Our annual roundup of the most outlandish claims of 2022.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Mel Gibson Did NOT Say He Wants To ‘Expose The Truth About The Corrupted Elites’ On Telegram
Did Mel Gibson say he wants to "expose the truth about the corrupted elites" on his official Telegram account? No, that's not true: "It's fake," Gibson's representative told Lead Stories about a purported quote from the actor. Gibson does
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: 2021 Was NOT A Year With No Flu Cases Worldwide
Were there zero influenza cases worldwide in 2021 because flu cases were fraudulently recorded as COVID-19 cases? No, that's not true: Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, flu cases have been categorized separately f
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Cut Potato In Sock Does NOT Combat Cold And Flu
Does wearing socks that contain cut pieces of potato help children combat flu and cold symptoms by absorbing toxins from their bodies? No, that's not true: The American Academy of Pediatrics has rejected this claim as groundless. It's not
Truth or Fiction?→ TikTok ‘Angel Cut,’ ‘Angel Cut With Layers’ Explained
On December 11 2022, TikTok hair influencer Leda Fazal (@ledafazal) shared a clip about an “angel cut” or “angel cut with layers,” one of many purported secret signals aimed at assisting victims of domestic violence or human tra
PolitiFact→ Instagram posts – Influenza caused 9 million illnesses, 5,000 deaths last flu season, CDC says
There are a record high cases of flu in the U.S. this year, and “last year there were none.”
PolitiFact→ Tweets – Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss didn’t die because of the COVID-19 vaccine
Stephen Boss died because of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: There Is NO ‘New Program’ That Pairs 4th Round Of ‘Stimulus’ Payments With Free Health Care, $500 Monthly ‘Credits’
Was a "new stimulus program" providing "millions of Americans" with "free health care" and $500 monthly "credits ... just announced"? No, that's not true: U.S. government resources don't mention a new round of stimulus payments for health
PolitiFact→ Facebook posts – Video doesn’t show senator telling Mayorkas he would be impeached
Video shows Sen. John Kennedy telling Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, “You will be impeached.”
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Country Singer Jake Flint Did NOT Die From COVID-19 Complications Or Vaccine
Did country singer Jake Flint die from COVID-19 or complications related to the COVID-19 vaccine, as a social media post implies? No, that's not true: Flint's publicist told Lead Stories that Flint's death was not related to the vaccine o
PolitiFact→ Facebook posts – No, Merrick Garland doesn’t tell John Kennedy to ‘wait for revenge’ in this viral Facebook video
Video shows Attorney General Merrick Garland saying, “Wait for revenge.”
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: CDC Did NOT ‘Quietly’ Confirm 118,000 Children, Young Adults ‘Died Suddenly’ From COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout
Did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) "quietly" confirm in late 2022 that at least 118,000 children and young adults have "died suddenly" in the U.S. since rollout of COVID-19 vaccines? No, that's not true: Experts told
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘First Recorded Snowball Fight’
A December 11 2022 tweet from History in Pictures (@HistoryInPics) purportedly depicted the first recorded snowball fight in 1897: First ever recorded snowball fight (1897) pic.twitter.com/c6t6A0Mgo0 — History In Pictures (@HistoryInPics) Decem
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Of EctoLife Facility Is NOT Reality — It’s Conceptual Presentation Of What Future Could Hold
Is there a facility that can produce 30,000 lab-grown human babies per year from embryos incubated in artificial wombs? No, that's not true: A video that depicts "the world's first Artificial Womb Facility" is a promotional advertisement
PolitiFact→ Facebook posts – Kari Lake’s lawsuit does not show Arizona failed to verify signatures on mail ballots
Kari Lake’s lawsuit “exposes Arizona used no signature verification.”
Lead Stories→ 2022 At Lead Stories: Debunking Claims About War, Vaccines and Elections; Debunking In Three New Languages & Defeating Lawsuits
The year is almost over, so it is good to look back. First, the numbers, as of December 15, 2022. This year we have published 1,555 fact checks in English (so far ...) 283 fact checks about COVID misinformation; 244 debunks of Russian
PolitiFact→ Facebook posts – No, a traffic management plan is not a ‘climate lockdown’ to confine people to their neighborhoods
England’s Oxfordshire County Council has passed a trial "climate lockdown," “confining residents to their own neighbourhoods.”
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: This Video Does NOT Show Soccer Fans Throwing Projectiles At Brazilian Soccer Team — They Are Protesters Angry At Brazilian Ex-President
Did Brazilian soccer fans throw projectiles at the Brazilian soccer team coming home from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar? No, that's not true: The video on which this claim is based dates from 2018, and shows protesters throwing projectiles
Full Fact→ Facebook promotions offering free Center Parcs holidays for sharing posts are false
The promotions are not linked to Center Parcs.
