Fake Minnesota Vikings News Goes Viral, Fooling Thousands of Fans

Football fans are getting excited for the upcoming NFL Draft. It kicks off April 24 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and the Minnesota Vikings currently have four picks lined up. They’ll select in the first, third, fifth, and sixth rounds. Draft day trades could change that.

Social media is full of experts talking about who the Vikings will take with their picks, whether they'll trade up or down, and Aaron Rodgers rumors are still out there.

That's completely normal behavior for a sports fan. What isn't normal, and kind-of embarrassing, is the number of people engaging with news that's clearly fake.

AI-Generated Fake News Targets Minnesota Vikings Fans

Thousands of people have liked and hundreds have commented on a story about Sam Darnold donating his bonus to charity. The problem? It’s totally made up! I'm sure Sam is a wonderful human and has donated to charity, but the story below is fake.

Can people not tell the image is AI-generated? Darnold isn’t even with the Vikings anymore, so why would he be wearing their jersey? Why is he in full uniform out in public? Look closely—he’s wearing jeans under his football pants.

Even with all those red flags, the post went viral, and tons of people praised him for something that never happened. Pages like “Vikings Spirit” are full of this junk.

It’s not just Vikings fans falling for this stuff. Fake content is targeting fans of all teams and athletes.

Caitlin Clark is a great basketball player, and I'm sure she’s visited patients in the hospital, but these images and this story are clearly fake.

I get that we all want some good news to brighten things up, but we've gotta stop engaging with fake stories—liking or commenting just spreads them to more people.