On January 13 2020, Facebook user Ryan Fournier of Students for Trump (whose partner and co-founder was later charged with fraud for posing as an attorney) shared a video with the text: “Woman Steals Trump Sign. Immediately Regrets it”:
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Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Vermont Socialist Plans Mayoralty with Bias Toward Poor’ Headline
As the Iowa caucuses edged closer in January 2020, Twitter account @CANCEL_SAM shared a screenshot of a purported 1981 New York Times article ostensibly about Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) bearing the headline, “Vermont Socialist Plans Mayor
Truth or Fiction?→ Online Debate Stirs Fears of a ‘Star Wars’ Disinformation Campaign
A round of rumors and criticism surrounding the new Star Wars movie series has ignited debate in what has become an ongoing discussion about disinformation pushed in pop culture fandom — but experts are split whether that label applies to a Reddi
Lead Stories→ Fake News: "Iran Attack US Airbase in Iraq" Video Contains OLD Footage
Does a January 7, 2020, YouTube video titled "Iran Attack US Airbase in Iraq! #WorldWar3 #IranMissileStrikes" show actual footage of the Iranian missile strikes on that date? No, that's not entirely true: the clip is spliced together from diff
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Don’t Abbreviate 2020’ Warning
Beginning in early 2020, many people on social media have likely encountered a “legal warning” advising they not abbreviate the date in a month/day/year (or day/month/year) format in 2020, thanks to the purported ability of all and sundry
Lead Stories→ Fake News: A Huge Spaceship Not In Austin, Does NOT Send A Light Code
Does a video show a huge spaceship hovering over Austin, Texas, and sending a light code? No, that's not true: The video stole the introduction for a local Austin,Texas, news report from January 24, 2017, and added a digitally created sequence
Lead Stories→ Aftermath: TheBL.com’s ‘Fake’ Survivors Get New Faces, Duties As Foreign Net Tries To Rise From The Ashes Of Facebook Purge
Editor's Note by Lead Stories Editor-in-Chief Alan Duke: Three days after a virtual apocalypse wiped out hundreds of fake people used to run a foreign pro-Trump network on Facebook, we found signs of life among a few dozen surviving profiles.
Lead Stories→ TheBL Editor Reacts As Facebook Takes Down Foreign ‘Fake People’ Network, Admits ‘We Spent Lots Of Money On Trump’
Just days after Lead Stories revealed hundreds of "fake faces" used to mask a Vietnamese-based network of Facebook profiles and groups promoting political content on American timelines, those "people who do not exist" vanished from the social
Snopes→ Facebook Removes Deceptive BL Network Following Snopes’ Reporting
After three months of ignoring Snopes’ request for comment on the inauthentic behavior of the media outlet The BL, Facebook has removed The BL’s pages and groups from the platform.
Snopes→ Is Photo of Elvis and Lisa Marie Presley on Christmas Morning Real?
A truly magical father-and-daughter moment at Graceland, if authentic.
Truth or Fiction?→ NYT, 1932: ‘German Centrists’ Believe Nazis Allowed to Participate Will Become More Moderate?
In an ongoing online debate over whether centrists enable fascists, a December 16 2019 tweet purportedly showed an authentic New York Times article from 1932, which reported that “German centrists” believed that Nazis would become “
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Colorado Public School Does NOT Force Girls To Follow Islamic Dress Code On A School Field Trip To A Mosque
Did a Colorado public school force girls to follow an Islamic dress code on a school field trip to a mosque? No, that's not true: This claim dates back to January 2015 when female middle school students who signed up for a voluntary field trip
Snopes→ If Facebook Is Dealing with Deceptive ‘BL’ Network, It’s Not Working
Snopes’ reporting on the Epoch Times-linked media outlet The BL exposed widespread coordinated inauthentic behavior of foreign origin. Why does Facebook allow this abuse?
