Days before the striking Kellogg’s workers in four states approved a new contract to end a weeks-long dispute, a fake tweet purportedly from the food manufacturing giant spread online.
“Oh, so you think it’s cool when workers strike jobs? Now replace ‘jobs’ with ‘women.’ Still think it’s ‘cool’?” the tweet said, in reference to the nearly three-months-long strike.
The fabricated tweet was shared as an image on Facebook, where it was flagged as part of the platform’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) It was made to look as though the company posted it Dec. 19 from its verified Twitter account, @KelloggsUS, and received thousands of retweets and likes.
But the tweet does not appear on the official Kellogg’s account’s page, PolitiFact found. The account has replied to other users, but it has not posted an original tweet since August 2020.
“This is not a legitimate Kellogg tweet,” the company told PolitiFact.
A fake Kellogg’s tweet was posted to Facebook on Dec. 19.
In a Dec. 21 online statement responding to the unionized workers’ ratification of the five-year contract ending the work stoppage, Kellogg’s chairman and CEO Steve Cahillane said, “We are pleased that we have reached an agreement that brings our cereal employees back to work.”
Before that, the most recent statement on the Kellogg’s website was posted Dec. 16, before the fake tweet purportedly went up.
Searching Twitter, Nexis and Google, PolitiFact found nothing to match the made-up tweet.
We rate the Facebook post about the tweet False.
Truth-o-meter Ruling
IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT
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This tweet from the official Kellogg’s account is fake.
Statement
Context
a Facebook postSpeaker/Target
Statement Date
Our Sources
Facebook post (archived), Dec. 21, 2021
Kellogg’s on Twitter, accessed Dec. 21, 2021
Google searches, accessed Dec. 21, 2021
Nexis searches, accessed Dec. 21, 2021
Advanced Twitter searches, accessed Dec. 21, 2021
Kellogg’s, "New Five-Year Agreement Reached for U.S. RTEC Employees," Dec. 21, 2021
The Washington Post, "Kellogg’s cereal workers approve contract, ending 11-week strike and averting job losses," Dec. 21, 2021
Email correspondence with Kellogg Media Relations, Dec. 21, 2021
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