This report was run on 12-18-2023 at 16:39, and we have new fact checks from the following organizations:
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Fact checks from FactCheck.org – 3 new posts
Fake Story About Trans Athlete Spreads Online
Published 12/15/2023 22:14
Lia Thomas, who received widespread attention as a transgender member of the women’s swimming team at the University of Pennsylvania, has graduated from college and is no longer on the school team. But claims about her persist online, including one recent falsehood, which originated on a satirical site, claiming that she joined a men’s team.
Read at FactCheck.org
Flawed Analysis of New Zealand Data Doesn’t Show COVID-19 Vaccines Killed Millions
Published 12/15/2023 22:04
Data from around the world support the general safety of the COVID-19 vaccines. Some people online, however, incorrectly claim that illegally obtained data from New Zealand show the vaccines have killed 13 million people worldwide. Experts say the analysis is bogus.
Read at FactCheck.org
GOP Misleading Claims in Biden Impeachment Investigation
Published 12/14/2023 23:03
House Republicans passed a resolution on Dec. 13 to formalize their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. In attempts to build momentum for the vote, Republicans continued to present misleadingly incomplete information in service of the claim that Biden benefited from his family members’ “influence peddling” with foreign businesses and governments.
Read at FactCheck.org
Fact checks from Lead Stories – 6 new posts
Fact Check: Texas Children’s Hospital Did NOT Announce It Would ‘No Longer Treat Unvaccinated Children’ in December 2023
Published 12/16/2023 03:20
Did Texas Children’s Hospital announce in December 2023 that it would “no longer treat unvaccinated children”? No, that’s not true: A hospital spokesperson told Lead Stories that this claim is “not true.” Even if it were true, it would be…
Read at Lead Stories
Fact Check: Ministry Of Education In Gaza Did NOT ‘Officially Announce’ End Of 2023/2024 Academic Year ‘As All Students Have Been Killed’
Published 12/16/2023 01:00
Was the academic year in Gaza suspended because “all students” have died? No, that’s not true: Available data suggests that most schoolchildren are still alive, even though the Hamas-Israel war has disrupted their education. While international organizations have drawn attention…
Read at Lead Stories
Fact Check: NO Evidence Elon Musk Is Associated With Device Claiming To Reduce ‘Your Heating Bill To Basically $0’
Published 12/15/2023 22:58
Is Elon Musk associated with a device that claims to cut “your heating bill to basically $0”? No, that’s not true: There’s no evidence the SpaceX founder has any connection to the heating unit being peddled on the internet. A…
Read at Lead Stories
Fact Check: Zelenskyy Did NOT Buy A $20 Million Mansion In Vero Beach, Florida
Published 12/15/2023 20:12
Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy buy a $20 million mansion in Vero Beach, Florida? No, that’s not true: A post making the claim includes photographs of a house for sale in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, which is more than 200…
Read at Lead Stories
Fact Check: Lia Thomas Did NOT Say She Would Swim With A Men’s Team — Claim Is From Satire Site
Published 12/15/2023 19:49
Did Lia Thomas decide to swim with a men’s team after facing “extreme criticism” for transitioning and swimming with female teams? No, that’s not true: This claim about the transgender woman swimmer comes from a satirical website that has a…
Read at Lead Stories
Fact Check: NO Evidence Angel Tree Recipients Can Return Their Gifts To Walmart
Published 12/14/2023 23:19
Is it possible for recipients of Angel Tree, a Salvation Army program that allows a donor to buy the items on the Christmas list of a child or a senior adult, to return their gifts to any Walmart location in…
Read at Lead Stories
Fact checks from PolitiFact – Rulings and Stories – 9 new posts
TikTok posts – Video doesn’t show Israeli army commander saying he handcuffed two couples in a building
Published 12/18/2023 19:47
“Israeli Army Commander admits they handcuffed 2 couples inside a house then used tanks to destroy the building.”
Read at PolitiFact – Rulings and Stories
Fact-checking 5 claims Trump made at New Hampshire rally
Published 12/17/2023 00:47
With 38 days to go until New Hampshire voters cast their first-in-the-nation ballots in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, former President Donald Trump held a rally at University of New Hampshire. We fact-checked five claims.
Read at PolitiFact – Rulings and Stories
Asa Hutchinson – Asa Hutchinson’s Mostly True claim that China is allowed to do crypto mining in the U.S.
Published 12/15/2023 23:13
China is allowed to do crypto mining in the U.S.
Read at PolitiFact – Rulings and Stories
TikTok posts – Este video de un funeral falso no tiene relación con la guerra entre Israel y Hamas de 2023
Published 12/15/2023 23:10
Video muestra “Palestinos cargando el cuerpo de un niño cantando alabanzas religiosas”.
