Jagmeet Singh is the latest victim of bizarre fake news ads on X
Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh appears to be the latest victim of strange fake posts on X.
Singh has been featured in several “news” type posts on the social media platform, with fake headlines insinuating he was involved in some sort of “scandal.”
For example, one post from an account titled “The Daily Mix News” claims to have a “special report” on Singh.
“NDP leader Jagmeet Singh’s political career is over after money-making scandal erupts live on air,” reads the caption.
The bottom of the post mentions “nationalpost.com.” A further search shows that no such story has been published. The Daily Mix News Account only has eight followers and is not a legitimate news site.
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Another post on the site shares a similar headline, but readers have added additional context at the bottom, flagging it for being “clickbait” and making “outlandish claims with the aim of you clicking through to generate traffic to their site.” 
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Another post from the account “Wellness Wire News” claims to have a similar “special report” on Singh. However, this account only has 53 followers and is also not a legitimate news source.
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These accounts appear authorized as they both have the once-prized blue checkmark.
The blue check was previously used on Twitter to identify verified news sources, celebrities, journalists, politicians, organizations, and more.
However, when Tesla CEO Elon Musk took over the platform in 2022 and changed it to X, the blue check was kept for paying customers only. X announced at the time that legacy verified users would have their blue checks removed.
X does have several “eligibility criteria” for accounts to receive a blue checkmark. One of those requirements is ensuring that accounts have no signs of being “misleading or deceptive” and have “no signs of engaging in platform manipulation and spam.” 
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Several X users noticed the posts involving Singh, including Luke LeBrun, the editor of the Canadian non-profit news organization Press Progress.
“There appear to be a series of paid ads on [X] presented as news articles making false statements about NDP leader Jagmeet Singh,” he stated, adding that these posts looked similar to ads targeting CTV’s Mary Berg and other TV personalities several months ago.
First bots, now fake news:
There appear to be a series of paid ads on X dot com presented as news articles making false statements about NDP leader @theJagmeetSingh.
These look like the same types of scammy ads that were targeting CTV’s Mary Berg and other TV personalities. pic.twitter.com/RANBKsOX82
— Luke LeBrun (@_llebrun) August 14, 2024
Some who replied to LeBrun’s post said they reported the fake posts but haven’t received any response from X.
I reported this fake Jagmeet Singh ad on August 12th, but still no follow-up on the part of Twitter.
Note the “from https://t.co/1eRk0Jlygs” tag. 🧐#CdnPoli pic.twitter.com/2BfKipgDgI
— Joanbeam3000 (@Joanbeam3000) August 14, 2024
I’ve been blocking these fake ads – been happening for months now – but they just reappear with a slight tweet in name. This place has become a dumpster fire for right wing ideologues & bots.
— Carol Potter (@intell59) August 14, 2024
I’ve been reporting these as political ads. Not sure if that does anything.
— Avice 💫 (@identitykrysis) August 14, 2024
NDP National Director Lucy Watson told Daily Hive the party is “aware of malicious spam using images of prominent figures, including Jagmeet Singh.”
“We are taking steps to address the fake posts,” added Watson.
Daily Hive tried to reach out to X directly; however, the platform no longer appears to take media requests and it responded to our inquiry stating, “Busy now, please check back later.”