Lead Stories→ Fake Faces: People Who Do Not Exist Invade Facebook To Influence 2020 Elections (Part 1)
EDITORS NOTE: Meet Carolina Chaney. Take a good look at her Facebook profile photo. Maybe she looks like your kid's math teacher or your doctor. Privacy settings block us from seeing anything about her, but we do see she is one of 11 adminis
Snopes→ Does This Photo Show a Boy Forced to Sleep on the Floor of an English Hospital?
Two waves of social media posts cast doubt in the minds of some over the authenticity of a story that proved a major moment in the 2019 U.K. general election.
Truth or Fiction?→ Unsolicited Card Reader Warning
In October 2016, a Facebook user shared the following image of a purported “unsolicited card reader,” along with a nebulous warning to fellow users about the purported receipt of a an unexpected banking device in the mail: An image shows
Truth or Fiction?→ Andrew Yang ‘Pathway to Citizenship (Make Them Earn It)’ Policy Statement?
In December 2019, an image appeared that purportedly showed a policy page on Andrew Yang’s Yang2020.com website with the subheading “Make Them Earn It” under the title “Pathway to Citizenship”: The fuzzy image, which was
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Leaked Pentagon FunVax Video Does NOT Show Flu Vaccine Used To Modify Human Behavior
Does a leaked Pentagon video show that a flu vaccine was used to modify human behavior? No, that's not true: The video that was purportedly recorded in 2005 and "leaked" from the Defense Department was apparently produced in 2011 as a promotio
Truth or Fiction?→ Is This an Actually Photograph of an Albino Painted Wood Turtle?
A colorful photograph circulating online in November 2019 may be authentic, but experts we talked to suggested that readers should be wary of the source material. The striking photo was featured on Science and Space, a blog that has no bylines and no
Truth or Fiction?→ Allens Green Beans ‘My Wife Found This’ Facebook Post
On November 21 2019, a Facebook user shared the following post, claiming the images showed the contents of a can of Allens Green Beans, namely an unpalatable dead creature: Norwood said his wife purchased cans of Allens Cut Italian Green Be
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Now Listen You Rich People, Weep and Wail’ Tumblr Post or Bible Verse?
In November 2019, a Tumblr screenshot beginning “now listen you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you” was shared to the Facebook group “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Revolutionary Meme Stash̶
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Brian Stelter Did NOT Say Trump Is A Destructive Cult Leader
Did CNN host Brian Stelter say that President Donald Trump is a "destructive cult leader"? No, that's not true: A psychologist who studies cults made the comment while being interviewed by Stelter on CNN's "Reliable Sources" program. Stelter d
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Treason for the Season’
On November 19 2019, a purported Fox News “Treason for the Season” chyron was shared to two subreddits, r/CrappyDesign and r/theyknew: Treason for the season! from CrappyDesign Both posts were titled “Treason
Truth or Fiction?→ Greta Thunberg Time Traveller Picture
Around November 18 2019, several tweets compared photographs of Greta Thunberg side by side with a generations-old image of a girl with a strong resemblance to the young modern-day activist, suggesting that she is a “time traveler“: So
Truth or Fiction?→ UK’s Conservative Party’s Communications Team Briefly Rebrands to Mislead Public
As a December 12 2019 general election looms over the UK and the rhetoric around its third election since 2015 grows ever louder, distractions and political stunts have hit a fever pitch, injecting misinformation and outright disinformation into its p
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Your Page is at Risk of Being Unpublished’ Facebook Warning
On November 19 2019, a number of Facebook page administrators received messages from the social media platform bearing the warning: “Your page is at risk of being unpublished” for various actions. One poster on Reddit’s r/facebook on
Truth or Fiction?→ Facebook Claims We’re ‘Clickbait.’ And It Won’t Explain Why.
