Late on February 6 or early February 7 2020, Facebook user “Angelika Greg-Delany” shared a purportedly true account to the group #WalkAway Campaign — purportedly first about her encounter with a Russia-bashing “Bernie Sanders s
Publication: TruthOrFiction
Truth or Fiction?→ Is H&R Block ‘Sex Worker Friendly’?
In January 2020, a post claiming that tax preparer H&R Block was “sex worker friendly” circulated — first on Twitter, then on Facebook: Hey sex workers if taxes are intimidating to you don’t forget H&R Block is sex worker
Truth or Fiction?→ What is a ‘Recanvass’?
Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez’s demand on February 6 2020 not only prolonged ongoing controversy surrounding the Iowa Democratic Party Caucuses — it also ignited interest in the process of a recanvass. “Enough is enou
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Nancy Pelosi Violate ’18 Code US 2071 B’ by Tearing Up Trump’s State of the Union Speech?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s widely-reported decision to tear United States President Donald Trump’s printed State of the Union speech apart on February 4 2020 led to a predictably high amount of social media chatter, among it claims that
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Trump Supporters Sabotage the Iowa Caucus Hotlines on Election Night?
On February 6 2020, a number of news organizations reported that the chaos during (and following) the Iowa caucus was exacerbated by a flood of calls to an election night hotline made by supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump to further confuse the
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘This is a Real-Life Post by an Anti-Abortion Activist, You Can’t Make This S*** Up’
On February 3 2020, Twitter user @HayleeFarless shared the following purported screenshot of a woman named Jamie Jeffries to a closed Facebook group called, “Are You Even Pro-Life?” with a comment claiming that it was “a real-life po
Truth or Fiction?→ Chinese Media Walks Back Reports Linking Doctor’s Death to Coronavirus
A January 2020 story about a 62-year-old doctor who reputedly died “at the front lines” of fighting a coronavirus outbreak in China was walked back by state media within the country after the report spread internationally. Both the China G
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Pete Buttigieg’s Campaign Donate $42,500 to Iowa Caucus App Developer Shadow, Inc.?
On February 4 2020, Twitter user Ariän El-Tahry tweeted a claim that Shadow, Inc., the company that built an app used to tally votes in the chaotic Iowa caucus the day before, had received donations from groups associated with only two candidate
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Bernie Sanders’ Campaign ‘Have Five Lawyers’ Contact Democratic Officials in Iowa?
Amid heavy criticism of breakdowns in the February 3 2020 Iowa Democratic Party caucus, a progressive congressional candidate attracted attention to himself with a claim involving a meeting between members of the Democratic National Committee and staf
Truth or Fiction?→ Which States Will Caucus in 2020?
On February 4 2020, the American political news cycle was dominated with news of chaos and delayed results after Iowa’s caucus the previous day; Iowans were the first to cast primary votes in the relatively uncommon format of a caucus, drawing e
Truth or Fiction?→ Who Broke the Iowa Caucuses and Why Were Results Delayed?
One day after the February 3 2020 Iowa caucuses — the first primary voting of all fifty American states — the hashtag #IowaCaucusDisaster remained at the top of Twitter’s “trending” charts after a confusing night with no
Truth or Fiction?→ Social Media Platforms Spread Epoch Times’ Iowa Caucus Disinformation
Another debunked claim from a right wing “activist” group responsible for chronic disinformation continued to spread on social media on February 3 2020 as voters in Iowa prepared for the Democratic Party presidential caucus. The group R
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Farmers in Haiti Reject Donated Monsanto Seeds After the 2010 Earthquake?
On February 1 2020, the Facebook page “Inhumans of Late Capitalism” shared the following screenshot of a Tumblr post, which contained a description of how farmers in Haiti refused to accept seed donations from Monsanto after a devastatin
Truth or Fiction?→ Director James Gunn Refutes Fake Instagram Post Fueling ‘Guardians’ Coverage
In a microcosm of the problem with aggregation-based reporting, film director James Gunn went online to refute a story circulating about him that relied on a falsified photograph of one of his social media accounts. On February 1 2020, the pop-culture
Truth or Fiction?→ Did John Kerry Tweet and Delete a ‘F***ing’ Denial That He Intended to Run for President?
On February 3 2020, Twitter briefly lit up with delight over apparent swears from the normally sanguine John Kerry, who had purportedly taken to Twitter to state that any rumors that he planned a 2020 presidential run were “fucking (or categor
Truth or Fiction?→ Did ‘The Simpsons’ Predict Coronavirus?
A novel strain of coronavirus discovered in Wuhan, China in late 2019 led to a flood of rumors, among them claims that the long-running American cartoon series The Simpsons “predicted coronavirus” in 1993: The Simpsons have done it agai
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘A Quick Peek at Which States are Googling Bernie Sanders the Most Over the Last 30 Days’
On January 28 2020, Twitter user Wes Holing (@wesholing) shared the following screenshot of a map graph, a purported “quick peek at which states are Googling Bernie Sanders the most over the last 30 days”: Time to take a quick peek at wh
Truth or Fiction?→ Where Does the Phrase ‘Eat the Rich’ Come From?
In late January 2020, a meme about the popular phrase “eat the rich” began circulating on Imgur and Facebook in a long screenshot apparently taken from Tumblr: In the screenshot were two Tumblr posts, the first of which was shared by u/as
Truth or Fiction?→ The Simple Mathematical Property Making Social Media Users ‘Feel Stupid’
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
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,