On December 10 2020, the Facebook page “Wholesome Meets The Internet” shared an undated Twitter screenshot with information about a London Christmas tree rental company, and its purportedly sustainable model of lending out live Christmas
Search Results (2465) for: california
Health Feedback→ Study on vaccinated and unvaccinated children used a dubious metric for comparing disease incidence in both groups
REVIEW The claim that unvaccinated children are healthier than vaccinated children is common in vaccine-skeptic and anti-vaccine circles. The claim was recently revived on Facebook after a study was published on 22 November 2020 in the International
FactCheck.org→ Trump’s Bogus Swing State Claim
At a rally in Georgia, President Donald Trump continued to make baseless claims about the 2020 election being “rigged,” drawing false comparisons at one point between President-elect Joe Biden’s performance in swing states and that of
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
Health Feedback→ Polio vaccine plays a critical role in eradicating polio; polio is caused by a virus, not by DDT
REVIEW An Instagram post containing a video, published on 2 December 2020, received more than 35,000 views. The post claims that vaccines did not get rid of polio and, “between 1955–1963 [the] CDC admits 98 million Americans received the polio v
Snopes→ Biden Officially Secures Enough Electors to Become President
California certified its presidential election and appointed 55 electors pledged to vote for Democrat Joe Biden, officially handing him the Electoral College majority needed to win the White House.
Truth or Fiction?→ Do Squirrels Land Like Superheroes When They Jump?
The “science of cute” collided with animal behavioral science on social media in a major way after a post about squirrels went viral. “The best thing I’ve learned this week is that when squirrels fall/jump — they land like su
Snopes→ Politicians Eat Own Words After Dining Out, Taking Trips
Politicians' actions aren’t living up to the rhetoric, creating a real political problem for some of the most vocal leaders in California’s fight to contain the coronavirus.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Meme With ‘Pop’ and ‘Votes’ For Milwaukee, Detroit, Pittsburg and Lansing Has FALSE Numbers
Does a meme purporting to show the population and number of votes cast in Milwaukee, Detroit, Pittsburg and Lansing show the correct numbers for the 2020 election? No, that's not true: the numbers showing higher vote counts than populatio
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Does NOT Contain Nanoparticles Never Used Before In Vaccines; Ingredients Are NOT Lethal
Is it true that Pfizer's vaccine candidate to battle COVID-19 is made and stored in such a way that scores of people could be severely sickened or even killed by its use? No, that is a conspiracy theory not supported by scientific studies
FactCheck.org→ Baseless Conspiracy Theory Targets Another Election Technology Company
Quick Take An unfounded conspiracy theory of widespread election fraud claims that an election technology company called Smartmatic switched votes in the 2020 election. But Smartmatic provided ballot-marking machines to only one U.S. county in the elec
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf Did NOT Issue This Document of Thanksgiving Rules
Did Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf finalize and issue on October 27, 2020, a list of 13 rules for Thanksgiving household visits? No, that's not true: The document offered in support of the claim is not an official state document. It is design
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Husband Does NOT Own A Stake In Dominion Voting Systems, Nor Is Any Dominion Stake Prompting Her To Leave Judiciary Committee Post
Does California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum, own a stake in Dominion Voting Systems, and is that part of the reason she is relinquishing the top Democrat spot on the Senate Judiciary Committee? No, that's not true: A Dom
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: George Soros NOT Arrested For Election Interference, NOT In Federal Custody
Was George Soros arrested by the FBI and is he currently in federal custody in Philadelphia under accusation of election interference? No, that's not true: the Canadian website that ran the story has a track record of publishing hoaxes an
Snopes→ Daily COVID-19 Deaths in US Reach Highest Level Since May
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced a statewide curfew, just as a curfew covering 41 counties was also announced by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Health Feedback→ Danish face mask study did not show that masks were ineffective at reducing spread of COVID-19; study was underpowered and results were inconclusive
REVIEW Several reports on the findings of a face mask study conducted in Denmark[1], which was published in the scientific journal Annals of Internal Medicine, went viral on Facebook within a day of publication, receiving a total of more than 18,000
The Dispatch→ Fact Check: A Close Look at Team Trump’s Dominion Conspiracies
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Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Votes Are Recorded And Stored Locally In The US: They Are NOT Controlled By Scytl and Dominion Voting Systems
Does a company named Scytl control votes cast in United States elections because Dominion Voting Systems and other election technology companies upload election results to Scytl databases? No, that's not true: The OSET (Open Source Elect
FactCheck.org→ U.S. Army Didn’t Seize Election Servers in Germany
Quick Take A congressman and conservative news outlets are spreading the baseless claim that the U.S. Army seized an election software company’s server in Frankfurt, Germany, that could supposedly prove there was fraud in the 2020 election. There
FactCheck.org→ Loeffler-Warnock Runoff Starts with Attack Ads
About a week after Georgia’s special election headed to a runoff, Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a Republican, and Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, both launched questionable attacks that the other candidate has disputed: An ad from Loeffler claimed that
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Dominion Voting Systems CANNOT Change Votes In Real Time
Can Dominion Voting Systems change votes in real time? No, that's not true. A report on One America News questioned whether the company was "manipulating the outcome of the 2020 election." The segment noted Trump attorney Sidney Powell sa
