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2h ago

George Kittle Denounces Fake Charlie Kirk Quote as Meta Removes 49ers Fan Page and Probe Finds Wider Sports Misinformation Network

A network of team-branded Facebook pages is steering users to a plagiarized, ad-heavy WordPress site that profits from viral fake athlete posts despite one page’s removal.

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A Charlie Kirk remembrance on the scoreboard of the game between the Tennessee Titans and Los Angeles Rams at Nissan Stadium on Sept. 14, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn.
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Overview

  • The fabricated quote was posted this week by a Facebook page called Red And Gold Legacy, and Kittle refuted it on his Instagram Stories on Sept. 17 after receiving hostile messages.
  • Claire Kittle called the attribution “clearly a fake quote,” condemned the harassment directed at the couple, and urged people to verify claims before piling on.
  • Meta confirmed to SFGATE that it unpublished the Red And Gold Legacy page for violations, yet similar sports-themed accounts pushing comparable content remain active.
  • SFGATE’s review identified dozens of NFL team pages driving traffic to sport247.topnewsource.com, a plagiarized WordPress site loaded with programmatic ads that Similarweb estimates drew over 300,000 visits in August; other posts falsely targeted players including Christian McCaffrey and Kyle Hamilton.
  • The Kittle post amassed thousands of likes, comments and shares as it circulated following NFL tributes to Kirk, and Kittle is separately on injured reserve with a hamstring injury.