The Daily Squib is a British

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

online publication created by satire writer Aur Esenbel, that was officially launched on

April Fool's Day April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool " at the recipient. Mas ...

, 2007. Its coverage extends across world politics, science, technology, business, sports and health.

Spoofs, humorous takes and social commentary

On 7 February 2008, ''The Daily Squib'' published a spoof article in which it was claimed that the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

had chosen to endorse

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

in the 2008 US presidential elections in order to avoid the election of

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

. The spoof was misinterpreted by some readers as a factual article, and quickly became a widely circulated internet rumour that was discussed in articles by

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

and

The Times (London) ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fo ...

. An article in the

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute ...

subsequently reported that the Ku Klux Klan had been repeatedly contacted with requests to verify their stance regarding The Daily Squib's story. And in April 2008, American rapper

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

re-circulated the rumour generated by the Daily Squib story in an interview with

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

. On 3 February 2009, ''The Daily Squib'' published a humorous article satirizing the UK's helpless response to prolonged snowfall in February 2009. The spoof article was featured in the

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

and claimed that Hitler had planned to use 'snow zeppelins' as weapons of attack in order 'to disrupt Britain's ability to function'. On 4 August 2010, ''The Daily Squib'' published a spoof article detailing the exploits of a masturbating

Transportation Security Administration The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that has authority over the security of transportation systems within and connecting to the United States. It was created ...

official and a full body X-ray scanner. The satirical story drew considerable attention, such that the TSA ultimately issued a public statement denying that the incident had occurred on their blog. A ''Daily Squib'' story satirizing an interview with former United States Secretary of State,

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...

first published on 27 November 2011 was cited as a factual story by flagship Egyptian newspaper ''

Al-Ahram ''Al-Ahram'' (; ), founded on 5 August 1876, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second-oldest after '' Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majority owned by the Egyptian governm ...

'', on 16 September 2012. The Daily Squib Kissinger satire, was also mentioned by former

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

era Chancellor of the Exchequer,

Norman Lamont Norman Stewart Hughson Lamont, Baron Lamont of Lerwick, (born 8 May 1942) is a British politician and former Conservative MP for Kingston-upon-Thames. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1990 until 1993. He was created a life peer i ...

on 6 March 2012 in the New Statesman. On 19 October 2012 a ''Daily Squib'' article which featured a fake EU poster that contained the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

hammer and sickle symbol was mistaken for a real EU poster by the Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan. ''The Daily Squib'' editor, Aur Esenbel, was interviewed for award-winning magazine, ''

The Big Issue ''The Big Issue'' is a United Kingdom–based street newspaper founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991 and published in four continents. ''The Big Issue'' is one of the UK's leading social businesses and exists to offer ho ...

'', published on 23 November 2018. The article discussed the variance in

fake news Fake news or information disorder is false or misleading information (misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, and hoaxes) claiming the aesthetics and legitimacy of news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person ...

and

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

. Esenbel elucidated readers about the Daily Squib's literary style: “The tone is Juvenalian satire, that is to say, it is harder hitting than the jolly harmless Horatian kind, which is prevalent in so many other sites.” On 3 February 2023

news agency fact-checked a quote attributed to veteran U.S. diplomat

on controlling the food supply to control people is true. “Control oil and you control nations. Control foods and you control the people,” is a quote spread across the internet as millions of viral memes. Jessee LePorin, Press Officer for Kissinger told ''Reuters'' that he “has never said that quotation or anything like it on any social media or anywhere else.” The earliest iteration ''Reuters'' could identify dates to 2011, when the quotation appeared as part of a satirical interview by ''The Daily Squib'' a site that describes itself as “the rock star of all news and satire” on its About page. On 30 November 2023 ''The Daily Squib'' editor, Aur Esenbel interviewed former

Conservative Party UK The Conservative and Unionist Party, commonly the Conservative Party and colloquially known as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party. The party sits on the centre-right to right- ...

Ann Widdecombe Ann Noreen Widdecombe (born 4 October 1947) is a British politician and television personality who has been Reform UK's Immigration and Justice spokesperson since 2023. Originally a member of the Conservative Party, she was Member of Parliame ...

on the subject of

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

including the threat of Brexit being reversed if the

Labour Party UK The Labour Party, often referred to as Labour, is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. The party has been describe ...

was voted in at the

2024 United Kingdom general election The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The opposition Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a lan ...

. Widdecombe's answer to the question of Labour's "threat" to Brexit was a simple "Yes". On 18 December 2023 ''The Daily Squib'' editor, Aur Esenbel interviewed former Conservative Party

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

Lord

of Lerwick on the subject of Brexit and his stance in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

preserving the

2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum The 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, was a referendum that took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar under the provisions o ...

as well as the multiple problems encountered with the UK's ongoing relationship with the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. On 27 December 2023 ''The Daily Squib'' editor, Aur Esenbel, a guitarist himself and long-time listener interviewed iconic guitarist

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai ( ; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a Transcription (music), transc ...

on his "career and spirit related subjects". When asked about his legendary composition

For the Love of God (instrumental) "For the Love of God" is an instrumental guitar piece by Steve Vai. It is the seventh song on Vai's 1990 album, ''Passion and Warfare''. The piece runs for six minutes and features a number of techniques including pitch bends, legato, and sweep p ...

an excerpt of Vai's reply displays his deep appreciation of spiritual matters relating to his music, life and death: "Humans do not have souls, they are soul. That is actually all we are. We are not our past, or our name, the thoughts in our head or even our body." On 5 February 2025, ''The Daily Squib'' published a satirical article imagining what President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

would do to the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

once it gets cleared out. On 26 February 2025, through his social media site

Truth Social Truth Social (stylized as TRUTH) is an alt-tech social media platform owned by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), an American media and technology company majority-owned by U.S. president Donald Trump. It has been called a "Twitter clone" ...

