In November 2018, a Facebook user shared a set of screenshots showing a separate post about finding post-cremation ashes in “brick” form: In the first few screenshots, the original poster poses a question to fellow users about the pu
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Lead Stories→ Fake News: Flu Vaccine Does NOT Contain 25,000 Times More Mercury Than Legally Allowed In Drinking Water
Do flu vaccines contain 25,000 times more mercury than is legally allowed in drinking water? No, that's not true: Some flu vaccines do contain a trace amount of the organic compound Thimerosal, whch is 50-percent mercury. Thimerosal, used as a
Truth or Fiction?→ Elizabeth Warren Accused of Claiming to be Cherokee and Plagiarizing Recipes in ‘Pow Wow Chow’
On September 26 2019, a social media user tweeted out screenshots and text accusing Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) of claiming Cherokee heritage and plagiarizing recipes from the New York Times: Elizabeth Warren not only claimed to be &qu
Lead Stories→ Fake News: No Study Says Vitamin D Is More Effective Than Flu Vaccine
Did a scientific study conclude that vitamin D supplements are more effective than flu vaccines in preventing influenza? No, that's not true: Stories making the claim cite reviews and studies that concluded there are significant benefits from
Truth or Fiction?→ Is This a Photograph of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s Congressional District?
An also-ran right-wing candidate in New Jersey generated attention for himself online in September 2019 by spreading an online smear targeting a Democratic Party lawmaker. Joseph Rullo’s Facebook post, which was shared more than 6,800 times, sho
Lead Stories→ Old News: "Obama is the Worst President Since World War II", Poll Said… Years Before Trump Got Elected
Did a Quinnipiac poll say more Americans thought Barack Obama was the worst president since World War II compared to other presidents? Yes, it did... in 2014, years before Donald Trump got elected and well before Trump snatched that title away
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Illegal Immigrants Do NOT Get 43% Of All Food Stamps, 95% of Los Angeles Murder Warrants, 66% Of California Births, 60% Of HUD Housing
Do illegal immigrants get 43 percent of all food stamp benefits and are they suspects in 95 percent of all Los Angeles murders? Are 41 percent of them on welfare and are 66 percent of all births in California to undocumented mothers who get fr
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Democrats Did NOT Gain A Seat In Congress For Every 770,000 Illegals Who Filled Out The 2010 U.S. Census In A Sanctuary City Or State
Did Democrats gain a congressional seat for every 770,000 illegal immigrants counted in a sanctuary city or state by the 2010 U.S. census? No, that's not true: It is a claim based on bad math, ignoring election history, demographic trends show
Truth or Fiction?→ Causes of Death Per Day and Rifles Meme
In September 2019, a number of memes about “causes of death” per day or per year in the United States circulated, largely as discourse surrounding purported retailer “bans” (but really, discontinuation of sales) of rifles. One
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Robin Williams Cheer Up a Paralyzed Christopher Reeve by Pretending to be a Proctologist?
In September 2019, the Facebook page “Clips of Our Past” shared the following meme, which presented an anecdote about Superman actor Christopher Reeve and purported actions taken by friend and fellow actor and comedian Robin Williams to
FactCheck.org→ Is Right to Try Saving a ‘Lot of People’?
President Donald Trump last year signed a bill — the Right to Try Act — that provided another avenue for terminally ill patients to gain access to unapproved medications still in development. But there’s no evidence that the new law i
Truth or Fiction?→ Do These Photographs Accurately Contrast Birmingham in 1940 with Birmingham in 2017?
In September 2019, the following image circulated on Facebook and other social media platforms, purportedly contrasting Birmingham, England in 1940 with Birmingham, England in 2017: At the top was a black and white image of what appeared to be soldie
Truth or Fiction?→ Did ‘Upper Case’ and ‘Lower Case’ Originally Refer to Where Printers Kept Their Letters?
