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The Onion investigated for fake hostage situation tweets

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

September 30, 2011 | 1 min read

Satricial publication The Onion has been criticised for its Twitter reports claiming that a hostage situation was taking place inside the Capitol building.

The tweets are being investigated by the United States Capitol Police, for making the false reports, which began with the message; “BREAKING: Witnesses reporting screams and gunfire heard inside Capitol building.”

This was followed by a series of tweets around the imaginary situation, claiming that 12 children were being held by a group of armed congressmen.

Another tweet read: 'Obama: "I know this Congress well. Trust me, they will kill these kids." #CongressHostage'

As a result of the popularity of the tweets, a statement was released by the Capitol Police to highlight that they were fake.

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