A sign expressing a particularly outlandish message supporting United States President Donald Trump grabbed attention online in February 2020: A photograph of the sign — bearing the message “God bows down to President Donald J. Trump, dec
Publication: viral content
Truth or Fiction?→ Captain Cook’s Death: Why Anti-Colonialists Celebrate February 14th
If you’re tired of the Valentine’s Day hype, consider this: Some people on social media are going with a of a British explorer’s death at the hands of indigenous Hawaiians as a way to mark February 14th instead. For example, Facebook
Truth or Fiction?→ Jeff Bezos Bought a $165M House, the Equivalent of a $75 House if You Make $60,000 a Year?
In February 2020, tweets and screenshots appeared, claiming that Amazon chief executive officer Jeff Bezos had recently purchased a $165 million house — typically with the caveat that the acquisition was about the same as someone who made $60,00
Truth or Fiction?→ Was Amazon’s First CFO Killed by One of the Company’s Delivery Trucks?
The cause of death of Amazon’s first chief financial officer in 2013 was quickly snapped up by online users after it was finally revealed six years later and cited as an example of recklessness by the company she had helped propel to the heights
Truth or Fiction?→ Tennessee State Legislature’s Bill to Recognize CNN, Washington Post as ‘Fake News’
On February 11 2020, tweets and social media posts alluded to “an actual bill” in the state of Tennessee, aimed at labeling CNN and the Washington Post as “fake news”: This is an ACTUAL Bill being debated by the Tennessee St
Truth or Fiction?→ Does One of President Trump’s Retweets Display ‘BERNIE BEATS TRUMP’?
On February 11 2020, a screenshot of United States President Donald Trump retweeting an account showing the name “BERNIE BEATS TRUMP” appeared on Twitter: Ladies and gentlemen, we got him pic.twitter.com/bcCdtluxky — BERNIE BEATS T
Truth or Fiction?→ The #BroomChallenge: Can Your Broom Stand up Because of the Vernal Equinox or Planetary Alignments?
On February 10 2020, memes and posts about a #BroomChallenge began circulating around Facebook, claiming that an arcane gravitational anomaly (usually chalked up to being caused by a “planetary alignment” or the “vernal equinox”
Truth or Fiction?→ Are Americans Getting Jailed for Unpaid Medical Debt?
On February 10 2020, a story about people in Kansas being jailed over medical debt spread on Facebook and Reddit: "You wouldn’t think you’d go to jail over medical bills": County in rural Kansas is jailing people over
Truth or Fiction?→ On This Day: You Can Tell Facebook Not to Show Memories that Upset You
On February 6 2020, Facebook user Tomayia Colvin posted about Facebook’s On This Day/Memories feature, and what is perhaps a little-known setting enabling users to filter out specific names and dates for entries they might wish not to see: &n
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?→ ‘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 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?→ 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?→ 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?→ 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?→ 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 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?→ 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?→ 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?→ 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