Fact check: Social media post shows fabricated story about Muslim parents supporting book bans

Show Caption

The claim: Image shows The Atlantic describing Michigan Muslim parents as the new far right

From Louisana to Idaho, conservative parents across the country have launched campaigns to ban schools from having certain books that include LGBTQ characters and scenes with sexual activity. 

Those efforts continued when hundreds of protesters shut down a Dearborn Public Schools meeting on Oct. 10 in Dearborn, Michigan, to show their opposition to LGBTQ books they said were too sexually explicit for children. The group demonstrating was mostly made up of Muslim Arab Americans, according to the Detroit Free Press. 

An Oct. 13 Facebook post claims The Atlantic has now labeled these parents the "new face of the far right."

The post includes what appears to be a screenshot of an article from the outlet that features a photo of the Muslim parents and a headline that reads, "The Evolution of White Supremacy." The subheadline of the supposed article reads, "In Dearborn Michigan, Muslim parents who oppose teaching pornography to children become the new face of the far right." 

Another version of the image that was shared on Instagram on Oct. 14 received more than 500 likes in four days before it was deleted.

But a spokesperson for The Atlantic told Paste BN the article and the headlines in the image are fabricated. 

The user who shared the post responded to a Paste BN request for comment but did not provide evidence the article was real. 

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

The Atlantic headline is not real

The image in the social media post does not depict real headlines, and The Atlantic never wrote such a story, Anna Bross, a spokesperson for The Atlantic said.

"We reported it as a trademark infringement and it was removed by Twitter last week," Bross told Paste BN in an email. 

The story was not published on The Atlantic's website and does not appear on The Atlantic's Twitter account. 

The image featured in the purported story is from the Detroit Free Press' Oct. 11 coverage of the Dearborn protest. It does not appear on The Atlantic's website. The caption below the image is the same as one attached to another image in a genuine Oct. 12 story from the outlet.

Abby Ohlheiser, who is credited as the author of the supposed story, has not written for The Atlantic since 2014.  

Fact check: False claim that Idaho agency is buying porn literacy materials for students

Our rating: Altered 

Based on our research, we rate ALTERED the claim that an image shows The Atlantic describing Michigan Muslim parents as the new far right. A spokesperson for The Atlantic said it never published any such story, and the supposed author hasn't written for the magazine in eight years.

Our fact-check sources:

• The Atlantic, accessed Oct. 17, Homepage
• The Atlantic, accessed Oct. 17, Twitter 
• The Atlantic, accessed Oct. 17, Abby Ohlheiser
• The Atlantic, Oct. 12, How bad can a lawyer be? 
• Detroit Free Press, Oct. 11, Protesters shut down Dearborn school board meeting over LGBTQ books
• Detroit Free Press, Oct. 11, Protesters shut down Dearborn school board meeting over LGBTQ books
• Abby Ohlheiser, accessed Oct. 17, Twitter bio
• NPR, Aug. 30, Conservative Christian groups are targeting Louisiana libraries
• NBC, Aug. 23, Conservative activists want to ban 400 books from a library — but they aren't even on shelves
• Anna Bross, Oct. 18, Email exchange with Paste BN 

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.