Each year on April 2nd, fact checkers around the globe celebrate International Fact-Checking Day to stress the importance of fact checking. Fact checkers add to the conversation by making accurate information available to everyone and by
Search Results (354) for: edt
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Tax Cuts And Jobs Act Did NOT Raise Taxes On Most People Earning Under $75,000
Did the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act raise taxes on most people earning under $75,000? No, that's not true: The 2017 law aimed to lower taxes for individuals through measures such as reducing income tax rates and raising the standard deduction.
Health Feedback→ Dubious Facebook ads promote unproven supplement SightCare alleged to restore “perfect” vision and cure macular degeneration
REVIEW Numerous ads purporting to reveal a “simple 7-Second Bedtime Ritual” that would restore vision went viral on Facebook in December 2023. Examples of such ads can be seen here and here. All the ads we found were published by a single Facebo
Health Feedback→ Instagram reel rehashes old misinformation inaccurately linking autism with vaccines, glyphosate, and MTHFR mutations
REVIEW In November 2023, obstetrician and gynecologist Nathan Riley, who has more than 23,000 followers on Instagram, posted an Instagram reel suggesting that vaccines, glyphosate, and mutations in the MTHFR gene contribute to the development of aut
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Depict British Police Showing Peace Signs To Pro-Palestinian Protesters
Does a video show British police officers expressing support for a pro-Palestinian rally in London during the 2023 Hamas-Israel war? No, that's not true: London's Metropolitan Police told Lead Stories that the men in the footage were not
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Joe Rogan Did NOT Claim That Scientists Captured A Wendigo And Tried To Keep It Secret
Did comedian-commentator Joe Rogan say on his podcast that scientists captured a Wendigo, a monster from Native American folklore, and tried to keep it a secret? No, that's not true: Rogan never mentioned the mythological creature on his
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: FBI Has NOT Warned Of Coordinated Hamas Attacks On US Cities — There’s Nothing ‘Specific And Credible’
Did the FBI warn about coordinated attacks on more than two dozen American cities by Hamas in the aftermath of the militant group's attack on Israel in October 2023? No, that's not true: The FBI said it hasn't "issued such a warning" and
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Photos Do NOT Show Palestinian Child As Crisis Actor — These 2016 Photos Show Real Child Helped In Aleppo, Syria
Was the same Palestinian child used to stage fake rescue photos from three separate Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip on the same day in October 2023? No, that's not true: These three photos were taken in Aleppo, Syria, on August 27, 2016
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Elon Musk Did NOT Announce A New Trading App Investing Platform On The BBC
Did BBC News broadcast "breaking" news that Elon Musk has a new trading app that will allow Britons to make so much money that they won't have to work anymore? No, that's not true: The BBC's website includes no such report and the footage
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NYPD Officers Did NOT Arrest Two Young People For Sleeping Near Times Square — They Were Charged With Theft
Did "undercover NYPD" officers "arrest two young people for sleeping on the concrete blocks a short distance from Times Square"? No, that's not true: the persons in question were not trying to sleep in a noisy, well-lit area on top of con
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Fake DW and FAZ Articles Reported On Non-Existent "Scandalous" Anti-Ukrainian Graffiti In Berlin — Screenshot Propaganda
Did at least two German news outlets, Deutsche Welle and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, publish reports about a graffiti mural in Berlin that showed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy labeled a "Cannibal," eating the dismembered
Health Feedback→ Conspiracy theory about the deaths of alternative medicine practitioners ignores evidence, misrepresents certain doctors
REVIEW A TikTok video published in early July 2023 implied that doctors practicing alternative medicine were killed to prevent “Big Pharma” from losing money. In the reel, herbalist Katryna Benson, who has more than 14,000 followers on TikTok, p
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Military Did NOT Take Down Florida Child Trafficking Ring And Arrest Ron DeSantis
Did U.S. Navy SEALs take down a Florida child trafficking ring and arrest Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, as was livestreamed on Facebook by Child Parent Safety (Cps) News Network on July 25, 2023? No, that's not true: Presidential candidate D