PolitiFact→ Instagram posts – No, Pfizer didn’t say stiff-person syndrome is an adverse effect of COVID-19 vaccine
Pfizer confirmed stiff-person syndrome is an adverse effect of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Full Fact→ Andrew Bridgen’s vaccine debate claims fact checked
The Conservative MP made a number of claims about vaccine safety and effectiveness—we’ve fact checked four of them.
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Dear Teacher’ Letter Explaining Christmas Goes Viral on Twitter
On December 13 2022, a Twitter account going by @JewWhoHasItAll published a satirical “Dear Teacher” letter, describing Christmas and Christian traditions to putative school employees. A Twitter bio for @JewWhoHasItAll provided context suf
Full Fact→ Facebook post makes harmful claims about treating scarlet fever without antibiotics
A social media post claims that symptoms of strep A infections can be treated with homeopathic remedies alone.
PolitiFact→ Debunking, rebuttals didn’t stop claim about litter boxes in schools from spreading before midterms
Ahead of the midterm election, conservative candidates and pundits continued to repeat the false claim that schools are providing litter boxes for students who identify as cats or furries — despite a lack of evidence and repeated debunkings.
Full Fact→ Facebook post about dog found ‘freezing’ in Falkirk is a hoax
The picture accompanying the post was taken from an article about a dog attack in Northern Ireland.
AllSides→ The Whoppers of 2022
https://www.factcheck.org/2022/12/the-whoppers-of-2022/ The midterm elections are finally over, but it
FactCheck.org→ The Whoppers of 2022
Summary The midterm elections are finally over, but it won’t be long before the 2024 campaign cycle — which will really start in 2023 — gets going. Before that happens, we’ve put together this list of the year’s bigges
Logically→ A report by USA Today claims that Elon Musk’s Neuralink implants have killed over 3,000 monkeys.
USA Today did not report that Neuralink's implants killed nearly 3,000 monkeys. The viral screenshot shared online has been fabricated.
The Dispatch→ America Cannot Afford to Ignore the Western Balkans
A mural with the letter Z, the symbol of Russias war in Ukraine on a wall near a university where Kosovo Serbs live. (Photo by Pierre Crom/Getty Images.)The war on terror shifted U.S. focus away from the region. Adversaries have noticed.The post Ameri
Logically→ A 56-year high in snow cover in the northern hemisphere in November 2022 proves global warming is a hoax.
A small spike in the snow cover extent in mid-November 2022 has been misrepresented to claim that global warming and climate change are not real.
The Dispatch→ The Charges Against Sam Bankman-Fried
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is led away by officers of the Royal Bahamas Police Force in Nassau, Bahamas. (Photo by MARIO DUNCANSON/AFP via Getty Images)The former FTX CEO could see serious jail time stemming from a range of alleged crimes: A Dispatc
Full Fact→ Facebook post claiming lemons treat cancer better than chemotherapy is false
A social media post that has circulated many times in recent years states that lemons are proven to treat and prevent cancer—but this is not true.
Logically→ House of Lords report promotes lockdowns to tackle climate emergencies, calls for a ban on flying and meat consumption.
The report says the government should learn from their COVID-19 communication to build public messaging for lifestyle changes.
Logically→ Several studies show smokers are less likely to catch COVID-19.
Several of these studies were pre-prints or non-peer-reviewed. Latest evidence has established that smoking increases the risk of getting coronavirus.
Logically→ The Qatari government killed Grant Wahl, an American sports Journalist, for wearing an LGBTQ T-shirt.
Dr. Celine Gounder, Wahl's wife, confirmed he died from a rupture in the ascending aorta blood vessel.
Washington Post→ The false claim about who committed 2 right-wing attacks
The Buffalo shooter and Paul Pelosi's attacker espoused right-wing ideologies at the time they committed their attacks.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Iran Has NOT Officially Abolished Morality Police, Has NOT Officially Acceded To Protesters’ Demands
Did the government of Iran "abolish" its morality police in response to country-wide protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini during detention by the morality police for wearing a loose headscarf in September 2022? No, that's
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Evidence That Brazil’s Military Killed Red Command Cartel Leaders Or ‘Prepares Take Over’ As Of December 14, 2022
Did the Brazilian military kill the leaders of the Red Command cartel in early December 2022, and prepare to "take over" the country? No, that's not true: The article circulating on social media that makes these claims contains multiple f
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Twenty-Year-Old Woman Did NOT Die After Receiving COVID Vaccine
Did a 20-year-old woman from Kansas die shortly after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: Although Regan Lewis did experience cardiac arrest and die shortly after receiving a vaccine, Regan's mother Connie Lewis clarified t
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: California Did NOT Legalize Pedophilia With Senate Bill 145
Did California approve a Senate bill "this week" in December 2022 that "legalizes pedophilia"? No, that's not true: Senate Bill 145 passed in California in 2020, not 2022, and it's intended to protect LGBTQ minors from discriminatory laws