Posts Falsely Tie Evangelical Leader to Cannabis Product

Fast Take

A viral Fb publish, which hyperlinks to a webpage that misrepresents itself as a Fox Information report, pushes the false story that evangelical Christian chief Charles Stanley sells CBD, a hashish product. Stanley’s group stated the story is a “rip-off.”

Full Story

Charles Stanley is the founder and chief of the evangelical Christian group In Touch Ministries, which claims to succeed in greater than 100 million properties within the U.S. by its digital, tv and radio broadcasts. Stanley, the previous senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Atlanta, additionally served for 2 phrases as president of the Southern Baptist Conference.

However a viral publish on Fb, which since has been deleted, falsely claimed that Stanley additionally sells a line of cannabidiol, or CBD, gummies — an edible type of a chemical present in marijuana. CBD doesn’t include tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient present in marijuana that produces a excessive.

The publish linked to a webpage that impersonates Fox Information by misappropriating the community’s identify and emblem on the web page. The pretend web page additionally names Brit Hume, a senior political analyst for Fox News, because the writer of the fabricated story on Stanley.

One other webpage on a distinct web site posted an analogous bogus story, which additionally masquerades as Fox Information and consists of pictures of the spiritual chief. However, on this case, Stanley is falsely portrayed as promoting a distinct model of CBD merchandise. Each webpages — which offer hyperlinks to Florida-based corporations that promote CBD merchandise — are unaffiliated with Fox.

“Each of those are pretend websites and never affiliated with Fox Information in any means,” a Fox Information spokesperson confirmed to us in an electronic mail.

False advertisements for “Charles Stanley CBD Oil” appeared on Fb as early as April. The bogus websites and social media posts have included critiques of the merchandise, stating there are “Vital Benefits of Charles Stanley CBD Gummies.”

In response to the posts, In Contact Ministries posted a “Rip-off Alert” on its web site. The assertion, partially, reads (emphasis is theirs):

In Contact Ministries, June 5: We wish to provide you with a warning to a rip-off that has been posted on Fb and has been distributed by numerous emails, web sites, and even textual content messages.

In Contact Ministries has acquired stories that scammers have been posting Dr. Charles Stanley’s picture, falsely reporting that Dr. Stanley is starting a brand new enterprise enterprise in CBD oil. A few of the articles even make the most of pretend Fox Information headers to look extra convincing. Nonetheless, none of it’s true. IT IS A SCAM. Dr. Stanley has not begun any new enterprise.

PLEASE DO NOT CLICK ON THESE DECEPTIVE POSTS, EMAILS, TEXTS, OR WEBSITES. Scammers are trying to trick you into giving your private info or infect your digital gadgets through the use of Dr. Stanley’s picture.

There have been comparable variations of this false declare utilizing different celebrities’ names to advertise a CBD product, together with actor Tom Hanks, spiritual leaders Joel Osteen and T. D. Jakes, and others.

Editor’s notice: FactCheck.org is considered one of a number of organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our earlier tales may be discovered here.

Sources

Bauer, Brent. “What are the benefits of CBD — and is it safe to use?” Mayoclinic.org. 18 Dec 2020.

Fox Information spokesperson. E-mail to FactCheck.org 11 June 2021.

“In Touch Ministries, Inc.” webpage. GuideStar. Accessed 11 June 2021.

In Contact Ministries. “DON’T GET SCAMMED!” InTouch.org. 5 June 2021.

Mandi. “Charles Stanley Biography, Wife, Age, Children, In Touch, Books, Worth.” BiographyScoop. 5 July 2020.

Reinhold, Robert. “Fundamentalist Re-elected Head of Southern Baptists.” New York Instances. 12 Jun 1985.

Tom Hanks (@TomHanks) “This is false and an intentional hoax. I’ve never said this and would never make such an endorsement. Come on, man! Hanx!” Instagram. 21 Jan 2020.