In mid-2020, a purported photograph of “cannabis ice cream” circulated on Facebook as a mildly engagement-baiting poll asking whether readers were for or against the putative dessert: Earlier iterations of the image featured the
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Lead Stories→ Fact Check: ‘Truth About Breonna Taylor’ Meme Has Claims That Are False, Misleading Or In Dispute
Does a meme promising the "truth about Breonna Taylor" include only proven facts? No, that's not true: The meme contains several claims that are false, misleading or in dispute. For example, she was not terminated from her job as an EMT i
Truth or Fiction?→ Does This ‘Petri Dish Full of Bacteria Swabbed from a Child’s Mask’ Reveal the Risks of Wearing Masks?
In late September 2020, the following image began circulating on social media, purporting to show what sort of bacteria can be cultured in a petri dish after a face mask was worn by a child for twenty minutes, then swabbed: View this p
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: There Are NO ‘Pedophilia Code Words’ In A Conversation About Joe Biden That Took Place Between Kamala Harris And Barack Obama
Are "pedophilia code words" contained within a conversation about Joe Biden that took place between Kamala Harris and Barack Obama? No, that's not true: The alleged coded language is based on a fake FBI document. Lead Stories tracked down
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Joe Biden Did NOT Botch The Pledge Of Allegiance
Did Joe Biden completely botch the Pledge of Allegiance during a campaign speech? No, that's not true and the comments were taken out of context. GOP rapid response director Steve Guest claimed that Biden "completely botches" the pledge d
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Biden Did NOT Say He Was Taking Time Off From Campaign For The Film ‘Cuties’
Did Joe Biden post on Twitter that he was taking time off from his campaign to watch the controversial French film "Cuties" on Netflix? No, that's not true: The tweet is fake and did not come from Biden's verified account. The claim appea
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Joe Biden Is NOT Shown In A Photo Biting A Young Girl’s Cheek — It’s Mexico’s President
Is Joe Biden seen biting a young girl's cheek in a photo? No, that's not true: The man in the photo used in a meme claiming Biden is a "senile old pervert" is actually Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president of Mexico. The image is a
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Nevada Did NOT ‘Quietly Reverse’ Its Decision To ‘Block’ Hydroxychloroquine Prescriptions For COVID-19
Did Nevada 'quietly reverse' its decision to 'block' hydroxychloroquine prescriptions for COVID-19? No, that's not true: The emergency regulation simply expired. Also, although the order did put some limits on hydroxychloroquine, it did n
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Did Not Wage ‘Active Campaign’ For The Repeal Of The Mann Act Or Lowering Age Of Consent
Did Ruth Bader Ginsburg wage an "active campaign" to repeal the Mann Act and to lower the age of consent for sex? No, that's not true: The claims that the late justice tried to get the Mann Act repealed -- a 1910 law that made it a federa
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: RBG Did NOT Tweet On The Day She Died ‘I Have Information That Will Lead To The Arrest Of Hillary Clinton’
Did Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg tweet on the day she died that she had information that would lead to the arrest of Hillary Clinton? No, that's not true: A tweet the purportedly was posted by the now-deceased Supreme Court justice is a fa
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Deep State Did NOT Unplug RBG After Waiting Until Trump Had No Time To Fill Her Seat
Did the "Deep State" keep Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg alive just long enough so that President Trump would not have enough time to replace her on the Supreme Court, setting up a "combustible state of limbo" for the United States after the
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Deep State Did NOT Unplug RBG After Waiting Until Trump Had No Time To Fill Her Seat
Did the "Deep State" keep Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg alive just long enough so that President Trump would not have enough time to replace her on the Supreme Court, setting up a "combustible state of limbo" for the United States after the
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Evidence That Viral Video Shows A Pedophile Getting Beaten Up
Does a viral video show a pedophile getting beaten up? No, that's not true: The video shows a real incident that happened recently in Novi Sad, Serbia. But none of the several statements authorities have released on the case as of Sept. 1
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Evidence That Viral Video Shows A Pedophile Getting Beaten Up
Does a viral video show a pedophile getting beaten up? No, that's not true: The video shows a real incident that happened recently in Novi Sad, Serbia. But none of the several statements authorities have released on the case as of Sept. 1
Truth or Fiction?→ Attempted Florida Pizza Shop Abduction: ‘Hold Tight to Your Babies. 😭😭 They Are Coming for Them’
On September 11 2020, a Facebook user shared the following screen recording of an apparent attempted child abduction, captioned “Hold tight to your babies. They are coming for them”: That had been captured from the Instagram acc
Truth or Fiction?→ Did a Single Gender Reveal in California Cause More Property Damage Than All of 2020’s Black Lives Matter Protests Combined?
