A rumor (archived) that a Florida woman called the police on her neighbor because of their "suspicious British accent" spread online in March 2026.
For example, one Threads user who shared what appeared to be a screenshot of a news report, captioned, "FLORIDA WOMAN CALLS POLICE ON NEIGHBOR FOR HAVING A BRITISH ACCENT" wrote, "Just when you think Florida cant possibly get any more Florida, it out Floridas itself."
The story also spread across X (archived), Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and Reddit (archived). Some users seemed to interpret the rumor about the police report as true.
The rumor was fictional. It originated (archived) from The Dude Humor Report, a Facebook page that described its content in several disclaimers as "totally made up" and "satire and parody stories."
The Dude Humor Report shared the rumor twice (archived) on March 17, 2026, featuring two different women. The page had previously shared a near-identical story (archived) where a woman allegedly called the FBI on a neighbor for speaking French.
Online searches revealed no reputable reports about women in Florida reporting their neighbors for speaking with a British accent (archived, archived, archived, archived), indicating The Dude Humor Report didn't base its story on real events.
To note the posts' satirical nature, The Dude Humor Report included hashtags at the bottom of both posts about neighbors with British accents, reading "#funny #comedy #fblifestyle #satire #FORENTERTAINMENTONLY". Users who reposted the alleged news report screenshots did not always include these hashtags, meaning some users interpreted the rumor as true.
A spokesperson for TBC VIRAL MEDIA, an Oregon-based company that manages The Dude Humor Report confirmed via email that the story was fictional and that the page used artificial intelligence to create the image to accompany it. The spokesperson noted that the Facebook page carried multiple disclaimers and wrote:
Every single post we publish is comedy. That's… the whole thing. That's what we do. If someone reads "Florida Woman Calls Police on Neighbor for Having a British Accent" and thinks that's a Reuters wire report, I'm not sure any number of disclaimers will save them, but we do try our best.
Google's Gemini chatbot (archived) also said both images of women who allegedly reported their neighbors for speaking in a British accent contained SynthID, meaning someone created or edited them using Google's artificial intelligence tools.
The "news reports" contained another indication that they were fake. The images carried the name and logo of WFLA or News Channel 8, an NBC affiliate channel covering the Tampa Bay area, in the upper left corner. WFLA was also an NBC affiliate in October 2023, the date visible on the "news reports," but the channel's logo in the images failed to include the NBC rainbow peacock logo.
Snopes has previously debunked another false story from a page managed by TBC VIRAL MEDIA.
Please note: Snopes is in the business of facts. We label these rumors "satire" based on their creators' description of them. It's your call whether you agree.