In January 2020, some users on Reddit and Facebook found themselves stunned to discover an application for the commutative property of multiplication for determining percentages. The post appears to have originated on Reddit, as part of a discussion s
Publication: Fact Checks
Truth or Fiction?→ Did the Trump Administration’s 2020 Budget Propose $25 Billion in Cuts to Social Security?
On January 31 2020, the page “Labor 311” shared the following screenshot of tweets from anchor Soledad O’Brien and United States President Donald Trump, in which he vows to “protect Social Security,” while she claims that
Truth or Fiction?→ Do Only Three Companies Make All the World’s Insulin (Charging $20 Outside the United States and $300+ in the United States)?
On January 28 2020, the Facebook page “Drug Prices are Too High” shared the following Twitter screenshot, about the purported price of insulin outside the United States (USD$20) versus its cost in the U.S. (USD$300+) per vial: Th
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Malcolm Gladwell Say Penn State Should Restore a Statue of Joe Paterno?
Author Malcolm Gladwell’s latest defense of deceased Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno drew attention on January 29 2020. During a speech at the campus in State College, Pennsylvania, Gladwell once again said that a statue of Pate
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘After a Trump Rally in Wildwood, New Jersey’
On January 29 2020, the Facebook page “The Other 98%” shared the following set of images, which were purportedly taken after United States President Donald Trump held a re-election campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey: Text ov
Truth or Fiction?→ How Old Do You Have to Be to Be Vice President?
A prominent element of the 2020 United States presidential race involved prominent surrogates for candidates, whose presence on campaign trails prompted questions about the minimum age requirement for an individual to become a candidate’s runnin
Truth or Fiction?→ If You Earn Nearly a Quarter Million Dollars a Year, Would it Take 4,167 Years to Earn One Billion Dollars?
Ahead of the 2020 Democratic primary (and attendant discussions around billionaires and/or taxation), memes about the math of billionaires circulated; among them was one claiming that if a person earned the reasonably strong salary of $240,000 a year
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Sen. Elizabeth Warren Propose Making ‘Spreading Disinformation Online’ Illegal?
On January 29 2020, news network CNBC received some criticism for its portrayal of a policy proposal set forth by Democratic Party Sen. Elizabeth Warren the same day. The network said in a tweet that Warren, who is currently running for the party̵
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘My Team and I Are Doing a $100 Cash Giveaway’ Facebook Multi-Level Marketing Meme
In January 2020, a number of Facebook posts promoting a “$100 cash giveaway” appeared on Facebook, almost all with nearly identical wording. The $100 cash giveaway posts seemed to have one thing in common — those promising $100 to pa
Truth or Fiction?→ Can You Adjust Facebook to Block Fact-Checkers?
A January 2020 Facebook post sought to convince one social media user’s friends not only that fact-checkers were employed by Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg to target conservative content in posts, but that those same fact-check
Truth or Fiction?→ Google ‘Untreated Syphilis’ Meme
In late January 2020, a Twitter meme circulated that urged fellow users to Google “untreated syphilis” — a search phrase which purportedly returned images of or links to United States President Donald Trump: This is currently what
Truth or Fiction?→ Lysol + Coronavirus = Conspiracy
As fears of a coronavirus outbreak spread virally on social media in late January 2020, so too did posts about the packaging of Lysol and what some people saw as a suspicious mention of a viral strain that was new to them: LYSOL WAS INVENTED IN 1
Truth or Fiction?→ Did the Washington Post Tweet ‘Anti-Semites See Socialism as a Jewish Plot, What Will They Say About Bernie Sanders?’
On January 28 2020, a screenshot of an apparent Washington Post headline musing what anti-Semites who believed that anti-Semitism itself is a “Jewish plot” might think of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign circulated on Facebook in scree
Truth or Fiction?→ Did JK Rowling Respond to ‘No One Should Live in a Closet’ Tattoo with ‘Yes They Should’?