Read at PolitiFact – Rulings and Stories
Donald Trump – Are gasoline prices under Joe Biden ranging from $5 to $8 a gallon, as Donald Trump said?
Published 12/15/2023 18:05
“Gasoline prices are now $5, $6, $7 and even $8 a gallon.”
Read at PolitiFact – Rulings and Stories
Ron Johnson – Wisconsin senator's claim that Dems used alternative slates of electors 'repeatedly' is false'
Published 12/15/2023 15:29
Democrats have also used alternate slates of electors “repeatedly in all kinds of different states.”
Read at PolitiFact – Rulings and Stories
Instagram posts – Here’s how much Kevin McCallister’s ‘Home Alone’ shopping trip would cost in 2023
Published 12/14/2023 23:06
Macaulay Culkin’s “Home Alone” shopping trip that cost $19.83 in 1990 would cost $72.28 today, up from $44.40 in 2022.
Read at PolitiFact – Rulings and Stories
Instagram posts – Video of man collapsing while confronting Israeli service members happened in 2015
Published 12/14/2023 22:53
Video of a man collapsing while confronting service members is “Palestinian Theater.”
Read at PolitiFact – Rulings and Stories
Ron DeSantis – DeSantis said Florida overdose deaths declined year over year. Preliminary data backs that up
Published 12/14/2023 22:43
Florida “had a year-over-year reduction” in overdose deaths.
Read at PolitiFact – Rulings and Stories
Fact checks from Reuters – 8 new posts
Fact Check: ISS footage is not filmed in NASA training pool
Published 12/15/2023 19:53
Videos and images are routinely captured from the International Space Station, contrary to claims shared on social media that the station does not exist and that footage is instead captured in the NASA Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.
Read at Reuters
Fact Check: Amazon Hub addresses were added to accounts in error, says company
Published 12/15/2023 19:48
Amazon said some Hub address locations were added to users’ accounts due to an error this month, contrary to posts circulating online saying the addresses were added because the company was hacked.
Read at Reuters
Fact Check: Obama collage includes photos that are taken out of context, altered
Published 12/15/2023 19:45
A derogatory post about former U.S. President Barack Obama includes false claims and four photos that are either digitally altered or taken out of context.
Read at Reuters
Fact Check: Video of truck driving into protest predates LA demonstration in 2023
Published 12/15/2023 19:37
A 2020 video of a red truck driving through a crowd on a highway has been shared with the false claim that it shows a vehicle running into activists blocking traffic on a Los Angeles highway demanding a ceasefire to the 2023 Israel-Hamas war.
Read at Reuters
Fact Check: NASA’s RS-25 is a rocket launch system, not geoengineering machine
Published 12/15/2023 19:32
NASA’s RS-25 is a rocket launching system, not a machine to control the weather, despite claims to that effect shared online.
Read at Reuters
Fact Check: Video does not show thrown out Zara clothes amid calls for boycott
Published 12/15/2023 15:45
An AI-generated campaign video for second-hand fashion platform Vestiaire Collective showing piles of clothes scattered in New York’s Times Square has been miscaptioned online to say it shows a protest against fashion brand Zara.
Read at Reuters
Fact Check: Robot-like waitress is a performer and restaurateur
Published 12/15/2023 15:25
A restaurant owner in China who performs robot-like moves while serving tables has been falsely identified online as an actual robot waitress.
Read at Reuters
Fact Check: Video of twitching broccoli is food art, not Gates’ lab-grown product
Published 12/15/2023 15:10
An art project showing a piece of broccoli moving by itself has been shared online with false captions that it is an “artificial” vegetable produced in a laboratory run by billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates.
Read at Reuters
Fact checks from Snopes.com – 13 new posts
Fact Check: Did Gordon Ramsay Agree to Weekly Appearances on Roseanne Barr’s ‘New Show’?
Published 12/18/2023 21:11
“I adore her. She’s brilliant,” he reportedly said.
Read at Snopes.com
Fact Check: Does Video Show Method Used by IDF To ‘Bury Terrorists in Their Tunnels’?
Published 12/18/2023 18:32
The video, among other things, predates the 2023 war between Hamas and Israel.
Read at Snopes.com
Fact Check: Is Keanu Reeves Replacing Whoopi Goldberg as Academy Awards MC?
Published 12/18/2023 18:24
At last report, Jimmy Kimmel was slated to host the March 2024 Academy Awards broadcast.
Read at Snopes.com
Do McDonald’s French Fries Contain ‘Acrilane,’ an ‘Ingredient’ Found in Cigarettes?