On September 12 2019, Twitter user Benjamin Molineaux shared the following tweet and image, suggesting that the common terms “uppercase” and “lowercase” originated with the standard physical storage of typesetting equipment:
FactCheck.org→ FactChecking the September Democratic Debate
Summary The false and exaggerated claims in the third Democratic debate included: Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro accused former Vice President Joe Biden of “forgetting what you said two minutes ago” on Biden’s hea
Truth or Fiction?→ Did North Carolina’s GOP Trick Democrats into Attending a 9/11 Memorial, Then Pass an Unpopular Healthcare Bill?
On September 11 2019, a Facebook user shared the following post (archived here), which claimed in a three-part commentary that North Carolina Republicans used the anniversary of 9/11 to “trick” Democrats into missing a last-minute vote: &
Lead Stories→ Fake News: ADHD Is NOT A FAKE Disease Invented By Big Pharma To Drug Children For Profit
Is ADHD is a fake disease invented by Big Pharma to drug children for profit? No, that's not true: While there may be examples of misdiagnoses of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, scientific evidence shows it is real and that many pati
Truth or Fiction?→ Was a Canadian Man ‘Euthanized’ After Not Receiving Enough Home Care Funding?
A 41-year-old Canadian man’s choice to undergo assisted suicide in August 2019 was used as blog fodder by an anti-abortion group based out of England. Sean Tagert first drew media coverage in September 2018, when he spoke to the Canadian Broadca
PolitiFact→ The latest on US health insurance coverage, income and poverty
New numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau show an uptick in Americans who are uninsured but modest progress on poverty and income — handing Democrats and Republicans data for talking points. Overall, the percentage of Americans lacking health
FactCheck.org→ Buttigieg Wrong About Climate Change’s Effect on Oceans
In making his case for taking swift action on climate change, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg inaccurately said that “we could lose half the world’s oxygen because of what’s going on in the oceans.” Scientists say that
Truth or Fiction?→ Are School Bus Stops Now More Dangerous Because of an All-Time High in Human Trafficking?
A back-to-school themed Facebook warning shared on September 5 2019 (archived here) declared that all school-age children must avoid all school bus stops because of an increased threat of human trafficking: Against a pastel background, black text d
FactCheck.org→ Deceptive Second Amendment Ads
Ads posted on Facebook from a committee working to reelect President Donald Trump claim that Democrats are calling for the Second Amendment to be repealed. To support the claim, the Trump campaign pointed to statements by a few state lawmakers and one
Truth or Fiction?→ Dear ‘Ban Gun’ Teenagers, 11 Teens Die a Day from Texting and Driving
Facebook status memes about guns in general consistently appear in the now nearly constant wake of mass shootings, but a February 2018 iteration (archived here) aimed at “‘ban gun’ teenagers” puts forth an insincere argument
FactCheck.org→ Trump’s False ‘Facts’ on the Environment
Just as CNN was beginning its climate town hall event, President Donald Trump tweeted a list of “8 facts” boasting of the nation’s air quality and carbon emissions reductions. Several of his “facts,” however, are inaccurate or
FactCheck.org→ Trump Doubles Down on Inaccurate Hurricane Forecast
President Donald Trump inaccurately stated in his Sept. 1 tweet that Alabama “will most likely be hit” by Hurricane Dorian — a statement that was fact-checked in real time by the National Weather Service. Despite that, Trump has now t
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘10,874 People Killed by Drunk Drivers in 2017, 403 by Rifles but Walmart Stops Selling Rifles’ Meme
On September 3 2019, the Facebook page “Life’s Short Live Free” shared the following meme commentary (archived here), discussing Walmart discontinuing the sale of some firearms: Black text against a purple background contr
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘There are 30,000 Gun Related Deaths Per Year by Firearms’
In August 2019, a Facebook post about the United States’ purported 30,000 gun deaths per year circulated, typically copied and pasted into individual posts which themselves were each shared a handful of times. One particular version coupled with
Truth or Fiction?→ Has ICE Refused to Deport Undocumented White Immigrants?
