The death of a Hall of Fame legend.
An unexpected massive trade.
A public war of words between a political figure and a star quarterback.
Any of these news stories would fuel an entire offseason of commentary from each of the NFL’s 32 rabid fanbases.
To the unsuspecting Buffalo Bills fan on Facebook, you might have thought all three happened in the past few weeks alone.
Such is the feverish pace that news breaks on Facebook pages with names like “Bills Mafia Pride,” “Buffalo Fan News,” and “Buffalo Brotherhood” – all accounts with five-figure follower counts.
Even while there’s no shortage of comments pointing out the falsehoods, there’s also a plethora of interactions and comments from those taking the post at face value.
There’s just one thing: None of the news is accurate. A search engine query will show no major news outlet – or the team itself – reporting or confirming a report that Hall of Famer James Lofton passed away. Or the Bills traded for Pro Bowl RB Alvin Kamara. Or Erika Kirk insulted Josh Allen to his face.
Even while there’s no shortage of comments pointing out the falsehoods, there’s also a plethora of interactions and comments from those taking the post at face value.
Chances are you’ve seen these types of posts – whether you follow these accounts or not. The algorithm knows your interests and your location and is incentivized to feed you what it deems relevant content that is gathering high engagement. It doesn’t appear to matter that the content is inaccurate, or that a good amount of the engagement comes in the form of comments pointing out said inaccuracies.
What it leaves is a wake of misinformation and confusion from those who interact before consulting alternate sources.
“So sorry for your loss. May he rest in peace,” writes a user on a post about an unnamed, AI-generated photo of a Bills staffer who was also a close friend of Josh Allen and died while breaking up a bar fight. (This never happened.)
“Rest in peace, legend,” is a comment on a post announcing the passing of WR James Lofton who, as of time of publication, is very much alive.
Sometimes these Bills pages even venture into more serious areas of fake news.
“This was a terrible post. Actually scared me for a few minutes because I have relatives in the Southtowns,” wrote one user on a post falsely claiming a massive fire was engulfing Western New York. While most of the comments called it out as fake, the post also had 220 engagements and 190 shares.
All fake stories. All still fueling engagement. All directing users to read more by clicking on URLs that, if you take the time to read the web address prior to clicking, raise some red flags.
And Bills fans aren’t alone. Take the “story” of a Bills draft pick giving the endearing quote that “my family couldn’t even afford to buy all 32 hats.” Or was it a Seahawks draft pick? Or a Broncos draft pick?
I know college football players are trained to speak with the media, but no three players are that in lockstep.
So what can you do?
You can flag and report the account, although the proliferation of these profiles lends cause to believe they are popping up faster than Facebook/Meta can (or cares to) intervene.
You can block the page, which at least keeps the content from that specific page from appearing in your feed. Just be ready for déjà vu when, after blocking one, another account with a similar name and similar graphics shows up.
The best thing to do? Be aware. Understand that these accounts exist and have a penchant for proliferating falsehoods. So the next time your heart sinks when seeing that Bruce Smith is fighting for his life, or a relative texts you to say they heard the team traded for A.J. Brown, you will consider the source. Take the time to independently verify the information from an outlet you trust before engaging, commenting, or sharing.
Then, and only then, can we begin stopping the spread of the misinformation wildfire.
