A screenshot purporting to show a Feb. 5 tweet by Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert about Big Tech is from a parody account, not Boebert’s real Twitter account, but some users appear to believe it was an authentic tweet.
A tweet with more than 4.1 million views at the time of writing says, “Lauren Boebert was today years old when she learned what Google and Apple maps do” (here).
The screenshot from the account “@laurenboobert” reads: “I’ve just been told that Joe Biden has allowed Big Tech to catalogue nearly every street address in the nation. Now, with just the push of a button, anyone in China can get directions to your home. This is unforgivable.”
Examples of users sharing the screenshot on Facebook can be seen (here), (here) and (here).
The account @laurenboobert (twitter.com/laurenboobert) is real but appears to be suspended at the time of writing (archive.ph/ydGPm).
The screenshot circulating on social media clearly states “Parody” and “Parody by Back Rub” on the bottom of the post. It was shared on Feb. 6 by a Twitter profile that routinely shares fabricated posts but clearly states the account is satirical in nature (@FaithRubPol) (here). An identical label can be seen on other fabricated tweets created by the same account, and its bio says: “Most of our screenshots are parodies.”
Reuters Fact Check has debunked other fabricated tweets linked to the parody account taken seriously (here), (here), (here).
A search via Boebert’s official Twitter account (@laurenboebert) did not reveal the tweet shared online (archive.ph/LFd5Z).
A spokesperson for Boebert confirmed to Reuters that she published no such tweet.
VERDICT
Satire. The screenshot was created by a parody account and was not shared on Lauren Boebert’s official Twitter page.
(Update Feb. 7, 2023: Replaces paragraph 9 with response from a Boebert spokesperson)
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts (here).
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.