Quick Take
A self-described “parody” website published a made-up story about two Muslim congresswomen introducing a bill recognizing “Muslim holidays as federal holidays.”
Full Story
A search on the federal website that tracks legislation in Congress will show a number of bills sponsored or co-sponsored by Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.
But it will not show that they co-sponsored a “bill to recognize Muslim holidays as federal holidays.”
That’s another falsehood about the two freshmen Democrats who this month became the first Muslim women in the U.S. Congress.
A story spreading the erroneous claim about the holiday legislation was published Jan. 12 on sorightithurts.com, a website whose “About Us” page states that “this is parody and nothing but bullshit.”
The story itself includes no such disclaimer, and its text correctly refers to two actual Muslim holidays. It was also republished on a self-described conservative website with no indication that the story was intended as satire.
Comments on social media show that many readers weren’t aware the story wasn’t real. A popular group on Facebook called “Females for Trump,” posted the story with the caption: “This should be unacceptable.”
Thousands of Facebook users reshared the link and posted anti-Muslim comments. Some repeated a false claim that a 1950s-era law prohibited Muslims from seeking office — which we’ve previously debunked.
A list of current federal holidays is published by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on the social media network.
Sources
“About Us.” SoRightItHurts.com. Accessed 17 Jan 2019.
Parsons, Mary. “Tlaib and Omar Co-sponsor Bill to Recognize Muslim Holidays as Federal Holidays.” SoRightItHurts.com. 12 Jan 2019.
“Representative Ilhan Omar.” Library of Congress. Congress.gov. Accessed 17 Jan 2019.
“Representative Rashida Tlaib.” Library of Congress. Congress.gov. Accessed 17 Jan 2019.
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