Are helicopters being used to spray disinfectants into the air to eradicate the coronavirus? No, that's not true: This is a false rumor spreading around the world on social media, as well as through popular messaging services. The hoax has pro
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Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Massachusetts State Police DO Warn Of Possible Scam Related To Coronavirus
Did the Massachusetts State Police issue a warning about people wearing hazmat suits attempting to rob residents while in their homes? Yes, that appears to be partially true, and here is some context: The Massachusetts State Police has posted
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Marriott Has NOT Denied Unemployment And Health Benefits To Employees On ‘Zero Hour Schedule’
Has hotel giant Marriott International effectively denied employees unemployment and health benefits by saying the company had not laid them off, instead putting them on a zero-hour schedule? No, that's misleading: The person who initially pos
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Joe Biden Did NOT Test Positive For Coronavirus, As African Hoax Website Claims
Did Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden test positive for Coronavirus? No, that's not true: This false reporting is coming from a network of websites in Africa who have published many false news stories. The story appeared in an articl
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Homeland Security Is NOT Preparing To Mobilize The National Guard To Combat Coronavirus
Is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security preparing to mobilize the National Guard to enforce a nationwide quarantine? No, that's not true: The National Guard has issued a tweet refuting those claims. The item has been copied-and-pasted from
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Plan By Bill Gates And The Vatican To Depopulate World With Coronavirus Vaccine; Video Misinterprets Gates’ Speech
Is Microsoft founder Bill Gates conspiring with the Vatican to try to depopulate the world with a new vaccine for the novel coronavirus? No, that's not true: The video misinterprets a soundbite from Gates' TED Talk to try to make a point about
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Definitive Proof Chloroquine, Hydroxychloroquine Effective Against COVID-19
Is chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine effective against coronvirus? Maybe. The story has been appearing in a number of news sites, including this one from Tucker Carlson on Fox News on March 20, 2020. Users on social media saw posts like this:
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Definitive Proof Chloroquine, Hydroxychloroquine Effective Against COVID-19
Is chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine effective against coronvirus? Maybe. The story has been appearing in a number of news sites, including this one from Tucker Carlson on Fox News on March 20, 2020. Users on social media saw posts like this:
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Spanish Flu Did NOT Originate In Spain
Are historic flu and other outbreaks accurately named based on the country where they originated? No, this is not always the case: With President Trump insisting that calling the coronavirus "Chinese Flu" is not racist - as his critics claim -
FactCheck.org→ Biden, Trump Wrong About WHO Coronavirus Tests
Following a flawed rollout of test kits in the U.S. for the new coronavirus, politicians have given inaccurate information related to the diagnostic tests distributed by the World Health Organization. Former Vice President Joe Biden falsely claimed th
FactCheck.org→ Article Misquotes Clyburn on Ending Democratic Primary
Quick Take Rep. James Clyburn has called on the Democratic National Committee to cancel presidential primary debates to avoid damaging attacks on the eventual nominee. Clyburn did not say, as a conservative website falsely claimed, that he wanted to pr
Truth or Fiction?→ Rapunzel Was Quarantined in ‘Tangled,’ Google the Name of Her Kingdom?
As coronavirus quarantine memes circulated in mid-March 2020, one referenced the Disney film Tangled, first stating that Rapunzel was “quarantined” during the film, and then tacking on people should “Google” the name of her k
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NASA Did NOT Warn Two Asteroids Could Cause Atmospheric Explosion Over Earth This Week
Did NASA warn that two asteroids could cause atmospheric explosion over Earth this week? No, that's not true: NASA did not issue a warning about these asteroids. The claim originated in an article (archived here) published by The Mind Unleashe
FactCheck.org→ Death Quote Wrongly Attributed to Trump
Quick Take Social media posts are spreading a quote falsely attributed to President Donald Trump about the coronavirus. He didn’t say, “People are dying who have never died before.” But Ernest Hemingway did. Full Story A quote falsel
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Fox News Did NOT Win Pulitzer Prize for Reporting During Crisis
Did Fox News win a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting during the coronavirus crisis? Not, that's not true: The claim was made in a post on a site clearly labeled as satire and part of a well-known network of satirical websites that trolls conser
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Link Does NOT Take People To Application For FEMA Assistance And NO $1,000 Check
Does a link take people to an application for FEMA assistance where they can receive a $1,000 check? No, that's not true: Dozens of posts such as this have gone viral, all with very similar language, but they are pranks. The link in the posts
FactCheck.org→ Trump Gets Ahead of Himself on COVID-19 Therapies
President Donald Trump touted two drugs — including one currently on the market for other uses — that he said show “really good promise” as therapies to COVID-19. But he left the misleading impression that the drugs were “
FactCheck.org→ False Claim That Pelosi Withheld Coronavirus Funds Over Abortion
Quick Take A viral Facebook post falsely claims that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “wouldn’t release 8.5 billion for Coronavirus without abortion funding.” A House bill providing $8.3 billion in relief was already signed into law. The “
FactCheck.org→ Prank Posts Mislead on Direct Government Payments for Coronavirus
Quick Take The Trump administration has proposed a plan to provide direct payments to some U.S. citizens, beginning April 6, to blunt the economic impact of the coronavirus. But a prank post circulating on Facebook falsely states that the government is
Truth or Fiction?→ Chuck Grassley’s ‘Spanish Flu’ Tweet Adds to Wave of Xenophobic COVID-19 Rhetoric From GOP
As United States President Donald Trump and his supporters continued to try to normalize xenophobic rhetoric surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa came under criticism online for his own effort. “I don’t unders
