Fake News Story Spreads Through Bartlesville

A social media post claims someone is killing rapists in Bartlesville and police want to make it clear, it's fake news.

This is the second fake news post in Bartlesville in the last month. Officers are shocked at how many people are believing this so easily and sharing it right to their own Facebook pages.

People called and sent Facebook messages to Bartlesville Police about the post.
     
The post is pretending to be a credible news source and claims residents fear someone who is killing rapists in the area.

"I was surprised at some of the people that called me asking me if it was really happening. It's just I think the norm is if you see it on Facebook it must be true," said Captain Jay Hastings. 

But it isn't true, and this is the second post like this in a month the police have been called about.
      
Last month, a fake article said a man accidentally burned his house down while burning his shoes to protest Nike's support of Collin Kaepernick. Again, fake news.

"Every time somebody shares it on their page I mean it just like multiplies almost instantly,” said Hastings.

Hastings said that's the biggest problem; it spreads so fast that it gets hard to convince people otherwise.

"Since you are already on the internet why don't you check a local news source to just see if the story is there. Because again, any breaking news not just for Bartlesville but pretty much anywhere in Oklahoma is going to be on that local media," said Hastings. 

Police say before you start spreading posts like these, find a way to verify it first.