Prior to the violence that disrupted Congress’ counting of the electoral votes, President Donald Trump gave an indignant speech filled with falsehoods about the presidential election he lost two months ago to Democrat Joe Biden. “Now it is
Search Results (2180) for: supposed
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: There Were NOT Fewer Deaths In 2020 With COVID-19 Versus 2019 Without The Virus
Were there fewer deaths in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic raging, versus 2019 when there wasn't the virus? No, that's not true: A meme went viral with the false claim that the number of deaths in the United States in 2020 was approxi
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Eight Years Were NOT Lost When the Gregorian Calendar Was Unveiled in the 1500s, Mayan Calendar Apocalypse NOT Foretold
Were eight years lost when the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582, meaning that the global apocalypse supposedly foretold in the Mayan calendar for 2012 actually was supposed to happen in 2020? No, that's not true: Only 10 days wer
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Eight Years Were NOT Lost When the Gregorian Calendar Was Unveiled in the 1500s, Mayan Calendar Apocalypse NOT Foretold
Were eight years lost when the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582, meaning that the global apocalypse supposedly foretold in the Mayan calendar for 2012 actually was supposed to happen in 2020? No, that's not true: Only 10 days wer
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Despite Claims In Georgia Senate Hearing, Dominion Voting Machines Were NOT Hacked Because They Don’t Have Modems
Did someone hack into the electronic voting system being used in Georgia for the January 5, 2020, U.S. Senate runoff races? No, Georgia election officials say that's not true: The digital poll book was not even in use on December 30, 2020
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Despite Claims In Georgia Senate Hearing, Dominion Voting Machines Were NOT Hacked Because They Don’t Have Modems
Did someone hack into the electronic voting system being used in Georgia for the January 5, 2020, U.S. Senate runoff races? No, Georgia election officials say that's not true: The digital poll book was not even in use on December 30, 2020
The Dispatch→ Fact Checking Trump’s Claims From His Call With Brad Raffensperger
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Snopes→ Did Doctors Recommend Genital COVID-19 Vaccination Injections for Men?
Social media users shared a pair of bizarre claims about the supposedly unique effects of COVID-19 vaccines on men.
Health Feedback→ Asymptomatic and presymptomatic people can spread COVID-19
REVIEW The respiratory disease COVID-19, which is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, spread around the world in 2020. COVID-19 has caused more than 85 million confirmed cases and more than 1.8 million confirmed deaths globally as of 4 January 2020. In
Snopes→ Did Scientists Find Evidence to Explain the Bermuda Triangle?
The region is a notorious part of the world where scores of ships and planes have supposedly vanished without a trace in mysterious circumstances.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Cornell Professor Did NOT Say ‘COVID-19 Does Not Exist And Is Fictitious’
Did a Cornell professor say "COVID-19 does not exist and is fictitious?" No, that's not true: A diatribe has gone viral that credits Robert Oswald, a real person and a Cornell professor, as claiming coronavirus is "just another flu strain
Lead Stories→ Merry Christmas From Lead Stories Despite Erroneous Automated Facebook Flags
Several people reported to us that Facebook erroneously added a "Missing Context" warning notice to posts wishing people a "Merry Christmas". The notice included a link to our fact check about certain items that were supposedly in the "St
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: 14 Generals Did NOT Say They Will Never Take Orders From Joe Biden
Did 14 U.S. military generals say they would never take orders for President Joe Biden? No, that's not true: The claim was made in a satirical article published by the ALLOD network of websites that troll conservatives, hoping to trick th
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Purported Evidence in ‘The Plot To Steal America’ Video Does NOT Support Election Fraud Claims — Mostly Consists of Rehashed Hoaxes
Does an advertising video titled "The Plot To Steal America" contain hard evidence of election fraud? No, that's not true: the 18-minute pitch contains allegations based on video clips purporting to show "evidence" but several of these cl
FactCheck.org→ Perdue’s Shaky Claim of a Nonexistent ‘Investigation’
A TV ad from Republican Sen. David Perdue’s campaign claims a supposed “China scandal” involving his challenger, Democrat Jon Ossoff, “keeps getting worse.” But it’s the distortions of the facts that are getting wors
FactCheck.org→ Trump’s Border Wall: Where Does It Stand?
In the final weeks of his presidency, President Donald Trump has returned to the signature issue that brought him to the White House — his pledge to build “a beautiful, gorgeous, big wall” on the southern border. On two separate occas
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Giulia Tofana Was an Italian Professional Poisoner … Famous for Selling Poison to Women Who Wanted to Murder Their Abusive Husbands’
A popular December 16 2020 post by the Facebook page “Beauty is Inside” discussed Giulia Tofana, a purported “Italian professional poisoner,” who became historically significant for selling a poison called “Aqua Tofana
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Fact-Checking on Facebook Is NOT Done by Appen. How Fact-Checking Actually Works Is NOT How ‘Whistleblower’ Describes It
Is fact-checking on Facebook done by the Australian data company Appen? No, that's not true: Fact-checking on Facebook is done in the U.S. by 10 members of the independent International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), a worldwide forum who
Truth or Fiction?→ Biden ‘Stepped Up Basis’ Facebook Post
In December 2020, a number of Facebook users shared a post about U.S. President-Elect Joe Biden and “stepped up basis,” a very vague term with which few users were likely to already be familiar. The same text was circulating as early as O
Snopes→ Is Trump Planning an Alternate Inauguration Ceremony in Florida?
