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Conway Mayor warns of 6 satirical Facebook accounts posting fake news

Facebook trolls could become detrimental to the city of Conway after they've posted fake news on duplicated city government pages.

CONWAY, Ark. (KTHV) - Facebook trolls could become detrimental to the city of Conway after they’ve posted fake news on duplicated city government pages.

Conway Mayor, Bart Castleberry, is alerting community members, especially social media users, to be vigilant of the pages they visit to receive city news.

The city is dealing with roughly six false Facebook accounts pretending to be it.

"On Facebook, we are Conway Arkansas, City of Colleges,” said Castleberry. “If it's that one, that's us. We have the blue check mark that shows we are who we say we are.”

Daija Stayton, a Conway resident, thumbs through Facebook daily. She’s just one of many social media junkies who fell for fake news, leading her to question the city.

She came across a post on the Facebook page, now deleted, named the ‘City of Conway.’ At first glance, the site looks legit while sporting the city's logo.

It had a post stating Conway spent more than $100,000 on a Christmas tree and décor.

"I thought you could spend this much money on a Christmas tree, but you can’t fix the roads. Because we have all these pot holes,” said Stayton.

Mayor Castleberry is working with the social outlets to address the fake accounts, meanwhile he asks you to be vigilant by checking sources and using common sense.

“It has attributed somewhat to the rumor mill in Conway,” Castleberry said. “When they go to our site, they are going to get relevant and pertinent information.”

Another page, ‘Conway, City of Roundabouts,’ claimed in a post the city council approved hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds have been approved for ramps crossing roundabouts.

The city shutdown that post, saying it was not true.

One fake post targeted the city’s police department, claiming police went to a local senator’s home to conspire to “eliminate all gay life from Conway.”

"We can't control what other people post, but we can,” said Castleberry. “We can control the information that we give out."

Some of the fake accounts have since been deleted, but Mayor Castleberry said if you are confused about what is real or fake news on social media, look for the blue checkmark at the top of the city’s page, letting you know your source is legitimate.

However, if you have questions about posts you see on social media, you can call your city leaders for verification.

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