Even as Facebook hides behind “free speech” concerns to justify a lack of action against the spread of far-right content, it does reserve the right to determine what constitutes “clickbait” with no explanation as to how that de
Truth or Fiction?→ David Bowie Meeting an Child With Autism at ‘Labyrinth’ Premiere
On October 27 2019, Facebook user Micah Daigle shared what appeared on first glance to be a secondhand anecdote about a friend’s touching introduction to David Bowie at a premiere of the film Labyrinth in 1986. A photograph of David Bowie holdi
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Ivanka Trump Quote Thomas Jefferson’s Denial of ‘Something He Did, in Fact, Do’?
In early November 2019, a tweet by Ivanka Trump quoting Thomas Jefferson in defense of her father, United States President Donald Trump alongside a response in screenshot form on Facebook: On October 31 2019, Ivanka Trump tweeted a partial quote:
Truth or Fiction?→ Does McKamey Manor Award $20,000 to Successful ‘Extreme Haunted/Horror House’ Attendees?
In late October 2019, a number of news organizations ran stories essentially advertising an “extreme haunted house” known as McKamey Manor, widely reporting that anyone who successfully endured the attraction would be awarded $20,000 by it
Truth or Fiction?→ Hospital’s ‘$39.95 Fee to Hold a Baby’ Controversy
On October 19 2019, a Facebook page shared the following screenshot of a tweet, including what looked to be a hospital bill with a $39.95 charge for “skin to skin contact” after a mother’s cesarean section: In the original tweet w
Truth or Fiction?→ Conservative Versus Liberal, ‘Taken at a California Public High School This Year’ Meme
In October 2018, Facebook user Matt Gaelitz shared a slide titled “Conservative vs. Liberal” along with a status update: Taken at a California public high school this year. This is what indoctrination is all about. On June 4 2018, the same
Snopes→ Did Trump Send Letter to Turkish Prez Erdogan Saying ‘Don’t Be a Fool’?
Some questioned whether the unconventional letter was authentic.
Truth or Fiction?→ Was a Toddler Subjected to Months of Abuse Because of a ‘Cookie’ Analogy?
In September 2019, a Facebook user shared an image and a harrowing story about the purported sexual abuse of a toddler that went unreported for months because the young girl supposedly was not taught anatomically correct words: Alongside a photograph
Truth or Fiction?→ The Constitution, Impeachment, a Paper Shredder, and Hillary Clinton’s Twitter
On October 7 2019, the following image appeared in a Facebook group. It purportedly showed an undated Fox News coverage still, further displaying what appeared to be a tweet from Hillary Clinton three days before: In the original post, a group
Truth or Fiction?→ Does a Video Show ‘Antifa Protesters’ Screaming at an Elderly Woman Crossing the Street?
In late September 2019, a video clip of masked people shouting at and blocking an elderly woman while she was using a walker to cross a street began to circulate on Twitter: Antifa protesters scream at & block elderly couple outside an event fea
Truth or Fiction?→ Elizabeth Warren Accused of Claiming to be Cherokee and Plagiarizing Recipes in ‘Pow Wow Chow’
On September 26 2019, a social media user tweeted out screenshots and text accusing Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) of claiming Cherokee heritage and plagiarizing recipes from the New York Times: Elizabeth Warren not only claimed to be &qu
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Inside the Gills of a Whale Shark’
On September 25 2019, a Reddit user shared the following post (“Inside the gills of a whale shark”) to Reddit’s r/woahdude, and the post with an identical title was subsequently shared to Imgur: Inside the Gills of a whale
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Greenland’ Boat in Arctic Ice Picture
On September 25 2019, a Reddit user shared a dramatic image to r/pics, titled simply “Greenland”: Greenland from pics Six days earlier, a different user shared the image to r/MostBeautiful, earning a fraction of th
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Shotgun-Armed 11-Year-Old Did NOT Shoot Illegal Alien Home Invaders
Did an 11-year-old Montana girl armed with a shotgun defend her home from two illegal alien invaders by shooting them? No, that's not true: It is a completely made-up story that first appeared online on a now-defunct website in 2006, but copie