A recurring online hoax spread even further on August 20 2019, when a wave of high-profile people posted a fake, long-debunked notice about Instagram’s terms of use that eventually ended up on Secretary of Energy Rick Perry’s Instagram ac
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FactCheck.org→ O’Rourke on Jobs ‘No One Else Will Do’
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke said workers living in the U.S. illegally who were swept up in immigration raids at chicken processing plants in Mississippi are “doing a job that no one else will do.” The jobs are hard and don’t
Truth or Fiction?→ Did the Presidents of the United States and France Agree on Inviting Russia Back Into the Group of Seven?
An August 20 2019 story about the Group of Seven (G7) economic forum and purported discussions between United States President Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron was quickly contradicted by other reporters. CNN’s Kylie Atwoo
FactCheck.org→ Kudlow’s Unsupported USMCA Jobs Claim
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow claimed without evidence that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement would add “180,000 new jobs per year” in the U.S. Kudlow may have been referencing an April analysis done by the U.S. Internat
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Posting An Instagram Picture With Legal Gibberish DOES NOT Modify Your Agreement With Instagram In Any Way
Do you need to post a status update with some legal gibberish on your Instagram feed to prevent the Facebook (the company that owns Instagram) from using your pictures, information, messages or posts? No, that's not true: what Facebook can do
Truth or Fiction?→ Nick Hinton 2012 Thread
A rather nihilistic rumor — that all of humanity died in 2012, and that this is all either a shared hallucination or the afterlife — was not new in late July 2019, but the theory went viral on social media after Twitter user Nick Hinton (@nickhin
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Trump Did NOT File Lawsuit To Deport George Soros
Did President Trump file a lawsuit to have George Soros deported from the country? No, that's not true. The story was published by a liberal satire website that tries to fool Trump supporters and Republicans into sharing made up stories that a
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Obama And HR4310 Did NOT Make It Legal For The Media To Lie To The American People (It Always Was…)
Did Barack Obama quietly sign into law HR 4310 in 2012 that made it legal for the media to purposely lie to the American people? No, that's not true: HR 4310 was the authorization act for Pentagon funding in 2013 and included many provisions t
Truth or Fiction?→ Do an Average of 22 United States Military Veterans Kill Themselves Every Day?
While seeking to boost awareness and help toward United States military veterans, a long-standing online claim and the various graphics promoting it are based on some misreporting of data regarding veteran suicide rates. The claim often states that on
Snopes→ Let’s Make Fact-Checking Even Better
We are rolling out several new features at Snopes.com to help our trusted fact-checking fight harder against misinformation.
Truth or Fiction?→ Does Costco Pharmacy Have the Least Expensive Prices and No Membership Requirement?
A long-circulating Facebook post (archived here) claims that Costco pharmacy prices are always lower than other pharmacies, adding that Costco membership is not required to fill a prescription: In what appears to be Facebook commentary added to a
Snopes→ Trooper Finds Parked Driver Playing Pokemon Go on Eight Phones
A Washington state trooper who pulled over to help what he thought was a disabled vehicle found something else instead.
FactCheck.org→ The Epstein Connections Fueling Conspiracy Theories
Summary In the absence of information about how sex offender Jeffrey Epstein managed to die in prison by an apparent suicide on Aug. 10, outlandish conspiracy theories have cropped up across the political spectrum. Among the more prominent theories
Truth or Fiction?→ Did North Carolina Ban Sharia Law Statewide?
On July 29 2019, frequent Facebook disinformation purveyor Joseph Rudy Rullo posted a meme (archived here) claiming that North Carolina had banned sharia law. Above a map highlighting North Carolina, the meme read: NORTH CAROLINA HAS BANNED
FactCheck.org→ Harris Wrong on Autoworker Jobs
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris wrongly claimed that “as many as 300,000 autoworkers may be out of a job before the end of the year.” That’s a high-end estimate for total job losses — not solely among autoworkers
Truth or Fiction?→ Was the Mississippi Chicken Plant Raided by American Immigration Authorities Previously Sued for Workplace Abuses?
An early August 2019 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid at Mississippi chicken plant made national news due to its size and the number of children left without parents or guardians in its wake; in its aftermath, rumors claimed that the b
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Cancer Is NOT Caused By Acidity In The Body And You CANNOT Prevent It By Alkalizing Your Body
Is cancer caused by acidity in the body and can you prevent cancer by alkalizing your body? No, that's not true: The claim is a medical myth that has been repeatedly shot down by cancer experts. While it is true that cancer cells cannot surviv
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Public Assistance Programs Exist in the United States Before Social Security?
In August 2019, disinformation and misinformation about the history of immigration to the United States flourished online following the announcement that United States President Donald Trump’s administration would pursue the so-called “pub
Snopes→ Facebook Paid Contractors to Transcribe Users’ Audio Clips
Companies say the practice helps improve their services. But users aren't typically aware that humans and not just computers are reviewing audio.
