Is the coronavirus a "man-made" depopulation weapon? No, that's not true: There is no evidence to support this theory, which is being spread by conspiracy-minded outlets like InfoWars. While scientists are still investigating the source of the
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FactCheck.org→ Virginia Bill Wouldn’t Criminalize Criticism
Quick Take Online headlines falsely claim that Virginia lawmakers want to make criticizing state officials a “criminal offense.” The bill doesn’t create new offenses. It would merely allow cases of threats or harassment against some state off
Lead Stories→ Fake News: U.S. Supreme Court Did NOT Rule No License Necessary To Drive Automobile on Public Roads
Did the U.S. Supreme Court rule that Americans do not need a licence to drive automobiles on public roads? No, that's not true: This is a made-up story that gets re-posted and shared every couple years. The buzz started again in January of 202
Lead Stories→ Fake News: World Health Organization Did NOT Officially Declare Coronavirus A Plague; 950,680 Are NOT Dead
Did the World Health Organization officially declare the coronavirus a plague, as an estimated 2.9 million people are infected in China, and 950,680 are dead? No, that's not true: The WHO has declared the novel coronavirus a public health emer
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Irish Midget NOT Accused Of Posing As A Leprechaun To Extort Sex From 26 Women In Exchange For Pot Of Gold
Was an Irish midget accused of soliciting sex from women by posing as a leprechaun and promising a pot of gold? No, that's not true: This is, while possibly funny to some, a piece of satire that has been presented as real news and is being wid
PolitiFact→ A reader’s guide to misinformation about the coronavirus
Don’t expect a fast recovery from hoaxes and conspiracy theories about the coronavirus. As of Jan. 30, the virus has spread to at least 18 other countries and infected more than 7,800 people. The World Health Organization declared it an internati
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Malcolm Gladwell Say Penn State Should Restore a Statue of Joe Paterno?
Author Malcolm Gladwell’s latest defense of deceased Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno drew attention on January 29 2020. During a speech at the campus in State College, Pennsylvania, Gladwell once again said that a statue of Pate
Lead Stories→ Fake News: "Taps" Did NOT Originate From Paper In Dead Confederate Soldier’s Pocket
Did the bugle melody known as "Taps," which is played at U.S. military funerals, originate from a paper found in the pocket of a dead Confederate soldier? No, that's not true: The origin story for "Taps" does not match that mythical narrative,
Lead Stories→ Fake News: TMZ Informant NOT Charged With Murder of Kobe Bryant and Others
Has a TMZ informant been charged with murder of Kobe Bryant and others? No, that's not true: That is a fake report from a website with a history of publishing unfounded claims. There has been no arrest in the crash of the NBA star's helicopter
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Proof A Biology Experiment By 9th Grade Students Reveals A Dark Truth About Wi-Fi
Did a biology experiment by ninth grade students reveal a "dark truth" about the dangers of Wi-Fi? No, that is not clear: The study was conducted as a classroom experiment without the proper scientific controls of a professional lab experiment
FactCheck.org→ Q&A on the Wuhan Coronavirus
An outbreak of viral pneumonia that began in the central Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019 has now sickened thousands, and led to more than 100 deaths. Although much is still unknown, scientists have made rapid progress in understanding the cu
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘After a Trump Rally in Wildwood, New Jersey’
On January 29 2020, the Facebook page “The Other 98%” shared the following set of images, which were purportedly taken after United States President Donald Trump held a re-election campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey: Text ov
FactCheck.org→ Buttigieg Gives Trump Too Much Blame for Debt
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg blamed tax cuts backed by President Donald Trump for creating the nation’s debt problem. But while the Congressional Budget Office says those tax cuts are worsening the nation’s debt, spirali
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: W.H.O. Chief Scientist NOT Caught Lying To The Public
Was the W.H.O. chief scientist caught lying to the public about the robustness of the organization's vaccine safety systems? No, that's a misleading claim being shared via anti-vaccine groups. The groups, however, do raise pertinent questions
Truth or Fiction?→ How Old Do You Have to Be to Be Vice President?
