Quick Take Social media posts make a broad and misleading claim that “Democrats stood with” the leaders of Venezuela, China and Iran rather than supporting oppressed people in those countries. The facts don’t support that generalizati
Search Results (1234) for: crisis
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Democrats Did Indeed Vote Out Pledge And Refused To Stand For Flag After Rejecting Calls To Add Pledge To Meeting Agenda
Did Democrats vote out adding the Pledge of Allegiance at an elections board meeting and refuse to stand for the flag? Yes, the claim is accurate, and here is some context: The Pledge of Allegiance was not on the original agenda at a local Nor
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Pope Did NOT Bow Down To The Order Of The Illuminati, Kiss Feet And Hands
Did Pope Francis bow down to the "Order of the Illuminati" and kiss their hands and feet? No, that's not true: The Pope kissed the feet of once-warring Sudanese leaders in the hopes of urging them not to return to a civil war. The video being
FactCheck.org→ Setting the Record Straight on Climate Change and Arson in Australia’s Bushfires
Quick Take Various claims online suggest that climate change hasn’t contributed to the bushfires ravaging the East Coast of Australia, pinning the blame instead on arson. Those claims distort the facts. Full Story Several recent reports have fou
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Barack Obama Did NOT Announce Intention To Run For President Of Kenya In 2021
Did former U.S. President Barack Obama announce that he will enter the race to become Kenya's new president in 2021? No, that's not true: This is a work of satire, everything is made up, and Obama is currently working to lift the Democratic pa
Lead Stories→ Fake News: LA Times Did NOT Report that Iran, China And Russia Declared War On The United States
Did the Los Angeles Times report that Iran, China and Russia just declared war on the United States? No, that's not true: a prank website with a domain name nearly identical to the real LA Times site published a post that looked simliar to an
Truth or Fiction?→ Australian Prime Minister’s Bushfire Aid Ad Criticized Amid Flood of Disinformation
Amid the devastation suffered in Australia as a result of rampant bushfires and right-wing disinformation efforts, Prime Minister Scott Morrison faced a wave of criticism for an advertisement that both elided government regulations and circumvented ac
Truth or Fiction?→ Best Buy ‘Y2K’ Sticker
If you were using social media on December 31 2019, chances are a Best Buy “Y2K warning” sticker crossed one of your feeds — it looked something like this: Although some versions were digital renderings, others like the one above showed
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘I Did Not Take This Photo and I Don’t Know Who Did’ Australian Community Firefighters Image
In the midst of late December 2019 and early January 2020 fires raging across the Australian continent, the following screenshot showing exhausted, soot-blackened firefighters circulated on Facebook: The photograph, which was apparently captured fr
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Blue Eyes Are Haram’ Disinformation
On January 1 2020, disinformation purveyors all across the internet suddenly pivoted in unison to pushing the same disinformation that has muddied English-speaking social media since at least 2015, down to the same claims, the same recycled stories, a
Truth or Fiction?→ Detainee Trying to Feed Her Baby or ‘The Nativity 2019’?
On December 24 2019, a photograph shared to Twitter circulated with the claim that it showed “a detainee trying to feed her baby,” heavily implying that the image showed victims of the Trump administration’s family separation policy
Snopes→ After Deadly Crashes of Marquee Aircraft, Boeing CEO Is Out
Boeing's CEO is stepping down with no end in sight for a crisis that has enveloped the manufacturer and its marquee aircraft, the Max 737.
Truth or Fiction?→ Aldi ‘Free Food on Christmas Eve’ Facebook Post
A December 12 2019 MSN.com post with the headline “Aldi issues plea for vulnerable people to come and collect free food on Christmas Eve” was making the Facebook rounds as Christmas Eve 2019 approached, with innumerable shares appearing in
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Supreme Court Can Extend Trump’s Term By Up To 3 Years If He’s Acquitted In The Senate’ Facebook Share
A December 12 2019 article with the headline, “Supreme Court Can Extend Trump’s Term By Up To 3 Years If He’s Acquitted In The Senate” spread widely on social media — particularly Facebook — in the days after it appeared. It cla
PolitiFact→ A look back at Lie of the Year, 2009 to 2018
PolitiFact awards the Lie of the Year to the most significant falsehood or exaggeration of the past 12 months. Here’s a look back at the past 10 years of "winners." 2018: Online smear machine tries to take down Parkland students Af
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Velocity of Money’ Tumblr Post
On December 10 2019, the Facebook page “The Other 98%” shared a Tumblr screenshot of a discussion of a concept described as the “velocity of money”: In it, the first of two comments claimed that a unit of $10 as handled by
FactCheck.org→ A Misleading Take on Immigrant, Veterans Health Care
Quick Take A long-circulating headline on social media misleadingly tells users that Democrats chose to “vote down” a health records system for veterans while approving the same for immigrants who cross the border illegally. The bill in que
FactCheck.org→ Unpacking Sanders’ ‘Climate Refugee’ Statistic
In the last Democratic debate, Sen. Bernie Sanders said that the United Nations is projecting “hundreds of millions of climate refugees” in the “years to come” as a result of climate change. The U.N., however, doesn’t currently endorse a part
Truth or Fiction?→ Are Koalas ‘Functionally Extinct’ as of November 2019?
