In January 2019, the following meme appeared on social media about overdraft fees collected by banks: The meme read: Banks collected over $30 billion in overdraft fees last year. Another way of saying that, banks took $30,000,000,000 from people who
Publication: viral content
Truth or Fiction?→ Do Democrats Pay The $5 Billion Wall Cost Every 10 Days to ‘Subsidize’ Illegal Immigration?
On January 4, 2019, a Facebook user shared a text-based post to a public group: It stated: Democrats pay what Trump is asking for the wall every 10 days to subsidize illegal aliens. Let that sink in. #SocialistClowns The status update was shared durin
Truth or Fiction?→ Did a Barber Mistakenly Shave a ‘Play’ Button on a Client’s Head Because of a Paused Video?
In January 2019, 9Gag shared a post titled “Barber Mistakenly Shaves A Play Button Into Client’s Hair After Being Shown A Paused Video.” It was light on details and included several amusing images: 9Gag had very little to say about t
Truth or Fiction?→ Are Deaths Listed in a ‘2018 Muslim Threat’ Tweet Accurate?
On January 1, 2019, civil rights lawyer and podcast host Qasim Rashid, Esq. tweeted a purported breakdown of the so-called “Muslim threat” relative to other risks to Americans in 2018: 2018 Recap of the “Muslim threat” Americans killed
Truth or Fiction?→ Is a Tweet Contrasting American and Japanese Generations Accurate?
On December 22, 2018, the Facebook page Ethan Berk shared an image referencing baby boomers, older people in Japan, and the attitudes of the two groups: The image involved several components, including commentary at the top, a purported tweet from BBC
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Teddy Roosevelt Stand Up for the First Black Female Postmaster?
In January 2019, the Facebook page History Hustle shared a meme about President Teddy Roosevelt and a woman named Minnie Cox, the first black female postmaster in the United States: The original post (which did not include any visible citations) said:
Truth or Fiction?→ Was a Snake Head Found in a Can of Green Beans?
In late December 2018, a Facebook user shared a photograph set showing what appeared to be a snake’s head, claiming that she had found it in a can of Glory Foods green beans: Accompanying the images was a post, which read: Snake for supper anyon
Truth or Fiction?→ Is ‘Bandersnatch’ a Real Game?
Netflix released Black Mirror standalone special “Bandersnatch,” which featured an interactive “choose your own adventure” style plot, on December 28, 2018. Immediately, viewers began dissecting its elements — chief among th
Truth or Fiction?→ Is ‘Bar’ an Acronym for ‘Beer and Alcohol Room’?
A meme with the claim that the word “bar” is an acronym for “beer and alcohol room” suddenly appeared in late December 2018: The meme was virtually identical in both presentation and format to a similar post claiming the word
Truth or Fiction?→ Do Two-Thirds of Millennials Not Know What Auschwitz Is?
In late December 2018, the Facebook page for Yahoo! Now shared a link to an article with a comment that two-thirds of millennials “don’t know what Auschwitz was”: The post linked to an article aggregated to Yahoo! from Newsweek on Apr
Truth or Fiction?→ Did President Donald Trump’s Secretary of State Call Same-Sex Marriage ‘Evil’?
On December 27, 2018, a brief video appeared to show Trump administration Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussing homosexuality and referring to the Rapture, which according to certain sects of evangelical Christianity is the end of the world in whic
Truth or Fiction?→ Did a Twitter User Claim a Border Wall GoFundMe Campaign Got ‘Almost Halfway’ to a Billion Dollars?
In late December 2018, a screenshot of a tweet attributed to a Twitter user who goes by “@MAGA_diane” began circulating on social media: The tweet appeared with a link to a GoFundMe campaign to fund a border wall between the United States
Truth or Fiction?→ Did the FBI Declare That ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Was ‘Communist Propaganda’?
In December 2018, claims that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had once deemed the holiday classic film It’s a Wonderful Life to be “communist propaganda” circulated on various social media sites: Fun Fact: Months after It’
Truth or Fiction?→ Is a Viral ‘Package Thief vs. Glitter Bomb Trap’ Video Real?