A prominent element of the 2020 United States presidential race involved prominent surrogates for candidates, whose presence on campaign trails prompted questions about the minimum age requirement for an individual to become a candidate’s runnin
Truth or Fiction?→ If You Earn Nearly a Quarter Million Dollars a Year, Would it Take 4,167 Years to Earn One Billion Dollars?
Ahead of the 2020 Democratic primary (and attendant discussions around billionaires and/or taxation), memes about the math of billionaires circulated; among them was one claiming that if a person earned the reasonably strong salary of $240,000 a year
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Sen. Elizabeth Warren Propose Making ‘Spreading Disinformation Online’ Illegal?
On January 29 2020, news network CNBC received some criticism for its portrayal of a policy proposal set forth by Democratic Party Sen. Elizabeth Warren the same day. The network said in a tweet that Warren, who is currently running for the party̵
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘My Team and I Are Doing a $100 Cash Giveaway’ Facebook Multi-Level Marketing Meme
In January 2020, a number of Facebook posts promoting a “$100 cash giveaway” appeared on Facebook, almost all with nearly identical wording. The $100 cash giveaway posts seemed to have one thing in common — those promising $100 to pa
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Actor Sean Penn Did NOT Suggest He Wants To Assassinate President Trump
Did Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn suggest that he wanted to assassinate President Trump? No, that's not true: Penn wrote and narrated a fictional book, published in March of 2018, about a troubled Southern Californian who wants to kill a chara
Truth or Fiction?→ Can You Adjust Facebook to Block Fact-Checkers?
A January 2020 Facebook post sought to convince one social media user’s friends not only that fact-checkers were employed by Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg to target conservative content in posts, but that those same fact-check
FactCheck.org→ Giuliani Was Not a ‘Minor Player’ in Ukraine
One of President Donald Trump’s defense lawyers described Rudy Giuliani as “just a minor player” in Ukraine matters that resulted in the president being impeached. But the evidence suggests otherwise. White House defense lawyer Jane R
Truth or Fiction?→ Google ‘Untreated Syphilis’ Meme
In late January 2020, a Twitter meme circulated that urged fellow users to Google “untreated syphilis” — a search phrase which purportedly returned images of or links to United States President Donald Trump: This is currently what
Lead Stories→ Fake News: 13-Year-Old Girl NOT Kidnapped At Woodland Hills Mall In Oklahoma As Part Of Child Sex Trafficking Ring
Did a mother save her 13-year-old daughter from being kidnapped by sex traffickers after she was drugged in a Woodland Hills Mall bathroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma? No, that's not true: the Tulsa Police Department confirmed there was no such inciden
Truth or Fiction?→ Lysol + Coronavirus = Conspiracy
As fears of a coronavirus outbreak spread virally on social media in late January 2020, so too did posts about the packaging of Lysol and what some people saw as a suspicious mention of a viral strain that was new to them: LYSOL WAS INVENTED IN 1
FactCheck.org→ New Coronavirus Wasn’t ‘Predicted’ In Simulation
Quick Take A conspiracy theory website distorted the facts about an emergency preparedness exercise to suggest that the “GATES FOUNDATION & OTHERS PREDICTED UP TO 65 MILLION DEATHS” from the coronavirus now spreading. The event dealt wi
Hoax-Slayer→ ‘You Have Received a Voice Message’ Scam Emails
According to this email, which purports to be from "Admin" at your email service provider, you have a new voice message waiting. The post ‘You Have Received a Voice Message’ Scam Emails appeared first on Hoax-Slayer.
