In June 2018, a Facebook user shared a post (archived here) featuring a screenshot of a tweet about rosary beads purportedly confiscated from migrants taken into custody by border agents. That post was shared more than …
Does an Photograph Show Rosaries Confiscated from Border Detainees? Read More »
In late June 2019, United States President Donald Trump repeatedly claimed that his administration did not have a family separation policy at the border — going further to attribute the controversial actions to his predecessor, Barack …
Did U.S. President Barack Obama Have a Separation Policy at the Border? Read More »
On June 23 2019, the Facebook page “Just Disney” shared a meme which claimed that the late Don Rickles’ Mr. Potato Head character appeared in the feature film Toy Story 4 — despite his death in April …
Was Don Rickles Included in ‘Toy Story 4’ Thanks to Archival Material? Read More »
As tensions between the United States and Iran escalated in June 2019, a number of memes circulated that purportedly depicted tweets sent by Donald Trump between 2011 and 2013 — predicting that former United States …
Despite fears of “deepfake” videos and other high-tech ways disinformation could potentially proliferate in the very near future, the stories that still get the most traction are often decidedly low effort. Take, for example, the …
Have Arrest Warrants Been Issued for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama? Read More »
On June 16 2019, the Facebook page “Weird Facts” shared the following meme (archived here), about a cook and a janitor who purportedly refused to abandon the residents of a bankrupted care home: Atop an …
A headline about former First Daughter Malia Obama (archived here) depositing a suspiciously large check got a lot of traction on social media in June 2019: However, this story is suspect for two reasons. First, it …
On June 18 2019, Twitter user @johncatsjr shared the following tweet (“why I’m voting for Donald Trump in 2020”), a missive picked up by innumerable other users — along with an original misspelling: Why I’m …
‘Why I’m Voting for Donald Trump in 2020’ Twitter Meme Read More »
If you use Facebook, chances are you’ve stumbled upon the videos of Jay Shetty — perhaps the one that is very vaguely titled “Before You Judge Anyone, Watch This,” which is a parable about airport …
In June 2019 — Pride Month in the United States — the following image circulated on social media, suggesting that one of the sexual orientations added to New York City’s “Gay Street” sign was “pedosexual”: …
Does a New ‘Gay Street’ Sign Near Stonewall Include ‘Pedosexual’ in Pride? Read More »