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Dominion Voting Machines Do NOT Use Smartmatic Software — There Is No Connection Between The Two Companies
Do Dominion voting machines use Smartmatic vote counting software? No, that's not true. There is no connection between Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic. The companies are rivals and have been involved in legal battles against each o
Health Feedback→ Article claiming that “masks don’t work” misleads readers by inaccurately interpreting a withdrawn study and a published study conducted on U.S. Marine Corps recruits
REVIEW This article, written by Daniel Horowitz and published by The Blaze on 16 November 2020, claims that “masks don’t work.” To support its claim, it cites the withdrawal of a preprint (a study that has not yet been peer-reviewed or publish
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Dominion Voting Systems Subsidiary Board Chairman Is NOT On Joe Biden’s Transition Team
Is the chairman of a Dominion Voting Systems subsidiary on Joe's Biden's transition team? No, that's not true: Retired U.S. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Peter Neffenger is the chairman of Smartmatic and a volunteer on Joe's Biden's presidential
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Dominion Software Is NOT Developed by Engineers from Venezuela And Votes Are NOT Sent to Servers in Spain
Is Dominion Voting Systems software developed by engineers from Venezuela and were votes sent to servers in Spain? No, that's not true. Government and independent election technology experts confirm what Dominion's spokesperson says: Domi
Health Feedback→ Pfizer is part of Operation Warp Speed, a partnership to produce and distribute a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, but it developed a vaccine without direct Warp funding
REVIEW In early November 2020, the U.S. company Pfizer and the German company BioNTech announced that their vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2 showed an efficacy rate of 90% during clinical trials. Considering that COVID-19, the disease caused by
Truth or Fiction?→ Joe Biden ‘Letter to Staff’ on Family Obligations
On November 7 2020, former Vice President Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election; and on that day, Twitter user Dan Barker (@danbarker) shared a purported memo to Biden’s staff from 2014 concerning their “famil
Snopes→ Texas Tops 1 Million Cases As COVID-19 Surge Engulfs the US
Texas became the first state with more than 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, and California closed in on that mark as a surge of coronavirus infections engulfs the country from coast to coast.
FactCheck.org→ How the Supreme Court Could Rule on ACA Case
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the latest legal challenge to the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act today. There are a range of possible outcomes in the case, from the court not ruling on the merits to the court nullifying the enti
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Social Media Site Parler Has NOT Been Sold, Two Co-owners Say
Has social media site Parler been sold? No, that's not true: Co-owner Dan Bongino said on his verified Twitter account that rumors of the sale are false, and another co-owner is reported to have said the same in a Parler post. The claim a
FactCheck.org→ Thin Allegations of ‘Dead People’ Voting
Several of President Donald Trump’s supporters have claimed or suggested — without providing evidence — that a substantial number of votes were fraudulently cast by “dead people” in Pennsylvania. Election experts say that
Truth or Fiction?→ Are Brazilian Troops Considering ‘Military Intervention’ on Trump’s Behalf?
A right-wing group based out of San Diego State University in California stoked more conspiracy theories around the 2020 U.S. presidential elections on Twitter, claiming that troops and operatives from other governments may get involved on behalf of i
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Hunter Biden Was NOT arrested for possession of Child Porn
Was Hunter Biden arrested for possession of child porn? No, that's not true: The claim provides none of the public documents that accompany an arrest and was made in a story from a fake news website published in Canada. The story originat
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Department Of Homeland Security Did NOT Craft An Election Fraud Sting With Watermarked Ballots — This Is A Hoax
Did The Department Of Homeland Security craft an election fraud sting by printing watermarked ballots? No, that's not true: The design, printing and auditing of ballots are processes managed by state and local election officials. One of m
FactCheck.org→ Trump Tweets Flagged by Twitter for Misinformation
In the two days after Election Day, Twitter has added warning labels to nine of President Donald Trump’s election-related tweets, cautioning the messages “might be misleading.” They are misleading, and in some cases, false. They conti
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Special Paper,’ ‘Watermarked Ballots’ Conspiracy Theory Spreads on Social Media
As Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden began pulling ahead in the 2020 election, Twitter user @jdburney1 generated engagement and accrued followers by advancing a “watermarked ballots” conspiracy theory (which we archived h
FactCheck.org→ Trump Misleadingly Claims That Ballot Count Was ‘Called Off’
President Donald Trump misleadingly said early in the morning after Election Day that ballot counting in states where he was leading had been “called off,” baselessly suggesting there was something suspicious happening. Similar complaints w
FactCheck.org→ Trump’s Falsehood-Filled Speech on the Election
Before all of the votes in the 2020 election were counted, President Donald Trump wrongly claimed victory, calling for “all voting to stop” and claiming continuing to count legally cast votes would “disenfranchise” the people wh
The Dispatch→ Did a Caravan of Trump Supporters Block Access to a Polling Location?
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Truth or Fiction?→ Pennsylvania Bakery Cookie Poll’s ‘Landslide’ Result Goes Viral
Less than a day before Election Day (November 3 2020), “PA bakery cookie poll” spiked as a search term and a topic of interest on social media: Let’s just say the cookie has red frosting “Pa. bakery's 'cookie poll,' w