The Daily Squib

The Daily Squib is a British satirical online publication created by satire writer Aur Esenbel, that was officially launched on April Fool's Day, 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 had chosen to endorse Barack Obama in the 2008 US Presidential elections in order to avoid the election of Hillary Clinton. 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 and The Times (London). An article in the Tampa Bay Times 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 re-circulated the rumour generated by the Daily Squib story in an interview with The Guardian.
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 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 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 first published on 27 November 2011 was cited as a factual story by flagship Egyptian newspaper "Al-Ahram", on 16 September 2012. The Daily Squib Kissinger satire, was also mentioned by former John Major era Chancellor of the Exchequer, Norman Lamont 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 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", published on 23 November 2018. The article discussed the variance in fake news and satire. 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.”
Censorship.
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 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" to be one of the jurors with jury president Spencer Baim, Chief Strategic officer at Vice Media for the globally acclaimed 2017 Epica Awards 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.