Truth or Fiction?→ When Fats Waller Was ‘Kidnapped’ for Al Capone’s Birthday
On July 11 2023, a meme about jazz pianist Thomas “Fats” Waller attending a birthday party for crime boss Al Capone was popular on Imgur: The post (“Imagine being such a talented musician that the mafia kidnaps you to perform at a b
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: These Are NOT Sounds Detected Near Titan Search Zone — Real Audio Not Publicly Released By June 21, 2023
Does this post include a recording of the sounds detected during a search for the Titan submersible? No, that's not true: This audio comes from some other source and is not an authentic recording of sounds reportedly detected by sonobuoys
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Picture Does NOT Show ‘Trump Dancing With A 13 Year Old Girl’ — It’s NOT Real Photo
Does a "photo" show Donald Trump "in his 50's," then a businessman, "dancing with a 13 year old girl"? No, that's not true: That is not a photo -- it is an image artificially created by algorithms. The story appeared in a tweet (archived
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Tim McGraw, Faith Hill Have NOT Endorsed Weight Loss Gummies
Have country singers and married couple Tim McGraw and Faith Hill promoted weight loss gummies that melt weight off while one sleeps? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that McGraw and Hill have endorsed such a product. There is an
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Tetanus Vaccines Are NOT Being Used To Sterilize People
Are tetanus shots being used to sterilize people? No, that's not true: Such claims are "completely illogical and contrary to fact," a molecular biologist told Lead Stories. There is no substantive evidence that tetanus vaccines available
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Miranda Lambert Is NOT Selling A Weight Loss ‘Mineral’
Is American singer-songwriter Miranda Lambert selling weight loss materials, specifically a special mineral used for weight loss? No, that's not true: This is false advertising and follows a formula of using public figures to sell product
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Mount Meru Is NOT A Real Place Nor Does It Appear On Urbano Monti’s Planisphere Map Of 1587
Is Mount Meru, a magnetic mountain, located at or under the North Pole at the center of a flat Earth -- and is this mountain the reason why all compasses point to the magnetic north? No, that's not true: In Hindu and Buddhist mythology, M
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Outside Agitators’ Have Always Been a Racist Myth
In January 2023, the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of police in Memphis, Tennessee drew widespread outcry in the United States. Ditto for the death in Atlanta, Georgia that same month of protestor and environmental activist Tortuguita — Ma
FactCheck.org→ Posts Mislead on Illinois SAFE-T Act and Elimination of Cash Bail
Quick Take Illinois’ new criminal justice law, known as the SAFE-T Act, would eliminate cash bail but allow a judge to detain anyone who is deemed a danger to others or a flight risk. Social media posts misleadingly claim tha
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Image Of Zelenskyy Portrayed As Locust Did NOT Appear In NYC’s Central Park As Of January 10, 2023
Did an image of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy depicting him as a "locust" eating up budgets around the world appear in New York City's Central Park as of January 10, 2023? No, that's not true. A Lead Stories reporter found no tr
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Lack Of Heart Monitor In Damar Hamlin Hospital Photo Does NOT Prove Illness Was Staged — Monitor May Be Underneath His Clothes
Does a photo showing hospitalized Buffalo Bills football player Damar Hamlin without a clearly visible heart monitor prove that he did not undergo cardiac arrest during a January 2, 2023, football game? No, that's not true: A visible hear
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Electric Companies Do NOT Hate ‘Young Whizkid’ For Purported Power-Saving Invention
Is a "young whizkid" inventor shown in a social media video despised by electric companies for creating a device that "cuts 50% off an average home's power bill"? No, that's not true: The young man shown in the video is an inventor but no
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Switzerland Did NOT Ban ‘Electric Cars Due To Their Excessive Energy Use’ On December 7, 2022
Did Switzerland ban electric vehicles "due to their excessive energy use" on December 7, 2022? No, that's not true: The country only discussed a draft of legislation that suggested that electric car use might be limited to essential activ
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Established Titles’ Controversy