Hoax-Slayer→ Survey Spam Emails Still Hitting Inboxes
If you've been on the Internet for a while, you've likely received your fair share of emails claiming that you been selected to complete a survey and thus go in the draw to win various prizes or "rewards". The post Survey Spam Emails Still Hitting In
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Ravi Shankar, Indian Sitar Maestro, Died IN 2012
Did Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar recently die? No, that's not true: Shankar died in December of 2012, in a San Diego hospital - not in January of 2020 as many Facebook posts would lead you to believe. A BBC obituary reporting Shankar's pa
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Scripps Urgent Care NOT On Lockdown; Two People In Clinics Do NOT Have Coronavirus
Was a Scripps Urgent Care in Southern California put under lockdown because it was treating two patients with the coronavirus? No, that's not true: Scripps Health has taken to social media to deny these claims, which have been made repeatedly
Truth or Fiction?→ Did JK Rowling Respond to ‘No One Should Live in a Closet’ Tattoo with ‘Yes They Should’?
On January 25 2020, Twitter user @iknownaama tweeted the following image, a purported screenshot of JK Rowling reacting to a pro-LGBT tattoo (“no one should live in a closet”) by saying “yes they should”: so did the simulatio
FactCheck.org→ Security Assistance and the July 25 Phone Call
Democrats and the White House legal team have made competing arguments about whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned U.S. security aid to his country in his July 25 phone call with President Donald Trump. The fact is, it’s unclea
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Hillary Clinton Say She Had an ‘Urge to Run Again’ in January 2020?
On January 28 2020, the New York Post published an article with the headline, “Hillary Clinton admits she feels an ‘urge’ to run against Trump again,” reporting: Nearly four years after President Trump defeated her in the 2016 elect
Truth or Fiction?→ No, You’re Not Being Told to Avoid ‘Unprotected Sex with Farm Animals’ Over the Coronavirus
As the World Health Organization (WHO) tried to disseminate health advisories amid a growing coronavirus outbreak, at least one “jokey” graphic blunting that message was spotted online in January 2020. The WHO’s original graphic, pos
FactCheck.org→ Coronavirus Wasn’t Sent by ‘Spy’ From Canada
Quick Take Social media posts falsely claim that a “Chinese spy team” working in a Canadian government lab sent “pathogens to the Wuhan facility” prior to the coronavirus outbreak in China. Two Canadian agencies have told us tho
FactCheck.org→ Trump’s False Tweet on Bolton
President Donald Trump falsely claimed in a tweet that the House Democrats “never even asked John Bolton to testify” in their impeachment inquiry. The Democrats asked, but Bolton refused to voluntarily appear. Trump tweeted about Bolton, hi
FactCheck.org→ Misinformation on Coronavirus Death Toll
Quick Take Websites and social media posts have circulated the erroneous claim that there are “thousands” or “10,000” dead as a result of the Wuhan coronavirus. As of early Jan. 27, the estimated death toll is 81 — all of
Truth or Fiction?→ ’30 Marines, 1 Sailor Die in Helicopter Crash on Same Day as Kobe Bryant’ Meme
Following the January 26 2020 death of athlete Kobe Bryant, posts circulated on Facebook alongside the headline “30 Marines, 1 Sailor Die in Helicopter Crash”: Sharers definitively connected the purported news to Bryant’s death,
FactCheck.org→ Comedian Sam Hyde Not ‘Behind’ Spread of Coronavirus
Quick Take A post on Facebook falsely claims comedian Sam Hyde is responsible for the spread of the new coronavirus. Researchers are still working to determine the source of this latest coronavirus, though evidence suggests it was first transmitted to
Truth or Fiction?→ Can You Get Coronavirus from Wish.com Products?
As concern over coronavirus spread in late January 2020, Facebook users began to share memes claiming that all products from ubiquitous seller Wish.com shipped from Wuhan, China — thought to be the region from which a massive outbreak of what
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Kobe Bryant Say ‘A #POTUS Whose Name Alone Creates Division and Anger … Can’t Possibly ‘Make America Great Again’?
After the sudden death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant on January 26 2020, the Facebook page “Call to Activism” shared the following meme, which purportedly quoted Bryant speaking about United States President Donald Trump: Whi