On December 17, 2018 YouTube content creator and former NASA engineer Mark Rober shared a video called “Package Thief vs. Glitter Bomb Trap,” which purportedly showed the aftermath of a glitter bomb deployment on unwitting porch pirates wh
Truth or Fiction?→ Does the Arrow on a Car’s Gas Gauge Indicate Which Side Has the Fuel Tank?
A tweet published in December 2018 reiterated a long-circulating purported “life hack,” in which an easy-to-miss arrow on a car’s gas gauge indicated the side of the vehicle on which its gas tank was located: How old were you when yo
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Four Artificially Intelligent Robots Kill 29 Humans in a Japan Lab?
On December 15, 2018, a Facebook user shared what appeared to be a screenshot of an article reporting the shocking news that dozens of Japanese scientists had been killed by rebellious artificial intelligence: An Instagram handle was visible in the sc
Truth or Fiction?→ Is Popeye’s Offering ‘Emotional Support Chicken’ to Harried Travelers?
On December 18, 2018, a spate of posts and articles about fast food chain Popeye’s new “emotional support chicken” appeared on social media: The move appeared to be a stunt that was either tasty or tasteless, depending on your perspe
Truth or Fiction?→ Does Hospital Stand for ‘House of Sick People Including Treatment and Labour’?
On December 17 2018, a Facebook page shared the following meme purporting to reveal the surprising etymology of the word “hospital”: With a nod to the “today years old” meme, it read: How old were you when you realised that HOS
Truth or Fiction?→ Was Christmas Illegal in the United States Until 1836?
Did the original “War on Christmas” start in the United States? A Facebook page shared the following meme in December 2018: The text of the meme read: Did you know? Christmas was illegal in the U.S. until 1836 as it was considered an ancien
Truth or Fiction?→ Are ‘SJWs’ Demanding a Gender Neutral Santa?
Manufactured controversy about millennial affectations have nearly become a tradition all their own, and in 2018, news outlets took a shine to claims that “social justice warriors” (often shortened in internet parlance to the more derogato
Truth or Fiction?→ Is a Scathing Stephen King Tweet About the Border Wall Real?
On December 12, 2018, a screenshot of a tweet attributed to Stephen King began circulating on Facebook and other social sites. It read: Fuck your wall. Split that 5 billion between at-risk children who don’t have lunches and vets who can’t get pro
Truth or Fiction?→ Did a Medical Scan of an 80-Year-Old Woman Reveal a Calcified Fetus?
On December 11, 2018, a Facebook user shared the following image and caption purportedly showing a genuine calcified fetus: 80 year old lady [emoji], went to have a cat-scan, and they found a fetus that’s been in her cervix for 30 years The reference
Truth or Fiction?→ Is This a Real Photo of a Rattlesnake That Died in a Wildfire?
On November 18, 2018, after destructive wildfires tore through northern California, the following image was shared to Facebook: Its caption read: A rattlesnake frozen in death during the California wildfires. His last defiant act was to strike at the f
Truth or Fiction?→ Can Airbags Send Your Knees ‘Through Your Eye Sockets’ When Deployed?
When the meme below appeared on Facebook via the page The Pink Shorts Movement on November 28 2018, we were skeptical: The text read: DID YOU KNOW: Airbags deploy between 100 & 220 MPH. If you ride with your feet on the dash, you may send your knee
Truth or Fiction?→ Do Nearly Ten Percent of Americans Think Chocolate Milk Comes from Brown Cows?
On December 9, 2018, the Facebook page “Unbelievable facts” shared the following meme, which held that nearly ten percent of Americans genuinely believed that chocolate milk was produced by brown cows: Users interested enough to go Googling
Truth or Fiction?→ Is a Facebook Post About Stolen ‘Toys for Tots’ Christmas Gifts Legitimate?
On December 3 2018, a Facebook user named Danny Rice shared the following image and caption (archived here): Please pray for us our Toys For Tots storage container were broken into and our toys taken! We have over 1,500 families to serve on the 15th pl
Truth or Fiction?→ Did John ‘Chickie’ Donohue Pull off a War Zone ‘Beer Run’ in Vietnam
On December 7 2018, the Facebook page Dysfuntional Veterans shared the following meme about a man named John “Chickie” Donohue and a Vietnam war “beer run”: The meme read: John “Chickie” Donohue, a merchant marine fr
Truth or Fiction?→ Did a Principal Ban Candy Canes Because the ‘J’ Symbolizes Jesus?
