Clickbait headline about Vladimir Putin’s supposed assassination is wrong

The headline of a March 19 blog post begins with a word that draws readers’ attention: urgent. 

"News that Russia President ‘Vladimir Putin’ was assassinated by unknown armed forces," it continues. "Russia declares a state of emergency."

The blog post is being shared on social media, but clicking the link and reading past the headline reveals not more information about the alleged killing, but gibberish and what appear to be ads for work-from-home products. 

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

There’s nothing more in the blog post about Putin, let alone about him being killed or Russia declaring a state of emergency. 

On March 18, Putin made his first public appearance — speaking at a Moscow rally — since Russia invaded Ukraine.

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“NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says that ‘if Trump surrenders Ukraine to Putin, he will personally expel the United States from the alliance.’”

There have been no reports since then that the Russian president was assassinated.

On March 3, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., suggested that someone should kill Putin, which the Biden White House said doesn’t reflect the U.S. government’s position. President Joe Biden has called Putin a "murderous dictator" and a "pure thug," and the New York Times reported on March 20 that Russia had summoned the American ambassador to Moscow to warn him that Biden’s name-calling had endangered the countries’ relations. 

We rate this post Pants on Fire.