On January 25 2020, Twitter user @iknownaama tweeted the following image, a purported screenshot of JK Rowling reacting to a pro-LGBT tattoo (“no one should live in a closet”) by saying “yes they should”: so did the simulatio
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Hillary Clinton Say She Had an ‘Urge to Run Again’ in January 2020?
On January 28 2020, the New York Post published an article with the headline, “Hillary Clinton admits she feels an ‘urge’ to run against Trump again,” reporting: Nearly four years after President Trump defeated her in the 2016 elect
Truth or Fiction?→ No, You’re Not Being Told to Avoid ‘Unprotected Sex with Farm Animals’ Over the Coronavirus
As the World Health Organization (WHO) tried to disseminate health advisories amid a growing coronavirus outbreak, at least one “jokey” graphic blunting that message was spotted online in January 2020. The WHO’s original graphic, pos
Truth or Fiction?→ ’30 Marines, 1 Sailor Die in Helicopter Crash on Same Day as Kobe Bryant’ Meme
Following the January 26 2020 death of athlete Kobe Bryant, posts circulated on Facebook alongside the headline “30 Marines, 1 Sailor Die in Helicopter Crash”: Sharers definitively connected the purported news to Bryant’s death,
Truth or Fiction?→ Can You Get Coronavirus from Wish.com Products?
As concern over coronavirus spread in late January 2020, Facebook users began to share memes claiming that all products from ubiquitous seller Wish.com shipped from Wuhan, China — thought to be the region from which a massive outbreak of what
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Kobe Bryant Say ‘A #POTUS Whose Name Alone Creates Division and Anger … Can’t Possibly ‘Make America Great Again’?
After the sudden death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant on January 26 2020, the Facebook page “Call to Activism” shared the following meme, which purportedly quoted Bryant speaking about United States President Donald Trump: Whi
Truth or Fiction?→ Origin of the Word ‘Spinster’
The word “spinster” generally conjures up a mental picture of mean little old ladies who have never been married, glaring at young people from behind their living room curtains (which are lacy and yellowed with age, naturally) with their m
Truth or Fiction?→ Did a Twitter Post Predict Kobe Bryant’s Death in a Helicopter Crash in 2012?
On January 26 2020, Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna (as well as Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri, and his daughter Alyssa; Harbor Day School basketball coach Christina Mauser; mother and daughter Sarah and Payton C
Truth or Fiction?→ Did a Brazilian Condom Ad Feature Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-Il?
On January 23 2020, the Facebook page “We Resist” shared the following images, purportedly a “Brazilian condom ad” mocking world leaders Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-Il: Text atop three images of Trump,
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Those Cups Are Made to Be Thrown in the Laundry After You Fill Them Up, It Cleans Them’?
On January 20 2020 Facebook user Amber Miller shared a virally popular “laundry hack,” asserting that detergent cups are designed to be added to every wash, because “it cleans them”: Miller’s post racked up over 13,000 sh
Truth or Fiction?→ Alabama Senate Blocks Attempts to Raise Minimum Wage in Birmingham
In Janaury 2020, a number of Facebook users shared an article headlined “Alabama senate blocks attempts to raise minimum wage in Birmingham,” a piece which spread against the backdrop of the 2020 presidential elections and a national discu
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘We Have Noticed the Condition of Your Vehicle’ Viral Human Resources Letter
On January 21 2020, the Facebook page “Inhumans of late capitalism” posted the following screenshot of a purported letter from a human resources department at an unidentified company that appeared to be haranguing an employee for the condi
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘How Canadians Are Dealing with an Unprecedented Blizzard’ Post
A January 20 2020 post on the Facebook page “Quick Turtle” (called “How Canadians Are Dealing With An Unprecedented Blizzard”) was shared almost 60,000 times in two days: In addition to the status update and title, nineteen
Truth or Fiction?→ White House Impeachment Counsel Lies About GOP House Disruption
During the impeachment trial of United States President Donald Trump on January 21 2020, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone flagrantly pushed disinformation concerning an October 2019 meeting that House Republicans “stormed” for attention.
