The Philadelphia sheriff’s team posted a series of flattering but phony news headlines on her campaign website – then issued a nonchalant disclaimer when its fake-news scheme was exposed.
Democrat Rochelle Bilal’s first term was marred by accusations that her office lost scores of guns, tried to misuse funds to double her salary and hired a top deputy who moonlights as a defense lawyer — but visitors to her campaign website are met with glowing headlines about her accomplishments.
The only problem is: those articles don’t exist, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The supposed headlines came from reputable local outlets like NBC10, CBS3, WHYY and the Inquirer, but they were removed from the site Friday after the newspaper reached out for comment because it was unable to verify any of the headlines as authentic, the report said.
By Monday afternoon, the campaign had reposted the supposed headlines to its website, accompanied by a disclaimer that said it makes “no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information provided.”
Only three of the items — all press releases from the sheriff’s office — had clickable links.
The fake article names combined with their supposed outlets of publication did not turn up any hits on Google News — as legitimate archived digital articles should — when searched by The Post.
One look at her explains it all