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VERIFY: Protesters paid to attend 'March For Our Lives' events via Craigslist ads?

Were anti-gun protesters paid to attend 'March For Our Lives' events via Craigslist ads?

QUESTION:

Were anti-gun protesters paid to attend 'March For Our Lives' events via Craigslist ads?

ANSWER:

No, the ad targeted people to sell March For Our Lives related merchandise.

SOURCES:

March For Our Lives Chicago, Everytown For Gun Safety, discoverthenetworks.org

PROCESS:

People are still talking about the massive estimated 800,000 people that attended the historic March For Our Lives rally on Saturday, but a recent online claim suggests those anti-gun protesters may have been cashing in for showing up.

In the aftermath of the march, social media chatter started buzzing, including an article from Your News Wire that said those so-called protesters at the March were being paid $300 by billionaire philanthropist George Soros to protest gun violence at the various rallies with these soliciting Craigslist ads as the smoking gun.

Soros funds numerous organizations and causes.

So, were protesters really paid to attend the march? WUSA9 researchers set out to verify.

Now the March For Our Lives organization does sell apparel as well as other anti-gun organizations like Everytown for Gun Safety, that coordinated with the affiliated city rallies.

As for those Craigslist ad, they are legit. Verify researchers found the postings from earlier this month in DC and LA. But if you closely read the ad, they were not hiring people to pose as protesters, they were actually hiring salespeople to sell merchandise like pins and wristbands at the events.

The ads offered up to $300 plus 20 percent commission for the work, but nothing in the description talks about paying people to protest in the march or any connection to Soros.

One user called out the article for making drawing the incorrect assumption.

So we verified, organizers were not paying people to protest gun violence at the March For Our Lives rally via Craigslist job ads.

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