In November 2019, Facebook page “The Other 98%” was among others on social media sharing the news that koalas had become “functionally extinct” after bushfires in Australia: Under a photograph of a koala that appeared to
Truth or Fiction?→ South Dakota’s $449,000 Anti-Meth Initiative Goes Viral — for the Wrong Reasons
South Dakota’s push to fight methamphetamine addiction won instant attention when it launched on November 18 2019 — but perhaps not for the reason Gov. Kristi Noem and state officials intended. According to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader newspap
Climate Feedback→ New York Times op-ed claiming scientists underestimated climate change lacks supporting evidence
SCIENTISTS’ FEEDBACK SUMMARY This op-ed by author Eugene Linden, published under the headline “How Scientists Got Climate Change So Wrong”, argues that climate scientists have long underestimated climate change. The article discuss
Lead Stories→ Fake News: AOC Did NOT Push For Killing More People to Save the Planet
Did Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez push for killing more people to save the planet? No, that's not true: an article about AOC backing a report that calls for various measures to tackle climate change misrepresented the "population control measures"
FactCheck.org→ What Does Science Say About the Need for Nuclear?
While Sen. Bernie Sanders has said “scientists tell us” that it’s possible to go carbon neutral without relying on nuclear power, fellow Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker, who backs the use of some nuclear energy, has said the da
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Donald Trump Was NOT Golfing During Al-Baghdadi Raid And There’s No Evidence Situation Room Photo Was Staged
Was President Donald Trump playing on one of his golf courses while U.S. soldiers were carrying out the raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi? No, that's not true: The claim that the raid happened at 3:30 pm EST on October 26, 2019
FactCheck.org→ Video: FactChecking Trump’s 9/11 and Iraq Claims
This week, CNN’s Jake Tapper looks at claims President Donald Trump made about Osama bin Laden and the Iraq war during his Oct. 27 press conference announcing the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Trump repeated his false claim
FactCheck.org→ Headlines Spin Ukrainian Donations to Clinton Charity
Quick Take Viral headlines wrongly suggest that the Ukrainian government gave more money than any other country to the Clinton Foundation. But the 2015 news report cited does not support that. Full Story Misleading headlines spread across social me
FactCheck.org→ Flurry of Trump Falsehoods
Summary In two press appearances in the same day, President Donald Trump made several false claims and distorted the facts on issues ranging from Syria to trade: Trump claimed that former GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan “would never issue a subpoena
FactCheck.org→ FactChecking the October Democratic Debate
Summary We found several false and misleading claims in the October Democratic presidential debate: Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro claimed that the most recent jobs data show that “Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania &
FactCheck.org→ Misleading Narrative About a Supposed ‘Ukrainian Arms Dealer’
Quick Take An online story says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff “are both connected to a Ukrainian arms dealer” through a 2013 fundraiser. But the supposed “Ukrainian arms dealer” owns a California company tha
FactCheck.org→ Fact: Trump TV Ad Misleads on Biden and Ukraine
With its candidate the subject of an impeachment inquiry, President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has gone on the offensive with a TV ad that claims to present the “facts” about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and Ukr
FactCheck.org→ Outburst at AOC Town Hall Was Staged
Quick Take A political group took credit for planting a woman who espoused “eating babies” to address climate change at a recent town hall event hosted by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But some have still misrepresented the woman as “
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Joe Biden Does NOT Confess to Bribery
Did Joe Biden confess to bribery when he told how he warned Ukraine's leader the United States would withhold a $1 billion loan unless a prosecutor was replaced? No, that's not true: A video posted with the "bribery" claim is from the former v
Truth or Fiction?→ Lyndon LaRouche: An Explainer
An attempt to troll U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) in early October 2019 led to newfound attention for the devotees of failed political candidate, convicted felon, and one-time Marxist-turned-Democratic-presidential-candidate-turned-f
FactCheck.org→ Doctored Photo Places Thunberg, Soros Together
Quick Take A photo was manipulated to show young climate activist Greta Thunberg with philanthropist George Soros, who is known for funding progressive causes. The original image was of Thunberg and former vice president Al Gore. Full Story Young c
FactCheck.org→ Trump Wrong on European Aid to Ukraine
President Donald Trump wrongly said that “Europe and other nations” were “not” contributing to Ukraine, specifically calling for Germany and France to “put up money.” In fact, the European Union and European financia
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘The Simpsons Predicted Greta Thunberg’ Meme
There is a common, cyclical rumor that animated comedy series The Simpsons — which began its run in 1989 — has predicted numerous events to come. In September 2019, one such iteration claimed that climate crisis activist Greta Thunberg was amon
Truth or Fiction?→ Are Stella Brazier or Greta Thunberg Actually ‘Child Actresses’?
As part of their push to demonize young protesters demanding that their leaders recognize global warming, some far-right and climate change denier blogs have published the unsubstantiated claim that one Australian protester was actually performing, re
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Estella Brasier (aka Estella Renee) Is NOT A Child Actress Paid For Climate Protest
Is Estella Brasier, a girl who can be seen crying during an interview at a climate protest in Australia really a child actress who is being paid to protest? Or is she not really an activist but is she just acting? No, that's not true: Lead Sto
Snopes→ Is Greta Thunberg Really an Actress Named Estella Renee?
The "crisis actor" conspiracy theory reared its ugly head again in September 2019 regarding a teen activist.
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Alaska’s Sea Ice Completely Melted, But NOT For First Time In Recorded History
Did Alaska's sea ice completely melt in the summer of 2019 for the first time in recorded history? No, that's not true: Alaska's sea ice completely melted previously in the summer of 2017, although the 2019 melting was completed at an earlier