Atlantic headline ‘Why Migrants Eating Cats Might Be A Good Thing’ is fake

A supposed screenshot of an article in the Atlantic headlined “Why Migrants Eating Cats Might Be a Good Thing” is circulating online, with one post on X, formerly Twitter, viewed more than a million times. 

The screenshot is mocked up to look like a real article on The Atlantic, and has the subheading: “Conservatives don't understand the cultural importance of traditional Haitian cuisine.” 

But there is no such article on the Atlantic’s website, and a spokesperson for the magazine has confirmed to several outlets that the headline is fake, noting that the “image is crudely fabricated”. 

They added: “We have published no such thing. We have reported this as fake and as a trademark infringement.”

The earliest example of the screenshot Full Fact could find was posted by an X account which has “satire” in its bio. But the screenshot has circulated widely on X and has also been shared on Facebook as if it is real.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made unevidenced claims during the presidential debate earlier this month that immigrants from Haiti were stealing and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. We subsequently fact checked a video falsely claiming to show a “Haitian immigrant” eating a cat in Springfield. 

Faked headlines and news articles are a common type of misinformation that we see circulating online, and we have recently fact checked fabricated articles about Democrats needing a Covid vaccine to vote and an altered opinion column made to look as if Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz had written about “dancing on stage naked”.

It is important to consider whether an image really shows what it claims to be before sharing it online. For help doing this, read our guide to identifying misleading images. 

We have contacted the Atlantic for comment and will update this article if we receive a response.