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Walmart NOT Closing Stores At Present Time
Did Walmart just announce that it was shuttering hundreds of its stores? No, that's not true: The story, going viral now on some platforms, is actually four years old, put out by ABCNews.com. There has been no recent announcement that the gian
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Evidence Does NOT Show The WHO Director-General Overstated COVID-19 Fatality Rate
Did the World Health Organization's director-general overstate the COVID-19 fatality rate when he said that it was many times that of the seasonal flu? No, that's false: Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accurately stated that the de
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: 5G Technology NOT Believed To Have Caused Coronavirus
Did 5G, the fifth-generation wireless technology, cause the novel coronavirus? No, that's not true: These bizarre assertions go against everything we know about how viruses are spread. A viral video making the rounds confuses historical events
FactCheck.org→ Q&A on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of a Q&A we published Jan. 30. Much has changed since then. An outbreak of viral pneumonia that began in the central Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019 has sickened more than 200,000 people and
FactCheck.org→ No ‘Huge Red Flag That Fraud Occurred’ in Mass. Primary
Quick Take A misleading tweet uses a faulty interpretation of exit polling in Massachusetts and incomplete reporting on two other races to claim there were irregularities in Super Tuesday elections. Full Story A misleading tweet casting doubt on the i
FactCheck.org→ Viral Posts Falsely Align Viruses to Election Years
Quick Take Viral posts on social media claim COVID-19 is no worse than other outbreaks that have occurred in “every election year,” suggesting that the new coronavirus is being “hyped” to hurt President Donald Trump. But most of
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: COVID-19 NOT A Scripted Narrative To Justify Closed Borders Or Force Residents To Remain Home
Is COVID-19 virus part of a conspiracy that has a scripted narrative designed to justify closed borders and inspire residents to stay at home? No, that's not true: A conspiracy theory on Facebook claims that the coronavirus outbreak is a move
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Jim Carrey Did NOT Accuse 200 "Leftist Arsonists" Of Starting Australian Bushfires
Did actor Jim Carrey say that 200 "leftist arsonists" were arrested for starting the Australian bushfires, and that it wasn't due to climate change? No, that's not true: Carrey never made such a statement about the bushfires that ravaged the c
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: List Comparing Mortality Rates With COVID-19 Is NOT Accurate
Is a list of virus outbreaks comparing mortality rates for Ebola, H5N1, MERS and SARS with COVID-19 - the novel coronavirus - accurate? No, it's not: The comparison of the outbreaks is extremely misleading as it doesn't take into account the r
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: All U.S. Citizens Are NOT Entitled To $700 Per Week To Stay At Home To Avoid Spread Of Coronavirus
Are all U.S. citizens entitled to $700 per week to stay at home to avoid the spread of the novel coronavirus? No, that's not true: The link in the posts takes viewers to a gorilla giving the middle finger. The post was a hoax related to the co
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: A Banana A Day Does NOT Keep The Coronavirus Away
Does eating a banana a day keep the novel coronavirus away? No, that's not true: Bananas may be a good source of potassium and other vitamins, but they have not been proven to prevent COVID-19, the scientific name for the novel coronavirus. Th
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: A Dog Vaccine Can NOT Be Used To Inoculate People Against Coronavirus
Can a coronavirus vaccine used on dogs be used to inoculate people against COVID-19, the virus outbreak that has infected tens of thousands of people and left thousands others dead? No, that's not true: There is currently no vaccine to prevent
FactCheck.org→ Trump Misrepresents Google Coronavirus Website
President Donald Trump and other officials misleadingly suggested that tech behemoth Google was working on a screening website that large numbers of Americans could soon use to see if they should be tested for the new coronavirus. The website, however,
FactCheck.org→ False Claims of Nationwide Lockdown for COVID-19
Quick Take The National Security Council is warning Americans of a “FAKE” rumor circulating on social media that falsely claims President Donald Trump will impose a nationwide “mandatory quarantine.” President Donald Trump said
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Baby Formula NOT Necessarily Being Shipped For Free During Coronavirus Outbreak
Is baby formula being shipped free to parents in desperate need of feeding newborns during the coronavirus outbreak if parents call company hotlines? No, that's not true: This is misleading - and in some cases, outright false - information bei
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Scott Toilet Paper Is NOT Made In China
Is Scott brand toilet paper made in China, as a meme on social media suggests? No, that's not true: The meme has been doctored and includes another brand's UPC barcode. The Scott Paper Company says its toilet paper is "made in the USA." The cl
FactCheck.org→ Infographic on Facebook Distorts Comparative Facts on Viruses
Quick Take A misleading chart being spread on Facebook, erroneously dubbing the new coronavirus the “least deadly virus,” contains outdated information about the coronavirus and erroneous information about the death rate of the 2009 pandemi
FactCheck.org→ FactChecking the March Democratic Debate
Summary The first head-to-head debate of the Democratic presidential primary between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders focused on the government’s response to the novel coronavirus outbreak. We sorted through competing claims th
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Popular Meme Offers Mix Of Truth And Info NOT Backed By Science
Are the assertions presented in a meme that is gaining traction on social media about COVID-19, or the new coronavirus, backed up by science? Not necessarily. Some of the information in the meme appears to be on point, but not all, according t
Lead Stories→ ‘Invoice Barr’ and the ‘Second Modification’: How Article Spinning Works
Facebook users have been seeing some strange headlines lately, thanks largely to a clickbaiter from Pakistan. "It's Official: Fox Information Terminates Decide Pirro's Contract" There is a large network of websites using political content to