Fact check: Viral post shows fabricated CNN story about a moth and an ATF search warrant

Ana Faguy, USA TODAY
·3 min read

The claim: Image shows CNN headline about a moth hurt in an ATF raid

From fabricated screenshots of website articles to bogus photos of TV news segments, phony headlines are a common way misinformation is spread online.

An Aug. 24 Facebook post shows a purported CNN headline about a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives house search that left a moth dead. The post accrued 80 shares in two weeks.

"ATF agent squashed a pet Atlas Moth at the house of a man with no active warrants," the supposed story reads, attributing the text of the article to Reuters.

Some Facebook users seemed to believe the headline was real.

"Who cares about the bug that’s only going to live a week…why were they raiding an innocent guy’s house?" one Facebook user commented.

But the image does not show a real headline, a spokesperson for CNN said, and Reuters never produced the story, according to the news organization.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment.

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(FILES) In this file photo taken on October 16, 2021, people walk past the CNN center in Atlanta, Georgia. - CNN will shut down its new streaming service next week, just one month after launching it with much fanfare, the US network announced on April 21, 2022. CNN+ was billed as one of the most significant developments in the television channel's history but will close on April 30. The decision was made by new management after CNN's former parent company, WarnerMedia, merged with Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this month, CNN Business said. (Photo by Daniel SLIM / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)

Image is altered

The image in the social media post does not show a real headline, and CNN never published or broadcast such a story, Emily Kuhn, a spokesperson for CNN said.

In an Aug. 29 fact check article, Reuters also said the organization produced no such story.

The story was not published on CNN's website and does not appear on CNN's Twitter account. It was also not published on Reuters' website and does not appear on Reuters' Twitter account.

The two images in the post were pulled from elsewhere online.

The image of the moth can be found at breedingbutterflies.com, a website that publishes information about moths and butterflies.

The photo of the ATF agents matches an unattributed photo of law enforcement used in an ACLU of New York article published in March 2021.

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Our rating: Altered

Based on our research, we rate ALTERED an image that claims to show a CNN headline about a moth hurt in an ATF raid. A spokesperson for CNN said the outlet published no such story. Reuters also published a fact check noting the organization had no role in a story on this topic.

Our fact-check sources:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Image shows fabricated CNN story about ATF search warrant