Was a truck driver found dead on Interstate 5 in California and positive for COVID-19 hauling a load of made-in-China masks contaminated with the novel coronavirus? No, that's not true. The California Highway Patrol said the photo included in
Publication: coronavirus
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Wearing A Mask Does NOT Remove Your Ability To Legally Carry A Concealed Carry Weapon
Does wearing a face mask remove your ability to legally carry a concealed weapon? No, that's not true: Laws vary by state, but authorities in several states have issued guidance making it clear that their law does not prohibit someone from law
Health Feedback→ Contrary to popular claim on social media, RNA vaccines do not alter our DNA
SUMMARY A claim that RNA vaccine technology, which is being used to develop a COVID-19 vaccine candidate, will “permanently alter your DNA” was published in an article by Waking Times in May 2020, forming the basis for many viral posts on social
Poynter→ Sarah Sanders didn’t tweet this COVID-19 conspiracy theory
PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, click here. The tweet was like a word cloud of popular conspiracy theory topics: COVID-19, R
Poynter→ President Trump is wrong that greater testing is driving the coronavirus case load
PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, click here. There’s no doubt COVID-19 testing is on the rise. Here in St. Petersburg, Flor
Truth or Fiction?→ Did a Landlord Ask a Possible Tenant to Pay a Year’s Worth of Rent in Advance?
A property management company in Asheville, North Carolina became one of several symbols of landlord excess for social media users in June 2020, after a prospective tenant revealed that she was asked to provide a year’s worth rent before moving
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Test Does NOT Show Face Masks Cause Oxygen Levels To Drop Into The ‘Danger Zone’
Did a test using a gas monitor show that face masks cause oxygen levels to drop into the "danger zone?" No, that's not true: The demonstration conducted by Ohio State Rep. Nino Vitale is flawed and misleading, according to a senior engineer wi
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Ear Loop Masks Meant To Protect Others From Coronavirus (NOT Yourself)
Are nonsurgical ear-loop masks useless at offering protection from COVID-19? No, that's not true: While the labeling on an ear loop mask box does say the wearer is not protected from COVID-19, the purpose of a mask is to protect other people f
Poynter→ No, the Americans with Disabilities Act does not exempt you from mask mandates
PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, click here. Quarantine affects everyone in different ways. For me, it meant spending two-and
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: C.S. Lewis Did NOT Pen A ‘Prophesy’ That Appears To Have Parallels To The Coronavirus Crisis
Did C.S. Lewis write a passage in 1942 that appears to have parallels to the 2020 coronavirus crisis? No, that's not true: Scholars agree the widely circulated quote is not from Lewis. It's the latest in a long list of misattributions, accordi
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Bill Gates Did NOT Offer $10 Billion Bribe To Nigeria To Impose Forced Vaccinations
Did Bill Gates give a $10 billion bribe to the Nigerian government to impose forced vaccinations on its citizens? No, that's not true. There is no evidence of such a huge payment offered beyond an unsupported accusation by a political oppositi
Poynter→ No, AOC didn’t tweet this about closing businesses until after the election
PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, click here. On the same day U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez faced — and defeated — a
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Typing Any 3-digit Number And ‘New Cases’ In Google Does NOT Prove COVID-19 Is Hoax
Does typing any three-digit number and the words "new cases" into Google prove that COVID-19 is a hoax? No, that's not true: COVID-19 is a real and deadly pandemic. And the massive volume of coronavirus-related content on the internet, along w
Poynter→ A coronavirus second wave? Experts say it’s too early to tell
PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, click here. As Americans continue to grapple with the novel coronavirus, one question is on
Health Feedback→ OSHA recommends the use of cloth face coverings at the workplace, contrary to claim by Peggy Hall
REVIEW A video by Peggy Hall, who runs a lifestyle website, made numerous claims about mask safety, which went viral in June 2020, receiving more than 1.8 million views on Facebook. An article promoting the video, published by GreenMedInfo, separate
Health Feedback→ No, Bill Gates is not funding COVID-19 vaccines as a way to conduct global surveillance or to depopulate the world
This article posted by The Truth About Cancer on 13 June 2020 is the third and last article in a series claiming that vaccines are dangerous and that individuals will be forced to accept a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine once developed. The article, titled COVID-19
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Meme Claiming Five Reasons Not To Wear A Face Mask Is Misleading
Did a meme provide five accurate reasons why people should not wear masks amid the novel coronavirus outbreak? No, several of the reasons were misleading. A viral post about why "I don't wear a mask" gives five reasons not to don a face coveri
Poynter→ Fact-checking three coronavirus claims from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, click here. Although infections and hospitalizations connected to the coronavirus are rising
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Evidence 5 Million Muslim Children In Yemen Died Due To Hunger, Wars, COVID-19 & Poverty In 2020
Did 5 million Muslim children in Yemen die due to hunger, wars, COVID-19 and poverty in 2020? No, that's not true. The crisis in Yemen is undeniable, with millions of children facing starvation and death in the war-torn country, but the 5 mill
Poynter→ Conspiracy claim linking COVID-19 reports with the number 322 is nonsense
PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, click here. Some people can’t resist a good conspiracy. Turns out, many also can’t resis
Health Feedback→ People should take precautions against COVID-19 regardless of their blood type
