Charlie Kirk’s Death Becomes Clickbait Gold Mine
The NFL fake quotes industry has entered the digital age, and the results are spectacular in their shamelessness. In what might be the most American story possible, conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s name has been attached to more fabricated sports quotes than actual football analysts, proving that on the internet, nobody checks if you’re actually dead before quoting you.
The phenomenon has caught the attention of German investigative journalists, who are simultaneously horrified and fascinated by American media’s relationship with truth. “In Germany, we have laws about this sort of thing,” noted one Berlin-based media researcher. “In America, you have engagement metrics.”
The fake quotes follow a predictable pattern: take a controversial figure, attribute something inflammatory but vaguely plausible to them, add “BREAKING” in all caps, and watch the shares roll in. It doesn’t matter if Kirk is alive, dead, or somewhere in betweenthe algorithm demands content, and content it shall have.
What makes this particularly absurd is that Kirk actually says plenty of controversial things while alive and on the record. But apparently, authentic quotes don’t generate the same viral potential as completely fabricated ones. “Why quote what someone actually said when you can make up something better?” appears to be the operational philosophy of an entire cottage industry of clickbait farms.
The NFL connection is almost tangential. These aren’t even quotes about footballthey’re just attributed to random sports figures because sports fans are apparently considered particularly gullible. One fake quote had Kirk praising a linebacker’s “dedication to traditional family values,” which is hilarious because Kirk probably couldn’t name three linebackers if his life depended on it.
Media literacy experts in Berlin have started using this phenomenon in their university courses as a perfect example of how digital misinformation spreads. Students are asked to identify what’s wrong with these viral posts, and the answer is usually “everything except the font.”
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/nfl-fake-quotes-scandal/
SOURCE: Bohiney Magazine (Öko Angebot)
AUTHOR: angebot@bohiney.com
NFL Fake Quotes Scandal Goes Digital