Snopes declares fake Florida 'Anti-Woke banned book list' to be 'satire' instead of admitting it’s 'false'

The liberal fact-checking website Snopes claimed that a realistic list of "banned" in Florida circulating on social media was "satire" rather than fake on Monday.

In its "fact check," Snopes examined an image posted from the Twitter account Freesus Patriot on Saturday claiming to be "Florida’s Anti-Woke banned book list," which included, among other titles, "The Lord of the Rings," "1984" and "A Wrinkle in Time."

Snopes journalist Bethania Palma noted that this list followed efforts by "Republican legislators" to limit explicit and political books in children’s schools.

"Amid a push by U.S. Republican legislators to limit children’s access to books in schools and libraries about sensitive topics, some social media users in August 2022 posted a list that allegedly contained titles of ‘banned’ books in schools and libraries throughout the state of Florida," Palma wrote.

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Although the list was later determined to be false, Palma rated the image to be "originated from satire." According to Snopes, "This rating refers to content that originally came from a site described as satire, but was later stripped of some of its satirical markings, repackaged, and posted elsewhere. The rating also applies to content not necessarily labeled as satire but that audiences perceived as satirical nonetheless, such as content from The Onion."

"The tweeted list appears to have started out as an attempt at satire, although, as often happens on the internet, was quickly lifted from its original context and shared by those who assumed it was real," Palma wrote.

While Palma insisted that the list was "satire," the image was shared by many progressive accounts, including teachers’ union president Randi Weingarten, as real. Weingarten later deleted the tweet, acknowledging her mistake with a screenshot of it while still insisting that "book bans are very real & dangerous."

Palma also wrote that Freesus Patriot claimed "the whole thing started out as satire" to mock Florida conservatives. However, a since-deleted tweet from the account previously insisted that the list was real.

"I'm not going to say where this list came from due to protecting sources but if this list is wrong then I invite @RonDeSantisFL to publicly state the books on this list will not be banned in Florida schools & he intends to protect student's rights. I will take it down if he does," the account wrote.

Freesus Patriot also deleted the original list and relabeled their Twitter profile as "satire," but only after the Snopes report dropped.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' press secretary Bryan Griffin called out Snopes' rating on Twitter after previously confirming the list was "false." 

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"The fake book ban list image doesn't get a ‘False’ rating from @snopes but ‘Originated as Satire.’ ‘Stripped of some satirical markings’? ‘Audiences perceived as satirical’? No it was a lie that went far and now gets PR cover work from a ‘fact checker,’" Griffin tweeted.

On Sunday, Griffin tweeted in response to the since deleted "Florida’s Anti-Woke banned book list" tweet, "False. The State of Florida has not banned To Kill a Mockingbird. In fact, Florida RECOMMENDS the book in 8th grade. (FL Standards linked, page 160). However, the book was banned by a progressive district in California, along with other classics, in 2020)."

Snopes did not reference California’s Burbank Unified School District’s announcement in 2020 that it would ban classic novels such as "To Kill a Mockingbird," "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" and "Of Mice and Men," all of which the original list claimed were now banned in Florida. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Griffin further explained, "There’s clearly a double standard. Lies about the governor and conservative policies get covered up with ‘Originated as Satire’-style dismissals and, largely, face no penalty. Meanwhile, conservative voices are frequently censored – even when those conservative voices are merely exposing the radical ideas of the left."

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Snopes has frequently been called out for politically biased "fact-checks" that appear to defend left-wing figures. 

In 2021, the site was panned for claiming that a statement saying Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "wasn't even in the Capitol building" during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was "mostly false," even though they admitted, "Ocasio-Cortez wasn't in the main Capitol building."