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Fact check: No truth to viral claim about arrest of Tim Hortons' CEO

Hannah Hudnall   | Paste BN

The claim: Tim Hortons’ CEO has been arrested for possession of child pornography

A Facebook post shared July 20 shows a screengrab of an article published by the Vancouver Times announcing the arrest of Tim Hortons' CEO Daniel Schwartz.

"Vancouver times is reporting CEO of Tim Hortons Daniel Schwartz was arrested at his home outside of New York City by federal officers and members of the NYPD for possession of child ponography (sic)," the post's caption claims.

It was shared about 100 times in the week after it was published. A prior post shared on Facebook garnered over 400 likes before it was deleted. Similar posts announcing the alleged arrest have spread on Facebook and Twitter. 

But a Tim Hortons spokesperson said the claim is false.

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The Vancouver Times publishes a mix of real and fabricated articles on its site. It has since deleted the Tim Hortons article, identifying it as "satire."

The Facebook user acknowledged the story's false roots, stating, "I shared it but it's the Vancouver Times... Satire article."

But the presentation of the story online gave no hint of its satirical nature, which led to users taking it as truth. One user expressed their disgust beneath the Facebook post, commenting, "Sick!!" Another commented, "Wow!"

Arrest claim has no basis in fact

No major news outlets have reported on the alleged arrest of Schwartz, whose title is also misidentified. He is the co-chair of Restaurant Brands International, the parent company of Tim Hortons, not the restaurant chain's CEO.

“The story is completely false,” Michael Oliveira, director of communications at Tim Hortons, told Paste BN via email.

The story originated in an article published by The Vancouver Times on July 20 titled "CEO of Tim Hortons arrested for possession of child pornography – #BoycottTimHortons." The article claimed Schwartz, “CEO of Tim Hortons,” was arrested at his home outside of New York City by federal officers.

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The Vancouver Times describes itself as “the most trusted source for satire on the West Coast.” But readers only learn that if they click on a link labeled “Details” at the bottom of  its website, and the site itself doesn’t abide by that description, posting false stories alongside reports on actual events. The satire stories typically contain no other labeling identifying them as such, which often results in social media users taking the stories as true when they are shared online.

Following the viral spread of the story, the Vancouver Times  deleted the article and published an update stating, “The original satirical article has been removed. We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion.”

The claim was also fact-checked by Reuters.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that Tim Hortons’ CEO has been arrested for possession of child pornography. The claim originated from an article published by The Vancouver Times, which the outlet has since removed and labeled as "satire." A spokesperson for Tim Hortons said the claim is false.

Our fact-check sources:

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