While the majority of attention on deportations by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has centered around their actions against immigrants from Latin American countries, it is inaccurate to say that the agency does not
FactCheck.org→ Amazon Doesn’t Produce 20% of Earth’s Oxygen
Q: Does the Amazon produce 20% of the world’s oxygen? A: No. Scientists estimate the percentage is closer to 6 to 9%, and the Amazon ultimately consumes nearly all of that oxygen itself. FULL QUESTION Does the Amazon Rainforest truly produce 20%
FactCheck.org→ Falsehoods About Family Separations Linger Online
Quick Take A viral social media post falsely claims that former President Barack Obama “separated” many more children at the border than President Donald Trump. Full Story The Trump administration announced a new rule on Aug. 21 that
Truth or Fiction?→ Was an Ecuadorian Tribe’s Rainforest Home Hit by a Rash of Wildfires?
As awareness of unprecedented wildfires hitting rainforests in the Brazilian Amazon spread online in August 2019, social media users began drawing links between the blazes and a court victory for an indigenous Ecuadorian tribe weeks earlier. On July 1
FactCheck.org→ O’Rourke on Jobs ‘No One Else Will Do’
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke said workers living in the U.S. illegally who were swept up in immigration raids at chicken processing plants in Mississippi are “doing a job that no one else will do.” The jobs are hard and don’t
FactCheck.org→ Kudlow’s Unsupported USMCA Jobs Claim
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow claimed without evidence that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement would add “180,000 new jobs per year” in the U.S. Kudlow may have been referencing an April analysis done by the U.S. Internat
Truth or Fiction?→ Nick Hinton 2012 Thread
A rather nihilistic rumor — that all of humanity died in 2012, and that this is all either a shared hallucination or the afterlife — was not new in late July 2019, but the theory went viral on social media after Twitter user Nick Hinton (@nickhin
FactCheck.org→ Williamson Misleads on Children’s Health, Vaccines
In a July 31 television interview, Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson inaccurately implied there might be a connection between vaccines and higher reported rates of childhood chronic diseases. Williamson is correct that reported rate
Truth or Fiction?→ Did University of Findlay Students Discover a Chemical Compound that Kills Glioblastoma?
On August 18 2019, Facebook page “Smooth AF” shared a screenshot of a tweet claiming that University of Findlay students had discovered a chemical compound that “kills glioblastoma cells”: At the top of the image was an August
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Number Of People Killed By Illegal Immigrants In 2018 Does NOT Equal 83,211
Were 194 people killed in mass shootings in the United States in 2018, while the number of those killed by illegal immigrants was 83,211? No, that's not true: Both numbers are wrong, but the number of purported murders by undocumented people i
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Dick’s Sporting Goods Lose $150 Million After Reducing Gun Sales?
On August 15 2019 the following meme (archived here) was shared to social media platforms: White text across a purple background read: Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO: We lost $150M in sales since we stopped selling guns. We still don’t regre
Washington Post→ Kamala Harris uses fuzzy math to suggest her tax cut is paid for
The 2020 presidential hopeful touts her plan to give middle-class taxpayers $500 a month, but misleadingly suggests that the money to pay for it will come from companies and the top 1 percent.
Truth or Fiction?→ Do an Average of 22 United States Military Veterans Kill Themselves Every Day?
While seeking to boost awareness and help toward United States military veterans, a long-standing online claim and the various graphics promoting it are based on some misreporting of data regarding veteran suicide rates. The claim often states that on
FactCheck.org→ Meme Inflates Rise in Congressional Salaries
Quick Take A viral meme on Facebook falsely claims that members of Congress have received a “231%” increase in pay in the last 30 years. Automatic cost-of-living adjustments have resulted in an increase of 94.4% from 1989 to 2009. Full St