On September 7 2020, a Facebook user shared a post asserting that a single gender reveal party in 2020 caused more property damage than all of the Black Lives Matter protests throughout the year: White text against a red and orange background read:
Truth or Fiction?→ Is This a Chinese ‘Luckiest Birthday’ List?
In August 2020, a nearly year-old post purportedly ranking what Chinese people believe are the “luckiest birthdays” circulated on Facebook: Facebook provided a slightly baffling automatic translation: Chinese made a list of the l
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: This Is NOT A Photo Of Don Lemon and Jeffrey Epstein
Is this a photo of Don Lemon and the late convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein posing together? No, that's not true: This is a doctored photo. In the original photo, Lemon was actually posing with his CNN colleague Chris Cuomo. The clai
Truth or Fiction?→ Is This a Photo of Seattle — Brought to You By ‘The Environmental Left’?
On August 10 2020, a Facebook user shared the following picture, purportedly taken in Seattle the previous month and showing detritus left behind by the “environmental left”: Alongside a blurry image of a trash-filled street, the
Truth or Fiction?→ Do 800,000 Children Go Missing Each Year in the United States?
As child trafficking rumors combined with COVID-19 disinformation went viral in August 2020, concurrent rumors appeared that 800,000 children go missing every year in the United States — or that 2,000 are disappeared each day: Vi
Truth or Fiction?→ How COVID-19 Triggered a #SaveTheChildren Child Trafficking Panic
In the summer of 2020, a massive amount of rumors about child trafficking appeared under the hashtag #savethechildren — and temporary hashtag filtering by Facebook in response was cited as evidence of “media suppression” of a massive
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Illinois Did NOT Just Quietly Pass A Law Making It A Felony To Record Police Without Consent
Did Illinois just quietly pass a law making it a felony to record police without consent? No, that's not true. Illinois did pass a law in 2014 that relates to "eavesdropping" devices to record "private conversations," but this do
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Tom Hanks Did NOT Flee To Greece To Hide From Epstein-Related Prosecution; Pedophilia is NOT Considered A ‘Disability’ In Greece
Did Tom Hanks flee the United States to live in Greece where pedophilia is a "disability?" No, neither of those points is true. A persistent conspiracy theory about the A-list actor and his wife, Rita Wilson, has reappeared after
Truth or Fiction?→ Is this Durex Coronavirus Ad Real?
Chances are you’ve seen some version of this purported Durex advertisement in heavy circulation at some point during the COVID-19 pandemic, featuring and comparing a face mask with a condom: The screenshot above included commentary from a s
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Businesses CANNOT Ignore California Governor’s Shutdown Order Issued By The State Department of Public Health
Can businesses ignore California Gov. Gavin Newsom's shutdown order since it was issued by the state Department of Public Health? No, that's not true. The governor has issued multiple executive orders that people follow the "guidance and direc
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Michael Vick Did NOT Serve More Time In Jail For Killing A Dog Than All Cops Who Have Killed The Last 493 Unarmed Black Men
Did Michael Vick serve more prison time for animal abuse than all the police, combined, who killed the last 493 unarmed Black men? No, that is not true: The former NFL quarterback served 18 months in Leavenworth penitentiary. And the time serv
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Carsyn Davis Die After Attending a ‘COVID Party’?
In early July 2020, news of the death of Florida teenager Carsyn Leigh Davis began spreading on social media — alongside rumors the girl, who was purportedly medically fragile, was intentionally exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by her mother: A parent se
Truth or Fiction?→ Does ‘Qabalista’ by Selki Girl Trigger ‘Out-of-Body Experiences’?