REVIEW An article published in the Jerusalem Post declares that people with type O blood are “more protected against COVID-19”. The article has received more than 23 million views on Facebook and more than 900,000 interactions on the platform si
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: COVID-19 Trackers NOT Installed On Phones Without Public’s Knowledge During Phone Disruptions
Did Apple and Google use the time that some cell phone networks were experiencing disruptions to sneak COVID-19 trackers onto iOS and Android devices? No, that's not true: The two companies are in a partnership to deploy contact-tracing tech t
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: OSHA Did NOT Say Cloth Masks Don’t Work And Will Reduce Oxygen To Danger Levels
Did the Occupational Safety and Health Administration say cloth face masks offer no COVID-19 protection and lower the wearer's available oxygen to dangerously low levels? No, that's not true. Numerous OSHA publications recommend the masks as a
Poynter→ Trump falsely claims that if ‘we stopped testing right now,’ we’d have very few COVID-19 cases
PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, click here. It’s a big weekend for President Donald Trump, as he will be holding his first
Poynter→ Widely shared Facebook posts mislead on COVID-19 mortality rate
PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, click here. Determining the death rate of COVID-19 is a big challenge, especially at this st
Poynter→ Posts about COVID-19 vaccines bring an overdose of misinformation
The world waits anxiously for a vaccine that will halt the deaths and devastation from the coronavirus. But until that happens, fear and uncertainty are generating a gigantic list of falsehoods about this topic. Extra caution is essential when reading
Poynter→ Chuck Norris felled by a tiny virus? Don’t believe it
PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, click here. Fans of “Walker, Texas Ranger” know Chuck Norris as a fighter and a
Poynter→ Facebook post falsely claims wearing masks for coronavirus shuts down the immune system
PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, click here. A Facebook user declared, “I’m starting a public movement called TAKE IT
Poynter→ Fact-checking a misleading viral video alleging some New York hospitals are ‘murdering’ COVID-19 patients
PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, click here. An alarming video features a woman with a dire message from the front lines of N
Health Feedback→ People who do not show COVID-19 symptoms can and do transmit it to others; physical distancing and face masks effectively reduce the risk of transmission
SUMMARY Claims that physical distancing (or social distancing) and using face masks or face coverings are not necessary went viral on Facebook in June 2020 (see examples here and here), following remarks by World Health Organization (WHO) official D
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Evidence Social Distancing And COVID-19 Are A Government Plot To Track And Control Citizens
Are social distancing guidelines and the COVID-19 pandemic part of a government plot to track and control citizens? No, that's not true: Osteopath Rashid Buttar, a practitioner who has been sued for fraud, made the claim in a video rant that a
Poynter→ What is ballot harvesting, and why is Trump tweeting about it during an election-year pandemic?
PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, click here. As many states take steps to encourage voting by mail amid the pandemic, Preside
Poynter→ WHO comments on asymptomatic COVID-19 transmission is lesson in research and context
PolitiFact and MediaWise are teaming up to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus crisis. To have Coronavirus Facts delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, click here. It was almost on cue. On Monday, World Health Organization COVID-19 technical le
Poynter→ IFCN’s WhatsApp chatbot is now available in Hindi and ready to fight COVID-19 hoaxes
The International Fact-Checking Network’s COVID-19 WhatsApp chatbot will now be available in Hindi –– the world’s third most spoken language. The bot was first released in English, and Spanish, but starting this Thursday, June 11, Hindi speaker
Poynter→ Watch out for scams and hoaxes hidden in Black Lives Matter content
It seems that opportunistic scammers have moved from one tragic crisis to another. COVID-19 attracted hoaxes and exploited a confused public, and now the murder of George Floyd and the worldwide protests are doing the same, keeping fact-checkers busy.
Poynter→ Do no harm: Debunking without amplification
Factually is a newsletter about fact-checking and accountability journalism, from Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network & the American Press Institute’s Accountability Project. Sign up here A review of the evidence What role does “the
Health Feedback→ German Ministry employee makes unsupported claim that COVID-19 pandemic is a global false alarm in widely circulated yet unsolicited opinion article
REVIEW An article posted by News Punch on 2 June 2020 partially reproduces a document originally published by the German outlet Tichys Einblick on 10 May 2020, claiming that it was leaked from Germany’s Interior Ministry. The document, titled KM 4
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Dr. Rashid Buttar Does NOT Show ‘Undercover Footage’ In Vaccine Video
Does an anti-vaccine video by Dr. Rashid Buttar show "undercover footage"? No, that's not true: The misleading title implies that this YouTube video will be the public unveiling of exclusive undercover footage of ... something. Viewers who fal
Health Feedback→ Article inaccurately claims that coronavirus vaccine by Oxford researchers caused animal test subjects to develop COVID-19
SUMMARY This article, published in late May 2020, received more than 280,000 views on Facebook and more than 24,000 interactions on social media. The article makes numerous claims about Bill Gates and the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine being developed by Oxford
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Bill Gates Did NOT Bribe WHO With $50 Million To Declare COVID-19 A Pandemic
Did Bill Gates bribe the World Health Organization with $50 million to declare COVID-19 a pandemic? No, that's not true: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated money not to the World Health Organization, but to the Therapeutics Accelera