Hampton Beach L Street Tavern is not closing: Restaurant a victim of 'fake news'

Max Sullivan, Portsmouth Herald
·5 min read

HAMPTON — An online article on the closing of L Street Tavern, a “Hampton Beach institution,” seemed convincing enough to Carolyn Fetter when she shared it on Facebook.

Within five minutes of posting a link to the article from BNNBreaking.com, however, Fetter was flooded with messages telling her to take it down. The L Street Tavern, long run at the beach by various owners under different names, was, in fact, still open.

Fetter posted a link to the article to “In the Know Hampton” on Facebook, a page which shares voter information and news of events like business openings and closings. She believes she was not the only one to share the article and acknowledged deleting the post did little to stop the inaccurate news from spreading on social media.

L Street co-owner Jake Magro adjusts the open flag as it got tangled in the wind on Feb. 26, 2024. Magro and his staff had to deal with confusion and concern from customers after a website published a story that said the tavern was closing.
L Street co-owner Jake Magro adjusts the open flag as it got tangled in the wind on Feb. 26, 2024. Magro and his staff had to deal with confusion and concern from customers after a website published a story that said the tavern was closing.

“When it’s out there, it’s out there,” Fetter said.

The website that published the report bills itself as an independent news network. It has been accused by other media outlets as a news aggregator that spreads “fake news” articles, with experts believing it uses artificial intelligence to generate stories, leading to errors. The authors with bylines on the site publish hundreds of stories per day.

“I’ve heard of AI,” L Street Tavern co-owner Jake Magro said. “I just never thought much about it, or what problems could be with it, until now when it directly affects me.”

L Street Tavern confused with South Boston bar

Magro said he has received numerous calls asking if L Street Tavern was closed since the article written by Ebenezer Mensah was posted on BNNBreaking.com Feb. 9.

Magro has been explaining that the site was referring to the L Street Tavern in South Boston and mistakenly reported it was at Hampton Beach.

The story did not simply get the location of the bar wrong, though. The South Boston bar is being sold, not closing, according to a story by NBC Boston.

The article by BNNBreaking.com reported the Hampton Beach bar gained fame in 1997 when it was featured in the film “Good Will Hunting.”

L Street owners Terry Daidone, left, and Jake Magro say a website published a story recently that said the tavern was closing. In reality, L Street Tavern in Boston is being sold, but L Street in Hampton is still open.
L Street owners Terry Daidone, left, and Jake Magro say a website published a story recently that said the tavern was closing. In reality, L Street Tavern in Boston is being sold, but L Street in Hampton is still open.

It also stated the bar is known for its “Irish festivities during the Saint Paddy's Day season,” and is a “must-visit destination for locals and visitors alike, seeking to immerse themselves in the vibrant Irish culture.”

The L Street Tavern in South Boston was the actual bar featured in the hit Matt Damon movie and known for its St. Patrick’s Day fun.

The story also inaccurately reported the Hampton bar was long owned by the Medico family for 30 years. The Medico family recently purchased the bar in Boston from long-time owners Jack and Susan Woods.

The Hampton Beach bar is owned by Magro and Terry Daidone.

L Street owners Terry Daidone, left, and Jake Magro say a website published a story recently that said the tavern was closing. In reality, L Street Tavern in Boston is being sold, but L Street in Hampton is still open.
L Street owners Terry Daidone, left, and Jake Magro say a website published a story recently that said the tavern was closing. In reality, L Street Tavern in Boston is being sold, but L Street in Hampton is still open.

Daidone purchased the bar in 2017 when it was then called Millie's Tavern. Daidone rebranded it as the L Street Tavern, and Magro, a well-known bartender at Millie's, was made a partner in 2019.

Magro said he first learned about the false report online through In the Know Hampton. He reached out to Fetter to alert her of the mistake and has since been trying to get the word out that his tavern is still open.

Magro also contacted BNNBreaking.com but found it is based in Hong Kong and only had one email available for users to contact. He sent an email but has not heard back.

“It's like, wow,” Magro said. "That's kind of ridiculous."

BNNBreaking.com accused of 'fake news'

BNNBreaking.com refers to itself as "The People's Network" on its website and covers topics that range from national politics to hyper-local news stories like their piece on L Street Tavern. It was founded in 2022 by Gurbaksh Chahal, an Indian-American entrepreneur who started in internet advertising.

BNNBreaking.com has been accused of inaccurate reporting and suspected of using AI in the past. In San Francisco, an elected official has had three articles allegedly published by BNNBreaking.com about them that contained “misleading or false information,” according to the website SFGate.

The San Francisco website wrote that it appeared BNNBreaking.com incorrectly aggregated actual news stories on the politician. SFGate interviewed a professor at UC Berkeley who specializes in deep-fake technology, Hany Farid, who said the sheer volume of stories published raised questions about whether the site was using AI tools.

“Even if you can’t prove that the articles are AI-generated, it seems worthy to ask the question of how one person can publish 40 stories in a day,” Farid told sfgate.com.

Other controversies include several Twitter accounts associated with BNNBreaking.com that were permanently suspended for violating Twitter's rule against spam and platform manipulation, according to a Business Insider story. BNNBreaking.com was also facing a defamation suit in January for falsely reporting that an Irish broadcaster was going to trial for alleged sexual misconduct, according to The Journal.

L Street owners Terry Daidone, left, and Jake Magro say a website published a story recently that said the tavern was closing. In reality, L Street Tavern in Boston is being sold, but L Street in Hampton is still open.
L Street owners Terry Daidone, left, and Jake Magro say a website published a story recently that said the tavern was closing. In reality, L Street Tavern in Boston is being sold, but L Street in Hampton is still open.

Attempts to reach BNNBreaking.com through its only available email link on its website were unsuccessful. However, the article about the L Street Tavern at Hampton Beach was removed from its website shortly after an email was sent.

Mensah, the name listed as the author of the Hampton Beach article, lives in Accra, Ghana, according to the BNNBreaking site, but does not have a direct email listed. Attempts to reach Mensah via X, formally known as Twitter, were unsuccessful.

According to his online bio, Mensah is a "distinguished correspondent with a fervor for journalism that sparks transformation" who pens "meticulously researched historical narratives."

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Hampton Beach L Street Tavern is not closing despite 'fake news'