Did Ben Carson Discover $500 Billion in Fraud at HUD?

The headline got your attention, right? Is it true? I saw this post shared quite a bit in social media, raising the ire of many. Rather than answer, I will lay out the steps I took to vet it.
Step 1
The first thing I did was read the full article. I took note that the site was teaparty.org. I wanted to see if it linked to any primary resources. It doesn’t. It includes a reference to the Daily Wire which puts the number at $520 billion.

I did a search on “Ben Carson” and “$520 billion” on the Daily Wire but couldn’t find the reference:

It may be there, but it was not on the first two pages of search results. I also tried “$520 billion” but could not find the reference.
Step 2
The second thing I did was do a Google search on “$520 billion” to see if it was a bigger story or just an isolated one.

I skipped the Bloomberg article since it didn’t seem related to Ben Carson or HUD. I saw Snopes in the results:

Experience has given me a fairly high level of trust for Snopes.com content, so I clicked through. What I saw there was typical of how complex issues are over-simplified causing the loss of meaning and context. It’s a worthwhile read and I suggest you take the time to read it, but here’s a key point:

Bottom Line
What’s missing from the original article? Setting aside accuracy and context, it makes no reference to a primary source and no link to the secondary source it quotes. At best, it’s an opinion. At worst, fake news with a clickbait title.
It’s a classic case of putting a simple spin on a complex issue. Setting aside the issue that many people may not understand the complexity in the underlying story, too many would be satisfied with the simple headline and story. Don’t be one of those people. Digital citizenship is hard, but it’s a worthwhile investment for all of us.
Hope this helps you be a better consumer of content. I’d loved to hear some of your tips and tricks.
