Fake news! Lying clickbait exposed!

Like carnival barkers, clickbait purveyors often lie about the things they’re promoting.
They’ll use a photo unrelated to the article or make a false claim to get you to click on their sponsored article.
What follows are some of the latest examples. (Click on the “lying clickbait” label for other articles in the series.)

An article by Revcontent titled “Angelina Jolie’s daughter used to be adorable” didn’t use a photo of one of Jolie’s girls. Instead it used a picture of Thylane Blondeau, now 17. At age 10, she was dubbed “the most beautiful girl in the world.” (See articles by Glamour and Yahoo Lifestyle.)

Clickbait writers like to promote pictorials about the Woodstock music festival in 1969 with photos taken elsewhere.
Two recent examples used pictures of buxom drag-racing promoter “Jungle Pam” Hardy taken in the 1970s. (See article on Jungle Pam by The Selvedge Yard.)

An article titled “The 10 most expensive luxury yachts in the world” used a photo of a concept design instead of an actual yacht. The concept superyacht was designed by Italian yacht designer Gabriele Teruzzi. (See article by Business Insider.)

An article by serial clickbait liar HistoryInOrbit said “Boeing does it first. This 787 takes off vertically.” The photo was of a Boeing 727 by Alexandre Dubath. The article likely refers to a demonstration of steep takeoff ascent by Boeing with a 787 jet. But that test flight was not a vertical takeoff. (See article by Forbes.)

Finally, there’s a category of clickbait for death-defying stunts that aren’t.
I’ve written before about Pedra do Telegrafo in Brazil a few times. The rock is a popular location for Instagram users. With the right photo angle, subjects appear to be risking their lives by hanging on to a high cliff. Actually they’re just a few feet off the ground. (See article by the Daily Mail.)

Another rock outcropping in Brazil called Pedra da Gavea actually does have a steep drop. An article titled “Final photo: Don’t blink, what happens next is unimaginable” implies that the person pictured must have fallen. That’s not the case. The subject of the photo is trained daredevil climber Leonardo Pereira. (See article by ABC News.) Both Pedra do Telegrafo and Pedra da Gavea are located near Rio de Janeiro.