Fact Check-Fake Fintech Zoom chyron on Texas synagogue shooter originated from a satirical website

A digitally altered image of a Fintech Zoom report has resurfaced on social media following the 10-hour-long siege at a synagogue in Texas on Jan. 15, 2022. The chyron originated as satire and was first published by satirical conservative media outlet Babylon Bee in March 2021, but some online were duped into thinking that the image was real.

One user who shared the image on Facebook said: “Mainstream fake news is so MORALLY CORRUPT and just cannot operate with intellectual honesty at all. It’s just political messaging” (here).

Another said: “The lengths the MSM will go to spin the narrative to fit their objective(s) is beyod [sic] comprehension. This is in reference to the man who took hostages @ the Dallas synagogue. WTF does “factually Arabic but morally white” even mean?” (here)

One user added in the comments: “Propagandists spreading their filth.” Another said: “How moronic! Who in this world would believe such stupidity!” (here)

Another user shared the image on Twitter and said: “I cant [sic] even caption this” (here). The image had over 10,000 likes at the time of writing.

Other examples of the image shared online can be seen (here), (here), (here) and (here).

The image is not authentic, however, and was first published by the conservative satirical website, Babylon Bee, in March 2021 (here).

The Babylon Bee describes itself as “the world’s best satire site […] We write satire about Christian stuff, political stuff, and everyday life” (babylonbee.com/about).

The authentic image came from a Fintech Zoom March 2021 report after a shooter opened fire at a grocery store in Colorado and is viewable (1:40s) (here).

The original real lower-third reads: “COLORADO SHOOTING SUSPECT BOOKED INTO JAIL TODAY.”

A gunman took four people hostage at a Dallas-area synagogue on Jan. 15, 2022, and was later killed after federal agents stormed the temple after 10 hours of negotiations (here).

VERDICT

Altered. Fintech Zoom did not run a chyron calling a shooter “factually Arabic, but morally white.” The image originated from a conservative satirical website, Babylon Bee.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .