Are cases of coronavirus in the United States linked to the rollout of 5G, the fifth-generation wireless technology? No, that's not true: A Facebook user has attempted to demonstrate a connection between one cellular provider's 5G network and
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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: U.S. Government Is NOT Using Participation In Census To Determine Recipients Of Potential Stimulus Checks
Is the U.S. government using the 2020 Census to determine who will receive a possible stimulus check? No, that's not true: The U.S. Census Bureau Trust & Safety team is spreading the word that social media posts sharing this claim are enti
Truth or Fiction?→ Did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Have ‘Advance Knowledge’ of COVID-19?
In mid-March 2020, as the United States continued to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, the anti-science blog Natural News posted a “story” pushing the claim that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the CDC, “appears
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→ Contrary to Trump’s Claim, A Pandemic Was Widely Expected at Some Point
At a White House briefing March 19, President Donald Trump said, “Nobody knew there’d be a pandemic or an epidemic of this proportion.” But that’s simply not the case. Among others, the U.S. intelligence community warned in its ann
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘100 Million Masks’ — Are Homemade Masks Sufficient for COVID-19 First Responders?
On March 20 2020, KOMO anchor Mary Nam shared a photograph of a person wearing a surgical mask (a form of personal protective equipment, or PPE, known to be in short supply due the coronavirus pandemic), and put out a call for anyone who knows how to
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→ Dems Misconstrue Trump Budget Remarks
After President Donald Trump said, “I don’t know anything about” the disbanding of a White House pandemic response office, the Democrats claimed that he “lied” and pointed to Trump’s earlier remarks about “some of the
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
Snopes→ Most Renters Will Not Receive Protections Under White House Proposal
Roughly 43 million households rented their homes in 2019, according to the U.S. Census, and they tend to be more economically vulnerable than their homeowner counterparts.
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 “
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Obama Family NOT Flown to Private ‘Safe Island’
Did the Obama family fly to a private island to escape the coronavirus pandemic. No, that's not true: This is work of fiction published by a well-known satire network. If you see it without the satire labeling, then it was stolen by a publishe
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→ Trump Didn’t Tweet Threat to Withhold Relief from Critics
Quick Take Facebook and Instagram users are sharing a fake tweet attributed to President Donald Trump that suggests the president’s critics won’t get direct government payments to ease the financial burden of the coronavirus pandemic. Full Story
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘This is What Happens When You Tell Workers to Self Isolate but Don’t Protect Their Incomes’
On March 18 2020, the top post on Reddit’s r/all (from r/pics) was titled, “This is what happens when you tell workers to self isolate but don’t protect their incomes,” and it showed crowds of people standing close to one another
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Trump Did NOT Say ‘People Are Dying Who Have Never Died Before’
Did President Trump make the nonsensical statement, "People are dying who have never died before," during a White House briefing updating the country on the state of his administration's response to the coronavirus? No, that's not true: A sear
Truth or Fiction?→ Trump Crosses out ‘Corona’ on Virus Prepared Remarks, Writes ‘Chinese’
On March 19 2020, a number of tweets purportedly showed a close-up of United States President Donald Trump’s prepared remarks on the progress of a coronavirus pandemic, where he apparently used a marker to cross out the “corona” of &
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
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Cristiano Ronaldo Did NOT Buy Private Island To Escape Coronavirus Crisis
Did Cristiano Ronaldo buy a private island to escape the coronavirus crisis? No, that's not true: The legendary Portuguese soccer star has been hit with another fake story as the coronavirus threatens people around the globe. Social media post
Snopes→ Italian Death Toll Overtakes China’s as Virus Spreads
Italy, with a population of 60 million, has recorded at least 3,405 deaths, or roughly 150 more than in China — a country with a population over 20 times larger.
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
Snopes→ Does the Movie ‘Cats’ Have a ‘Butthole Cut’?
Don't hold your breath for this rumored movie version.
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
Snopes→ ‘Quarantine Shaming’: US Navigates Radical New Social Norms
As schools close and shelter-in-place orders sweep across the U.S., the divide between those who are stringently practicing self-isolation and those who are still trying to go about some semblance of a normal life has never been more clear.
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
Snopes→ Coronavirus Layoffs Spark Surge in State Jobless Claims
In Ohio, more than 48,000 people applied for jobless benefits in two days. The tally during the same period the prior week: just 1,825.
Snopes→ Stocks Tumble, Investors Dash for Cash amid Recession Fears
Stocks tumbled more than 5% on Wall Street.
Truth or Fiction?→ Imperial College London’s COVID-19 Report, Explained
On March 17 2020, an Imperial College London paper about coronavirus and COVID-19 trajectory models was referenced widely in the news and on social media, causing a considerable amount of concern and drawing global attention. Discourse about the Imper
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
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Tom Hanks, Others NOT Arrested For Pedophilia Or Other Crimes in QAnon Conspiracy
Was Tom Hanks arrested for pedophilia? No, this is not true: Hanks, who was being treated after contracting the novel coronavirus, was not arrested for pedophilia and being held in a hotel room in Australia as claimed as part of the QAnon cons