PolitiFact→ Michael Bloomberg – Bloomberg correct that NRA’s Wayne LaPierre once supported background checks
The Truth-o-Meter says: True | Bloomberg correct that NRA’s Wayne LaPierre once supported background checks Billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg took a familiar swipe at NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre during an Aug. 11
FactCheck.org→ Obama Hasn’t Called For ‘All-Out Gun Confiscation’
Quick Take A headline circulating on partisan websites distorts former President Barack Obama’s tweet advocating stricter gun laws in the wake of the most recent mass shootings. Full Story Former President Barack Obama posted a statement on Twi
FactCheck.org→ Baseless Claim About Barr Visit to Epstein Prison
Quick Take A baseless claim that Attorney General William Barr visited the prison where accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was being held has been circulating online. But the sole source of that claim — a former mob associate — told us
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Guard Watching Epstein Has NOT Mysteriously Vanished
Did one of the guards (named Arturus Tubolls) that was supposed to watch Jeffrey Epstein mysteriously vanish? No, that's not true: the story was published by a liberal satire website that tries to fool Trump supporters and Republicans into sha
Lead Stories→ Fake News: US Is NOT 3rd In Murders; Removing Chicago, Detroit, Washington, St Louis, New Orleans Would NOT Make It 189 out of 193
Does the United States rank third in murders throughout the world and would removing the cities of Chicago, Detroit, Washington D.C., St. Louis, and New Orleans from the total make the U.S. 189th out of 193 countries in the world in homicides?
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Cameras Malfunction in Prison the Night Jeffrey Epstein Died?
On August 10 2019, news broke that jailed financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in a Metropolitan Correctional Center jail cell, immediately prompting a flood of conspiracy theories: Among those rumors was a claim
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Bill Barr Did NOT Allegedly Make Secret Visit To Jail Before Epstein’s Death
Did U.S. Attorney General William Barr allegedly make a secret visit to the Manhattan jail where Jeffrey Epstein was being held just two weeks before the accused sex trafficker was found dead in his cell? No, that's not true: There is no actua
Lead Stories→ Fake News: NO Report: ‘Camera Malfunction’ In Epstein’s Prison Cell Prevented Recording Of His Alleged Suicide
Is there a report that a "camera malfunction" in Jeffrey Epstein's prison cell prevented recording of his alleged suicide? No, that's not true: There were no media reports that a camera monitoring Epstein's cell area malfunctioned in the hours
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Netflix Really Cancel ‘The OA’?
News that Netflix had cancelled its popular supernatural show The OA after airing only two of its five planned seasons aired broke on August 5 2019, causing #SaveTheOA and #RenewTheOA to trend on Twitter. Not long after, fans of the show on Reddit
PolitiFact→ Fact-checking claims about the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton
In the days since the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, we’ve seen a flood of theories, facts and figures to explain the attacks and why they happen in the United States so frequently. If you’ve been reading our site this wee
FactCheck.org→ Photos Don’t Tell the Whole Story on Border Trash
Quick Take Old pictures of trash strewn in the Arizona desert are circulating on Facebook with the suggestion that they were taken recently and that the media failed to cover it. Neither of those things is true. Full Story Photos of trash near Arizon
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Anne Frank Write that ‘Terrible Things’ Were Happening, Parents Taken While Children Were at School?
After an August 7 2019 Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in Mississippi in which young children were left to wander the streets after their parents had been arrested, a quote attributed to Anne Frank about similar occurrences before the Holoca
FactCheck.org→ Trump’s Mixed Record on Gun Control
When asked what he was going to do about the “gun problem,” President Donald Trump responded that “we have done much more than most administrations.” Trump has taken some action to strengthen federal gun control, but his administration
FactCheck.org→ President Trump’s Rhetoric
Prior to departing for visits to El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, on Aug. 7, President Donald Trump rejected the premise that his rhetoric has divided the country, as his critics have claimed. He said “my rhetoric … brings people together.
Lead Stories→ Fake News: ICE Raids Pick Up 680 Workers In Mississippi Food Plants… 3 Buses NOT Filled With Koch Bros. Workers
Did ICE raids that detained 680 workers at Mississippi food plants fill three buses with workers from a Koch Brothers' plant? No, that's not true: The Koch Foods plant that was raided in Morton, Mississippi, is not owned or affiliated with the
Lead Stories→ Fake News: JFK NOT On Gun Control: ‘We Need A Nation Of Minute Men’
Did President John F. Kennedy say about gun control that "we need a nation of minute men"? No, that's not true: The quote cited by those opposed to gun control is from a written message (not a speech) by Kennedy in which he called for American
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘First Day of School’ Picture After Mississippi ICE Raid
On August 8 2019, Facebook user Lora Kay Morrow shared the following photograph (archived here), purportedly showing a distressed young girl whose parents were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on her first day of school in Mississ
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Kamala Harris Did NOT Say ‘After We Impeach, We Round Up The Trump Supporters’
Did Kamala Harris threaten to round up Trump supporters and did she hint she would put them in prison camps after President Trump was impeached? No, that's not true. The story was published by a liberal satire website that tries to fool Trump
FactCheck.org→ Politics of Gun Violence
In the aftermath of two deadly mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, U.S. political leaders made a series of statements on gun violence that were unsubstantiated, lacked context or were seemingly contradictory. Here we look at some of those statements and
Snopes→ Neil deGrasse Tyson Apologizes for Tweet About Death
Neil deGrasse Tyson has learned after a tweet that pointing out truths is not always helpful.
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Wife Of US Attorney Prosecuting El Paso Gunman Did NOT Flash White Power Symbol At Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearings
Did the wife of U.S. Attorney John Bash, who is prosecuting accused El Paso massacre gunman Patrick Crusius, flash a white power symbol as she sat behind Brett Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court? No, that's