North Carolina’s state Senate leader Phil Berger (R) is no stranger to pushing bald-faced lies out to the public. A couple of years ago he was one of the more egregious Republicans in his peddling of false Obamacare horror stories. It turns out that once a liar, always a liar in state Rep. Berger’s case as his staff has been completely making up false headlines for news outlet stories, in order to attack North Carolina’s newly elected Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.
The person managing Berger’s page used a little-known Facebook tool to change the headline on the article being shared, making it appear that the headline was written by the news organization. A typical user of Facebook can’t make such a change, but a manager of a professional or group page can. Facebook says Berger’s use of the tool violates its policies.
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“I can confirm that Sen. Berger has violated Facebook policy,” Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said this week, pointing to the site’s terms of use that dictate users “will not use Facebook to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.”
Here are some examples from the News Observer.
Original WBTV headline: Cooper has no plans to change McCrory’s executive order on bathrooms
Berger version: Cooper backs away from shared bathrooms
Charlotte Observer headline: Sports official says HB2 closing window on hopes of landing NCAA events
Berger version: Cooper’s block of HB2 repeal, unwillingness to compromise is closing window on hopes of landing NCAA events
Charlotte Observer headline: Carolinas political leaders react to Trump’s executive order
Berger version: Cooper flip flops on refugees (The Facebook post also switched an image of Sen. Thom Tillis from the Observer story to a photo of Cooper laughing.)
Sad.