On November 23 2022, YouTube creator Scott Shafer uploaded a video partly titled “Established Titles Scam -YouTube’s BIGGEST Con,” about a common sponsor of YouTube shows (the company Established Titles) and whether their business mo
FactCheck.org→ Viral Video Spouts Baseless Claim About Early Voting in Arizona
Quick Take Millions of Arizona voters requested ballots to vote early in the 2022 election. Early voting results cannot be released until after the election, and ballot security measures prevent widespread voter fraud. Yet a viral video advises Republi
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Pelosi Attack Suspect David DePape Is NOT Pictured Here – It’s Sean Dunnavant, Charged With Murder In Chicago
Is the man pictured at left David DePape, the suspect who allegedly broke into the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on October 28, 2022, and attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer? No, that's not true: Police have identified t
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Germany Did NOT Declare War On Russia On October 11, 2022
Did Germany declare war on Russia on October 11, 2022? No, that's not true. There are no credible reports or official statements confirming this claim. Even a video posted on Facebook with a headline asserting that Germany had declared wa
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Thousands Of Soldiers Did NOT Deploy On Streets Of London Or Cross Tower Bridge
Did thousands of soldiers deploy on the streets of London, crossing the iconic Tower Bridge in the early hours of September 24, 2022, local time? No, that's not true: Not only were there no news reports of any such deployments in the Brit
Truth or Fiction?→ Texas Delaying Maternal Death Data Until After Midterms?
On September 14 2022, social media posts claimed that the state of Texas had delayed maternal mortality data until after the November 2022 midterm elections: Texas found out abortion bans are unpopular so they’re hiding their maternal death data u
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: France 2 Did NOT Intentionally Misinform Viewers About War Incident In Ukraine On August 10, 2022 — It Admitted A Video Editing Mistake
Did France 2 intentionally misinform its audiences about an incident in the war in Ukraine on August 10, 2022? No, that's not true: The French TV channel's report about a strike that hit buildings surrounding Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclea
Truth or Fiction?→ Marjorie Taylor Greene on Renewable Energy: ‘I Don’t Want to Have to Go to Bed When the Sun Sets’
On August 14 2022, an Imgur account and Facebook page shared the same Twitter screenshot, which appeared to imply that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) had objected to renewable energy, such as solar, because she didn’t want to “go t
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NASA Did NOT Represent Devon Island, Canada, As Mars
Did NASA use the landscape of a remote Arctic island in Canada to produce fake images that were then falsely represented as exploration on the planet Mars? No, that's not true: This accusation lacks a key element -- there is no evidence t
Truth or Fiction?→ Live Monarch Foundation ‘Free Milkweed Seeds’
As news about monarch butterflies appeared the week of July 22 2022, a post to the Facebook group “Addicted to Gardening” claimed that readers could send a self-addressed stamped envelope to a group called the Live Monarch Foundation and r
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Private Election Data Stream Does NOT Prove GOP Primary Stolen From Colorado ‘Big Lie’ Purveyor Tina Peters
Does an election night correction made to a private company's Colorado vote tallies prove the primary election was manipulated by dark forces? No, that's not true: There is no evidence the official results "stole" votes from Mesa County C
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Evidence US Military Destroyed Child Trafficking Tunnels in South Carolina
Did the U.S. military destroy child trafficking tunnels in South Carolina? No, that's not true: There has been no mention of this event from major news outlets like The Associated Press (AP) and The New York Times. A shaking of the ground
Truth or Fiction?→ Ectopic Pregnancy and Abortion Bans
Following the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, an urgent discussion about the legality of treating ectopic pregnancy in states with trigger laws began. One extremely viral aspect of the conversation originated with a since-delete
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NASA Did NOT Hand Over Control Of ISS To Russia After They Threatened To Crash It Into Earth
Did NASA hand over control of the International Space Station (ISS) to Russia after a Russian official threatened to crash it into Earth? No, that's not true: A NASA spokesperson told Lead Stories that a long-established ceremonial change