Is the American Family Association lying about support of its anti-Walmart campaign?

Is AFA lying about actual number of people who signed its anti-Walmart petition?

Much has been said about the American Family Association's attack on Walmart for posting a gay dating ap.  Unfortunately, very little of it has to do with the means AFA is stooping to with its protest. Recently the hate group bragged about an upcoming meeting with Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon. However, there is a good chance that the petition AFA has been circulating to generate this meeting is faulty when it comes to the number of supporters.

From LGBTQNation on Thursday:

To date, over 186,000 individuals have allegedly signed onto a pair of petitions from One Million Moms and AFA accusing Walmart of endorsing the “cultural revolution and [rejecting] the beliefs of its customer base.” 

However, prior investigation into the signature gathering tactics utilized by these groups has shown the numbers are likely inflated. In March, this journalist reported that individuals who wished to sign the petition were able to do so dozens of times from the same IP address, even the same web browser. 

While the online form builder Wufoo allows petitioners to put safeguards in place to ensure their campaigns don’t attract spam bots and fake signatures, One Million Moms and AFA declined to opt into those security measures. 

The bar for signing the petition was so low that typing in random gibberish in the name and email prompts was still accepted as a valid entry. 

This wouldn’t be the first time that One Million Moms and AFA have falsified its campaign numbers or allowed its petitions to be easily compromised. When the groups led a boycott of Target’s trans-inclusive bathroom policies, The Daily Beast and ThinkProgress debunked claims that more than a million people had joined the campaign.