The Associated Press (AP) recently came under fire after publishing a misleading fact-check about Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance. The fact-check addressed a baseless rumor that Vance had described a lewd act involving a couch in his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. The rumor, which spread on social media, claimed that Vance detailed an inappropriate act with a couch, a claim that was entirely fabricated.
The AP’s article, titled “No, JD Vance did not have sex with a couch,” was intended to debunk the false claim but ended up giving it undue attention. The piece was tagged with the authoritative “AP Fact Check” label, which led many to question why such an absurd rumor warranted a fact-check in the first place. Critics argued that the AP’s decision to publish the article only served to amplify the baseless claim.
The AP eventually removed the article, admitting that it did not meet their editorial standards and had bypassed the usual editing process. This move came after intense criticism and ridicule from various quarters. A spokesperson for the AP stated, “The story, which did not go out on the wire to our customers, didn’t go through our standard editing process. We are looking into how that happened.”
The controversy intensified when author and journalist Noah Rothman criticized the AP for giving the fake claim any legitimacy. Rothman tweeted, “Last night, the AP published a ‘fact check’ of utterly unknown nobodies who alleged that JD Vance fornicated a couch, not because anyone believed that but because it introduces that nonsense into the bloodstream. Today, it’s gone. So sleazy.”
The AP’s handling of the situation serves as a cautionary tale about the potential pitfalls of engaging with viral misinformation.