, President Trump posted an almost identical AI video representation of the Daily Squib spoof article on Gaza. On 22 April 2025, ''The Daily Squib'' published a satirical article imagining President

as the next

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

after the death of

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

. On 3 May 2025 Donald Trump posted an almost identical AI image of himself as the Pope on Truth Social which went viral.

Censorship and Threats

On 11 July 2017, after ten years online, ''The Daily Squib'' satirical article "Ku Klux Klan Endorses Obama" was pulled off the site after

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

demanded the article be removed or ''The Daily Squib'' would lose its advertising. The editor of ''The Daily Squib'', Aur Esenbel replied citing the "loss of freedom of speech", "censorship of satire", and how Google had "completely misunderstood the premise of the satirical article".

Global creative awards jury

''The Daily Squib'', was chosen alongside well-known industry journals such as '' Adweek'', '' Campaign'' magazine, ''

Creative Review ''Creative Review'' is a bimonthly print magazine and website. The magazine focuses on commercial creativity, covering design, advertising, photography, branding, digital products, film, and gaming. The magazine is published bimonthly in print an ...

'' to be one of the jurors with jury president Spencer Baim, Chief Strategic officer at

Vice Media Vice Media Group LLC is a Canadian-American digital media and broadcasting company. Vice Media encompasses four main business areas: Vice Studios Group (film and TV production); Vice TV (a joint venture with A&E Networks, also known as Vicelan ...

for the globally acclaimed 2017

Epica Awards The Epica Awards are an annual series of communication awards, created in 1987 and based in Paris, France. Having originally focused on the Europe, Middle East and Africa region exclusively, the awards became global in 2012. 585 agencies in tot ...

showcasing creativity in advertising, film and design.

PHNX Tribute creative jury

The ''Daily Squib'', Editor, Aur Esenbel, was chosen as a jury member for the 2020, PHNX Tribute., a celebration of individual creatives and teams within the creative industry.

Announcement of ''The Daily Squib Anthology: From 2007 to 2022'' book

On 21 August 2022 ''The Daily Squib'', Editor, Aur Esenbel, announced in an article on the website of the publication of the new book. According to the publisher Curtis Press, ''The Daily Squib Anthology From 2007 to 2022'' will be published on Paperback, A4, greyscale, 138 pages on 1 October 2022. Quotes from the book's description acknowledge the history of ''The Daily Squib'' throughout its 15-year tenure on the internet: "As the follies and absurdities of the powerful are destroying the world through war, pandemic, and climate change, what better time to release ''The Daily Squib: Anthology from 2007 to 2022''? Over the last 15 years, the ''Squib'' has held a crazy distorted fairground mirror to global events. Sometimes its spoofs have even been mistaken for real news—what higher accolade is there for a satirist? Its mock report on the Ku Klux Klan declaring its support for Barack Obama in the 2008 US elections and its fake interview with Henry Kissinger (2011) fooled “serious” outlets across the world. More than that, the ''Squib'' has somehow become an unholy satirical oracle by predicting an EU army 5 years before anyone else was talking about it and, in 2018, the COVID-19 pandemic, even pinpointing “somewhere in Asia” as the source. Though like lots of other good things this has been overlooked by the mainstream media, the ''Squib'' has played an innovative role in shaping internet-based comedy since 2007 and has fought hard for free speech in a climate of increasing puritanism on both the political left and right."

Satirical prophecy

Satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

is a very powerful literary genre and is often prophetic: the ''Daily Squib'' has often accurately predicted actual events. Among the eminent examples are: * In a 2015 article satirising the "global warming" hysteria of the time, the ''Daily Squib'' accurately predicted the advent of the suicide pod to alleviate overpopulation and lower the human

carbon footprint A carbon footprint (or greenhouse gas footprint) is a calculated value or index that makes it possible to compare the total amount of greenhouse gases that an activity, product, company or country Greenhouse gas emissions, adds to the atmospher ...

. * In a 2018 prophetic satirical and imaginary interview with

, the ''Daily Squib'' accurately predicted a "virus that suddenly erupts most probably from somewhere in Asia" presaging the coming

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The same article also predicted a conflict in the Middle East with

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

: "The supreme land of Eretz Ha’Avot, our motherland, our home will fight with all its might now to cleanse the Middle East of threats to Israel. This is the time to cut out the tumour that has haunted us for so long, and Bibi, my protégé, will take no prisoners".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Daily Squib, The Internet properties established in 2007 British satirical websites 2007 establishments in the United Kingdom