In late June and early July 2020, a rumor on TikTok’s #witchtok hashtag held that the album Qabalista by Selki Girl “triggered astral projection” or other strange experiences; a video with hundreds of thousands of engagements involve
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Erykah Badu Did NOT Tell People Not To Buy Rap Music
Did Erykah Badu call on people to stop buying some types of rap music because most rappers aren't doing anything to stand up against racism? No, that's not true: The neo-soul singer herself has said the words in a viral social meme aren't hers
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Joe Biden Was NOT Caught On Camera Telling Senator Chris Coons’ 13-Year-Old Daughter He Was ‘Horny’
Did Joe Biden tell Senator Chris Coons' 13-year-old daughter that he was "horny" standing next to her? No, that's not true. The video of the then-vice president whispering into the ear of Coons' daughter Maggie has fake subtitles claiming he s
Truth or Fiction?→ This Photograph Does Not Show a Woman Who Was Beaten and Sexually Assaulted at a BLM Protest
In mid-June 2020, the following meme circulated on Facebook and Instagram, purportedly a screenshot of a Facebook post by a woman claiming she was “beaten and raped” by three people of color at a Black Lives Matter protest:
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Evidence Joe Biden’s Family Owned Slaves Or That His Great-Grandfather Fought For The Confederacy
Did Joe Biden's family own slaves and did his Great-Grandfather Biden fight for the Confederacy? No, there is no evidence that either is true. The former vice president's Great-Grandfather Biden was not born until 1867, two years after the end
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: ‘Antifa Debit Card’ Is NOT A Real Banking Card
Does the Antifa movement offer a debit card that can be funded to support looting, rioting, and gang-stalking? No, that's not true: The "card offer" appears on a German website that, according to the English translation on the site, belongs to
Truth or Fiction?→ Tamla Horsford’s Death Investigation Reopened: ‘This Picture Literally Gives Me the Chills’
On June 14 2020, a Facebook user shared the following post about the death of Tamla Horsford: Viral Posts about Tamla Horsford in June 2020 An appended image of eight women — seven white and one black — was captioned “This picture l
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Evidence Protester Sarah Grossman’s Death Was Triggered By Tear Gas At A George Floyd Protest
Did Sarah Grossman die after police sprayed her protest group with tear gas, which triggered her asthma and led to her death? No, there's no evidence that happened: The 22-year-old woman had not been diagnosed with asthma and there is no evide
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Kendall Jenner Did NOT Post A Photoshopped Picture Holding A ‘Black Lives Matter’ Sign
Did Kendall Jenner post a photoshopped picture holding a "Black Lives Matter" sign? No, that's not true. The reality star-turned-model denied that she posted a photoshopped picture of herself holding a poster that reads "Black Lives Matter" th
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Nancy Pelosi Did NOT Rip Up Bible In Bold Anti-Trump Statement
Did Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi rip up a bible in a bold anti-Trump statement? No, that's not true: the story originated on a well-known Christian-themed satire website but was mistaken by many people for real news. The satirical article
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: ‘The Simpsons’ Did NOT Predict Police Officer Kneeling On George Floyd’s Neck
Did "The Simpsons" predict Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck, killing him? No, that's not true. The memes claiming the television show "The Simpsons" aired an episode that showed a police officer, Wiggins
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘George Floyd Challenge’ Image Spreads Virally, Provenance Unknown
On May 31 2020, a Facebook screenshot of an Instagram post circulated virally, purportedly depicting two white teenagers grinning as they engaged in what was labeled a “George Floyd challenge” — a tasteless recreation of the circum
Truth or Fiction?→ Did U.S. President Donald Trump Tweet That Obama Didn’t ‘Prepair’ for the Coronavirus Pandemic?
On May 12 2020, a screenshot of a purported tweet from United States President Donald Trump circulated — in which he purportedly lashed out at Barack Obama and said that his predecessor didn’t “prepair” for the coronavirus pa