Home Satirical X account mistakenly believed to be real congressman's commentary

Satirical X account mistakenly believed to be real congressman's commentary

By: Kari Nixon

October 4 2024

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A Threads post expresses suspicion over the timing of a political post on X Threads

Fact-Check

The Verdict False

We found the X account in question to be a satirical account and its content was not meant to be taken seriously.

The Claim

On October 2, a Threads post criticized what the author mistakenly believed was a post by a U.S. Republican senator on X (formerly Twitter). The X post expressed an opinion on the vice presidential debate, but it was posted three hours before the debate began. Because of this discrepancy in timing, the author expressed doubts about Republicans' sincerity.

Within 18 hours, this post had gathered over 6,000 views. 

However, although people have misunderstood this account to be factual in the past (see this Reuters fact check on a post by the account from June 2024), Logically Facts has identified this supposed senator's account as a satire account. 

In Fact

Logically Facts has determined that the @RepJackKimble account is a satire account. 

The account's bio states that the figure is a "Republican representing CA's 54th District," which is the first major sign that the account is satirical. California has only 52 congressional districts. Additionally, the House of Representatives' Directory website lists no congressman by this name

While satire and its related definitions can often be prone to subjective interpretation, posts such as the one below, where the supposedly Republican senator endorses J.D. Vance — using an unflattering, photo-shopped image of him emphasizing the eyeliner usage that his detractors often mock — make the satirical nature of the account quite clear. 

Moreover, the account's bio states that the representative is a "co-sponsor of Poe's Law." While this may sound like a legislative bill of some kind, Poe's Law in fact refers to a truism in internet culture wherein the line between satire and serious discourse can become indistinguishable. This reference, not to a real law, but to internet culture and satire, also marks this account as satirical. 

The link to books authored by the "congressman" include titles such as Detective Jesus, with humorous book covers including Jesus playing back-up to a gun-wielding detective. This further suggests the account is not meant to be taken seriously. 

We also reached out to the account for commentary, but did not receive a response.

Other news organizations have previously fact checked this account, also finding it to be satire.

The verdict

The account in question is a satire account, and the post has been misunderstood and shared as factual. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.

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0 Global Fact-Checks Completed

We rely on information to make meaningful decisions that affect our lives, but the nature of the internet means that misinformation reaches more people faster than ever before