remix trend, in which memers would insert jokes and false stories into the chyrons of screenshots from breaking news television broadcasts.

Spread

In the first half of 2022, however, a series of viral fake news article screenshots came into prominence and generated real headlines and discussion. Unlike the breaking news headline photoshop trend, these imitated the presentation of news stories on the mobile version of the websites of major news outlets and wire services.

On November 15th, 2021, Twitter user @JUNlPER tweeted a screenshot of a fabricated news article claiming that Elon Musk was promising to allow himself to be executed if someone can solve three riddles (shown below). JUNlPER also stated that they were influenced to make their tweet by @GoodPoliticGuy.^[1]

Notable Examples

Goblin Mode

Twitter user @JUNlPER would make several more tweets with fake news article screenshots attached. On February 15th, 2022, JUNlPER tweeted a photoshopped headline about Julia Fox and Kanye West, suggesting that Fox said West didn't like it when she went goblin mode . The actual headline from Pinkvilla reads, "Julia Fox opened up about her ‘difficult’ relationship with Kanye West before split announcement."

The photoshopped headlines spread on social media, with some users and online publications, such as The Focus, believing the "goblin mode" headline was real.^[3] JUNIPER eventually pinned a tweet showing screenshots of the "goblin mode" post and reactions to it to the top of her profile, captioning the tweet "it's incredibly easy to create fake news it's actually ridiculous lol"

Elon Musk 'Pegged'

On April 6th, 2022, Twitter user @DoctorPenisBoob posted a photoshopped series of fake news headlines, seemingly from a Google search of a trending story, about Elon Musk getting pegged by then-girlfriend Grimes. The fake news headlines use the logos of CNBC, The Guardian, and CBS News. The tweet earned over 68,000 likes and was quote-tweeted almost 5,000 times.

The Snickers Dick Vein

On April 16th, 2022, @JUNlPER posted a tweet that attached a fake news headline stating, "Snickers are officially caving and removing the world renowned dick vein from the candybar." They captioned it, "no fucking way," and earned roughly 202,500 likes over the course of three days.

On April 18, 2022, fact-checking site, Snopes posted an article debunking the notion that the Snickers Dick Vein was going to be removed, stating, "The candy company Mars, Inc. has not removed a 'dick vein' from candy bars after being pressured by a 'woke mob.'"^[2]

The fake news posting of @JUNIPER received heavy mainstream attention, with @JUNIPER being interviewed by Rolling Stone about the Snickers Dick Vein post.^[5]

Homophobia Dog

On May 16th, 2022, Twitter user @mailprivilege^[7] tweeted a fake Washington Post article discussing the homophobia dog (shown below, left). The fake article was discussed by Christina Pushaw,^[4] Florida governor Ron DeSantis' press secretary, who believed the article to be real. Pushaw posted a tweet ridiculing Taylor Lorenz, the author named in the fake screenshot (shown below, right).

External References