Published 12/18/2023 14:00
This rumor spread on Facebook in 2023.
Read at Snopes.com
‘Home Alone’: Here’s What Kevin’s Groceries Would Cost in 2023
Published 12/18/2023 00:00
The cost in 1990: $19.83. The cost in 2023: We recommend sitting down for this.
Read at Snopes.com
Fact Check: Is the Actor Who Played the Karate Kid Over 60 Years Old Now?
Published 12/17/2023 19:00
Time to feel old.
Read at Snopes.com
Fact Check: Is the World’s ‘Most Inconvenient Convenience Store’ a Real Place?
Published 12/17/2023 14:00
Pictures of a tiny shack built into a cliffside nearly 400 feet off the ground purport to show an actual store.
Read at Snopes.com
Fact Check: Did Bryan Cranston Say That Donald Trump Is ‘Not Sane’?
Published 12/17/2023 00:00
“What I now worry about,” the alleged quote reads, “is the sanity of anyone who can still support this deeply troubled man to lead our country.”
Read at Snopes.com
Fact Check: Times Square’s NYE Party Uses Confetti Strips With People’s Wishes Written on Them
Published 12/16/2023 19:00
The small peices of confetti will carry people’s dreams and hopes for 2024.
Read at Snopes.com
Was This Among the First Photos Taken After ’86 Chernobyl Disaster?
Published 12/16/2023 14:00
Igor Kostin was one of the first photographers at the scene, but not the only one.
Read at Snopes.com
Fact Check: No, This Pic of Justin Bieber Waving Israeli Flag Isn’t Real
Published 12/16/2023 00:42
… Although he has publicly expressed support for Israel.
Read at Snopes.com
Clickbait Headline Misleadingly Claims ‘Disney World Theme Park’ Is Closing for 4 Days
Published 12/16/2023 00:09
The prominent Disney fan blog Inside the Magic posted the misleading clickbait headline in December 2023.
Read at Snopes.com
Fact Check: Whoopi Goldberg Sues Gordon Ramsay for Throwing Her Out of His Restaurant?
Published 10/12/2023 22:16
“Great job Gordon,” one Facebook user commented.
Read at Snopes.com
Fact checks from USA Today – 11 new posts
Instagram post miscaptions video of crowd heckling Biden | Fact check
Published 12/18/2023 16:04
Instagram post miscaptions video of crowd heckling Biden | Fact check
Read at USA Today
False claim Amazon is converting electric vans to diesel | Fact check
Published 12/17/2023 17:48
An Amazon spokesperson says the claim is false. The company says it ordered 100,000 electric vans in 2019 and has 10,000 of them in service now.
Read at USA Today
No photo of inmate who attacked Chauvin has been released | Fact check
Published 12/15/2023 00:00
The photo shows a deceased member of the Aflac board of directors. No photos of the inmate who attacked Chauvin have been released.
Read at USA Today
Evidence shows moon landings happened, spacesuits work | Fact check
Published 12/15/2023 00:00
A quote from a conspiracy theorist falsely claims that astronauts could not have reached the moon, let alone be safe in their spacesuits while there.
Read at USA Today
Photo altered to show Obama family on Epstein Island | Fact check
Published 12/15/2023 00:00
An old vacation photo for the Obamas from Oahu was altered to make it look like the family was on Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous island.
Read at USA Today
FDA says claim of mRNA vaccine causing cancer is baseless | Fact check
Published 12/15/2023 00:00
There is no evidence Moderna has said mRNA vaccines cause cancer. There is also no evidence COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer.
Read at USA Today
No connection between Etsy pizza posts, child trafficking | Fact check
Published 12/15/2023 00:00
Etsy said there is no evidence the listings posed a legitimate threat to child safety, but they were removed for violating its terms of use.
Read at USA Today
No, court-martial rules not recently expanded to civilians | Fact check
Published 12/15/2023 00:00
Civilian contractors can be court-martialed in very limited circumstances, but the law has not changed recently to expand who can be charged.
Read at USA Today
Amazon locker locations added to accounts in internal error | Fact check
Published 12/14/2023 00:00
The company said the error led to the locker locations being added to a “small number” of accounts, but that it “isn’t a data security matter.”
Read at USA Today
Baseless claim Ukrainian president bought Florida mansion | Fact check
Published 12/14/2023 00:00
Zelenskyy does not appear in any searches of property owners in that county. The pictured mansion is in a different city and remains for sale.
Read at USA Today
Israeli official called Hamas militants ‘Nazi Muslims’ in post | Fact check
Published 12/14/2023 00:00
King told USA TODAY the circulating translations of his since-deleted X post are accurate.
Read at USA Today
