A baseless claim about Vice President Kamala Harris was published on a site masquerading as a legitimate news outlet this week. Experts say it's the latest in a series of sites created to dupe people.

A website claiming to be a local San Francisco news outlet named KBSF-TV published a baseless claim on Monday alleging that Vice President Kamala Harris was involved in a June 2011 hit-and-run incident that left a 13-year-old girl paralyzed. Harris was California’s attorney general at the time, and has been a longtime Bay Area resident.

Analysis of the article and site indicate the story is false; public records and news reports show no evidence of the hit-and-run incident. The San Francisco Police Department told CBS News that they could not find records of the incident. A CBS News analysis of a video that accompanied the article found it contained several photos from other unrelated news stories.

Despite this, the story spread widely on social media before the site disappeared. Posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, that featured the article and video amassed more than 7 million views, and the story was also shared on Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. Pro-Russian channels on Telegram, the popular messaging app European officials are investigating for alleged criminal activity on the platform, also shared the story and video.

  • nocturne
    9•3 months ago

    A website claiming to be a local San Francisco news outlet named KBSF-TV published a baseless claim on Monday alleging that Vice President Kamala Harris was involved in a June 2011 hit-and-run incident that left a 13-year-old girl paralyzed. Harris was California’s attorney general at the time, and has been a longtime Bay Area resident.

    Analysis of the article and site indicate the story is false; public records and news reports show no evidence of the hit-and-run incident. The San Francisco Police Department told CBS News that they could not find records of the incident. A CBS News analysis of a video that accompanied the article found it contained several photos from other unrelated news stories.