On December 5, 2018, The Blaze published an article titled “Principal banned candy canes because ‘J’ shape stands ‘for Jesus.’ But that was just for starters.” The item centered on a law firm devoted to “evange
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Charles Darwin Say He Hated ‘Everybody and Everything’ on a Difficult Day?
On November 29 2018, Twitter user @Plant_Phillips shared a transcribed image of a quote attributed to Charles Darwin: Even the most famous scientists have rough weeks. Charles Darwin, for example: “But I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate
Truth or Fiction?→ Were ‘Bladed Weapons’ Discovered in Baguettes During Riots in France?
In December 2018, amid massive civil unrest in France, a photograph of a serrated knife hidden in a baguette appeared on social media with a quip that it showed “bladed weapons confiscated from rioters” by Paris police. As of December 6 the
Truth or Fiction?→ Did a Woman Use Venmo to Send Herself Thousands of Dollars from a Stranger’s Phone?
On November 12, 2018, Twitter user @SydneyShyanneS tweeted a tale about the cash-sharing app Venmo, modern dating, and bar interactions which later became virally popular: this dude has been calling my bar to check the cameras because he asked a girl t
Truth or Fiction?→ Are Asylum-Seekers Writing Numbers on Their Arms at the United States Border?
Amid stories of unarmed adults and children getting teargassed over an international border by United States forces, infants being taken from their parents, and asylum-seekers being concentrated in detention camps, yet another image appeared to evoke a
Truth or Fiction?→ Has a Scientist Who Claimed He Created the First ‘Gene-Edited Babies’ Disappeared?
In November 2018, a scientist from China named He Jankui appeared to have ushered in a new era in humanity — and re-ignited an already heated international conversation about the ethics of editing genes to make “designer babies” — by
Truth or Fiction?→ Did a Medical Committee Recommend Fundraising for a Heart Transplant?
In November 2018, a Grand Rapids, Michigan woman who needed a heart transplant due to complications from chemotherapy was turned down by a Spectrum Health medical committee due to lack of funds: Martin’s son, Alex Britt, said she was diagnosed wi
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Leeds Trinity University Ban Capital Letters to Avoid Frightening Students?
In November 2018, an odd little article about a leaked internal memo at Leeds Trinity University appeared in the British tabloid the Express. According to the story, the university told professors not to use all capital letters in order to avoid R
Truth or Fiction?→ Does a Photograph Prove that Michael Avenatti (or Keith Ellison) Badly Beat a Woman?
A bombshell report about Michael Avenatti, a high-profile lawyer turned potential politician, appeared on celebrity news and gossip site TMZ in November 2018: Michael Avenatti, who became famous for representing Stormy Daniels in her battle with Pre
Truth or Fiction?→ Is a Caravan of Central American Asylum-Seekers Demanding Special Treatment?
An annual caravan of people traveling from Central America to the United States to seek asylum and refuge from extreme violence in their home countries has been beset by falsehoods, lies, and disinformation from start to finish — from baseless claim
Truth or Fiction?→ Are Young People Boiling Menstrual Pads to Get High?
A strange story about Indonesian youths finding a interesting “new” way to get high made the rounds in November 2018: taking sanitary pads, boiling them into a soup, and then drinking the ensuring slurry after it cooled. The pads, the stor
Truth or Fiction?→ Was a Large ‘Make the Gospel Great Again’ Billboard Put Up in Missouri?
On November 3th, 2018, just days before the United States held hotly-contested midterm elections, rumors appeared of a billboard by the side of a Missouri interstate that featured United States President Donald Trump’s face with a strange, slight
About That Perfectly Rectangular Iceberg…
In October 2018, an image floating around the internet caused a stir. The photograph appeared to show something statistically implausible, if not impossible — a perfectly rectangular iceberg like a tabletop, serenely circling Antarctic waters: Iceberg floating in Antarctica is perfect rectangle | https://t.co/uqJjOnWrqT pic.twitter.com/7lNUMQ4xwM — RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 25, 2018 Although the oddly-shaped […]
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