Truth or Fiction?→ Deadline to Change Party Affiliation in New York State is February 14 2020 (Not October 2019)
In January 2020, a number of Twitter users claimed that New York residents had until February 14 2020 to either change their party affiliation or register to vote, information at odds with a widely repeated claim that the deadline to do so had passed
Truth or Fiction?→ Did One of Trump’s College Professors Call Him ‘the Dumbest Goddamn Student I Ever Had’?
An often-circulated quote from a University of Pennsylvania faculty member attacking United States President Donald Trump was posthumously spread second-hand. The purported remark attributed to Wharton School of Business professor William T. Kelley â€
Truth or Fiction?→ Harry S. Truman: ‘Socialism is a Scare Word’
In January 2020, a Facebook post from September 2019 featuring an image of President Harry S. Truman and claims in 1952 Truman said that “socialism is a scare word” continued to spread: At the top of the meme, text over an image of Trum
Truth or Fiction?→ Local News Station Conducts Voting Poll Listing Bernie Sanders as ‘Other’?
On January 20 2020, the Facebook page “Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism” shared a screenshot of a tweet purporting to show a televised ABC7News Bay Area segment in which Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders appeared to receive a number of
Truth or Fiction?→ Is Disney Releasing a Sequel to Bette Midler’s ‘Hocus Pocus’?
A fan-made illustration that spread around Facebook in January 2020 may have stirred anticipation in fans of the 1993 horror comedy Hocus Pocus, but it’s unclear whether those hopes will be fulfilled anytime soon. The illustration (which was sh
Truth or Fiction?→ Super Nintendo World Mushroom Kingdom Urinals
On January 18 2020, the Facebook page “GeekDup Girl” shared the following screenshot. Its first portion of which purportedly involved a tweet from Nintendo of America showing “Mushroom Kingdom” urinals planned for a theme park
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Ruby Bridges is Only 65’ Meme
On January 17 2020, the Facebook page “The Other 98%” shared the following meme, which claimed that as of January 2020, Ruby Bridges (the iconic little girl who was the first black child at a previously all-white public school in Louisiana
Truth or Fiction?→ Trump ‘Break My Stride’ Tweets
On January 18 2020, Twitter users shared the following video that purportedly showed a screenshot of United States President Donald Trump’s recent tweets — which taken together, formed the lyrics to “Break My Stride,” a 1983 pop s
Truth or Fiction?→ Martin Luther King, Jr.: ‘Capitalism Does Not Permit an Even Flow of Economic Resources’
On January 17 2020, an Imgur post featured a screenshot of a tweet by @andrehenry quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Capitalism, asserting that such a system did not “permit an even flow of resources”: “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wa
Truth or Fiction?→ Martin Luther King Jr., Anne Frank, and Barbara Walters Are the Same Age?
In December 2019 (and periodically since), a Facebook post claimed that that Anne Frank, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barbara Walters would all be the same age if everyone was alive today: An additional status update stated the claim was the poster&
Truth or Fiction?→ Alan Dershowitz’s Watergate Trial Gripe About ‘Blacks and Liberals’ Resurfaces Online
A November 1974 remark from attorney Alan Dershowitz found new visibility in January 2020 after it was highlighted by the chief of staff for Virginia state Sen. Dave Marsden, not long after the Trump administration announced that Dershowitz would be j
Truth or Fiction?→ Did a Medical Journal List ‘The Notorious H.R.T.’ as a Nickname for Hormone Replacement Therapy?
An image that purports to show a screengrab from a medical journal was featured on a tweet that gained traction on January 15 2020. The tweet contains a capture of this citation: It says: Hormone replacement therapy has many nicknames among transfe
Truth or Fiction?→ Nancy Pelosi’s ‘Gold Pens’ Impeachment Controversy
On January 16 2020, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s gold pens on silver platters were the subject of a Facebook post shared by known disinformation peddler and sometimes grifter Brian Kolfage: Across a photograph of three trays of gold-ti