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This week, several social media posts claimed the United States announced plans to “reclassify Canada as a high-risk country” or that Russian President Vladimir Putin told the United States to monitor the “failed state” of Canada.
The online posts included images of what appeared to be authentic articles or headlines bearing the CBC logo.
However, the photos originate from a satirical account on the X platform that shares fabricated headlines and articles.
THE CLAIM
“U.S. Moves to Reclassify Canada as High-Risk Country, Citing ‘Economic Volatility and Weak Governance,'” reads the image of a news headline shared on social media this week.
The image shows the headline with white text on a red background. A “breaking news” banner appears above the headline with the CBC news logo in the top left corner.
Users shared the supposed CBC headline on Facebook, Threads, and multiple times on the X platform, formerly Twitter.
A screenshot of what appears to be the CBC story linked with the headline includes the CBC news logo and a publishing date of Nov. 21, and supposedly quotes a U.S. homeland security official.
The screenshot spread on X with several posts, as well as Threads and TikTok.
Another supposed CBC headline, “Putin Declares Canada a ‘Failed State,’ Warns U.S. to Monitor its ‘Collapsing Northern Neighbor,'” appeared multiple times on Facebook.
THE FACTS
The articles do not appear on the CBC news website, a keyword search shows; nor do similar reports appear on a Google search.
A reverse image search shows the images originate from a satirical X account that posts multiple fake headlines and articles using the CBC’s logo.
In its X bio, the @SatireSquadHQ account describes itself as the Canadian version of the Babylon Bee, a conservative news satire website, and notes all posts tagged with a red square emoji are satire.
Both the headline and article about the United States reclassifying Canada as high risk appear in a thread that contains the red square marking the posts as satire — though it seems not everyone was in on the joke.
“We continue to see an alarming rise in fake ads and news stories appearing online and on social media platforms,” a CBC spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “CBC is committed to fighting disinformation, which deliberately misleads the public and puts at risk their trust in legitimate media outlets.”
“This is an increasingly difficult task however, hindered by the rise in AI generated disinformation and the prevalence of fake ads found on social media platforms,” the statement said.
Websites that clone or imitate the CBC website or manipulate the voices and images of CBC personalities aren’t uncommon online. Many of the sites aim to scam people out of their money by making it seem like the CBC and its personalities are promoting fake investment schemes.
In the past few years, The Canadian Press reported on multiple fake CBC ads featuring Mark Carney, Pierre Poilievre, Jagmeet Singh and Chrystia Freeland that promoted nonexistent investment firms or crypto trading platforms.
The ads either featured the CBC logo or led to websites and videos that mimicked the CBC’s branding and broadcasts, including the names of its journalists, in order to make it seem as if the politicians endorsed the platforms during an interview.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2025.
Marissa Birnie, The Canadian Press
