An online rumor circulating in August 2024 claimed hacked emails belonging to Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign reportedly included a nude selfie of the former U.S. president.
For example, one user on Threads posted (archived) of the supposed news on Aug. 14, "I was much happier not knowing this."
Some users appeared to understand the rumor's comedic origins.
That user's post displayed the source of the rumor from the account The Halfway Post (@thehalfwaypost). The Halfway Post originally shared the claim in a post (archived) on its X account, @HalfwayPost. Within hours, users had viewed the rumor more than 1.1 million times.
Some commenters under the post appeared to interpret the rumor as a factual recounting of real-life events. However, the story was fictional. The Halfway Post is a network of social media accounts and a website that describes its output as being satirical in nature.
The fictional story spread on the same day Google's Threat Analysis Group released a report with details about the Iranian group named APT42 attempting since May to infiltrate personal accounts associated with both Trump's and President Joe Biden's campaigns. The Associated Press published Google's report affirmed and expanded on a Microsoft report released days earlier that revealed the suspected intrusion.
The Halfway Post
The "About" page on halfwaypost.com states the website's owner publishes "real comedy news and satire."
Snopes has addressed other satirical claims originating from The Halfway Post in the past, including the assertion that a group of "MAGA fans" in Montana announced a hunger strike that would last until "Democrats stop calling Donald Trump and JD Vance 'weird.'" Another rumor said that a televangelist from Idaho ran off with his congregants' money after convincing them the 2024 total solar eclipse would bring about the rapture.
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.