Trump was supposedly preparing to celebrate his "second term" at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Inauguration Day, per a viral message.
Snopes→ Does Joe Biden Have a Body Double?
The answer is supposedly in the earlobes.
The Dispatch→ Is a Trump Critic ‘In Charge of Who Can Become a Facebook Fact-Checker’?
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Snopes→ Was Boy Who Went Missing 40 Years Ago Reunited With Mom?
The 4-year-old supposedly disappeared one day while his mom was at work.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Photo Does NOT Show Chief Justice John Roberts On Jeffrey Epstein’s Island
Does a photo show Chief Justice John Roberts swimming with Bill Clinton on Jeffrey Epstein's private island? No, that's not true: The image used to support the claim that Roberts visited Epstein's private island was taken at a resort in t
FactCheck.org→ Nine Election Fraud Claims, None Credible
A list of bogus election fraud claims, cobbled together from dubious websites and failed lawsuits aimed at overturning President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, has spread widely online. It appeared in a recent story posted in a p
The Dispatch→ Did Detroit Poll Workers Scan the Same Ballots Over and Over?
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FactCheck.org→ Vaccine Recipient Targeted With Baseless ‘Crisis Actor’ Claim
Quick Take Social media posts are peddling the baseless claim that the first recipient of a COVID-19 vaccine in the United Kingdom was actually a “crisis actor.” There is no evidence for that conspiracy theory. Full Story On Dec. 8, a 90-y
Truth or Fiction?→ Was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Named Goya’s ‘Employee of the Month’?
On December 7 2020, right-wing “personality” Candace Owens (among others) asserted that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) was selected as “employee of the month” at Goya because her calls to boycott the brand purport
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘RubyFreeman_Georgia’ Instagram Post
On December 5 2020, a screenshot of an Instagram post began circulating around the usual far-right fringe forums, attributed to a woman named Ruby Freeman (@rubyfreeman_georgia): An admission of election fraud by Ruby Freeman, DemocRAT vote counter
FactCheck.org→ Video Doesn’t Show ‘Suitcases’ of Illegal Ballots in Georgia
The Trump campaign is falsely claiming that surveillance camera footage captured election workers in Georgia adding thousands of illegal ballots that were brought into an Atlanta facility in suspicious “suitcases” on election night. The campaign p
Full Fact→ Vaccine approval isn’t quicker because of Brexit
“Because of Brexit we’ve been able to make a decision [to approve the Pfizer vaccine] based on the UK regulator, a world class regulator, and not go at the pace of the Europeans who are moving a little bit more slowly. We do all the same s
The Dispatch→ Did a Dominion Technician Manipulate Voting Data in Gwinnett County?
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FactCheck.org→ Flawed Analysis Leads to False Claim of ‘No Excess Deaths’ in 2020
Quick Take An economics professor’s flawed interpretation of U.S. mortality data has prompted a viral, false claim that COVID-19 hasn’t led to more deaths than normal this year. In fact, multiple analyses have found there to be a higher-tha
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘My Wife Has Cancer’ Reddit Comment Spreads Virally, Prompts Discussion of American Healthcare System
A November 30 2020 post to Reddit’s r/awfuleverything spread virally across platforms, prompting discussions all over social media about u/binkybrain’s original comment and the cost of cancer care in the United States: Poor guy
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Former President Barack Obama Was NOT Arrested For Espionage — It’s A Made-Up Story
Was former President Barack Obama arrested for espionage? No, that's not true: A website completely made up the claim that Obama, the 44th president of the United States, was arrested on November 28, 2020. The article used direct quotes f
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: U.S. Army’s Special Forces Did NOT Seize A CIA Server Farm In Frankfurt, Germany, Resulting In Deaths Of U.S. Soldiers
Did the U.S. Army's Special Forces seize a CIA server farm in Frankfurt, Germany, resulting in deaths of U.S. soldiers? No, that's not true: A U.S. Army spokesperson told Lead Stories the claim is false. Lead Stories has previously debunk
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Pennsylvania Did Not Tally More Mail-in Votes In The Presidential Election Than Actual Ballots Received
Did the mail-in vote count (2,589,242) in the presidential election in Pennsylvania exceed the actual number of ballots sent to voters (supposedly 1,823,148) and were 1,126,940 votes "created out of thin air"? No, that's not true: The Pen
The Dispatch→ Did Joe Biden’s Thanksgiving Address Receive Only 1,000 Views?
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Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Dominion Executive Eric Coomer Is NOT Missing And The Company Has Not Closed Its Headquarters
Is Dominion Voting Systems vice president Eric Coomer missing and has the company closed its headquarters? No, that's not true: A video repeats unfounded claims Lead Stories has previously debunked: that Dominion Voting Systems has shutte
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: President Trump Did NOT Confuse Maradona With Madonna In Tweet
Did President Trump seemingly confuse recently deceased soccer superstar Diego Maradona with singer Madonna? No, that's not true: the tweet in which the President seemingly made comments praising Maradona's music from the 1980's was a cru