Did a Woman on Facebook Mistake Drill Bits Discarded at a Gas Station for Bullets? In March 2018, the Facebook page “Historical Pictures” shared the following meme (archived here), purportedly a screenshot of a Facebook post in which a woman named Emily Noel mistakes discarded drill bits for bullets: https://www.facebook.com/PicturesHistorical/photos/a.1423359757905033/2087507361490266/?type=3&theater Underneath a photograph of what is clearly four drill bits, a poster named “Emily Noel” wrote: Was At the gas […]
Did Dwight Eisenhower Say Someday ‘Someone Will Claim It Never Happened’ in 1945? On June 9 2019, the Facebook page “No To Theocracy” shared the following meme (archived here), featuring a quote in which President Dwight Eisenhower appeared to have predicted Holocaust denial: https://www.facebook.com/176892342366434/photos/a.810757058979956/2211639368891711/?type=3&theater Above a photograph skeletal human remains, text read: “Get it all on record now — get the films — get the witnesses — because […]
Did a Man Get Plastic Surgery and Change His Name to Circumvent a Restraining Order? A December 2018 article headlined, “Man gets plastic surgery and name change to date his ex-girlfriend after she obtains restraining order” has appeared intermittently on social media after its publication. No obvious date appeared on the apparent news story, which claimed: A New Jersey man who went to great lengths to try and win back his […]
Did Socrates Say ‘When Debate is Lost, Slander Becomes the Tool of the Losers’? On June 26 2019, Eric Trump tweeted a meme attributing a quote about slander to the philosopher Socrates: pic.twitter.com/ojBEcJPGjt — Eric Trump (@EricTrump) June 26, 2019 Against an image of what appeared to be a black and white photograph of a statue of Socrates in Athens, text read: When the debate is lost, slander becomes […]
Dr. Seuss ‘Foreign Children’ Comic In June 2019, the following meme featuring a quote by a Fox News personality and a purported comic by Dr. Seuss on “foreign children” circulated on social media: At the top of the meme was a screenshot of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, and a June 2018 quote from Brian Kilmeade during the show. Kilmeade said […]
There Is No Credible Evidence Rep. Ilhan Omar Married Her Brother On June 23 2019 pundit Dinesh D’Souza tweeted a very old claim: That Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) once married her own brother: I’m trying to keep the @IlhanMN story straight. She marrried her brother to evade immigration laws? Then she divorced him and illicitly filed joint tax returns with another guy years before they were married? […]
Does It Cost $750 a Day to House Migrant Children in Camps? In June 2019, social media posts popped up claiming that that it costs taxpayers $750 (or $775) per child per day to house immigrant children in “tent cities” and other detention facilities. A June 22 2019 post on the Facebook page “Your Privilege Is Showing” was shared nearly 10,000 times, and it featured a screenshot […]
Does a Photograph Show Rosaries Confiscated from Border Detainees? 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 89,000 times in a year. The tweet was originally published on the same date, and it accrued more than 209,000 shares […]
Did U.S. President Barack Obama Have a Separation Policy at the Border? 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 Obama. Trump outright stated this lie multiple times in a series of interviews between June 21 and June 23, 2019: On […]
Was Don Rickles Included in ‘Toy Story 4’ Thanks to Archival Material? 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 2017: https://www.facebook.com/JustDisney/photos/a.693522117498083/1164305700419720/?type=3&theater Beneath a still from the animated films, the text read: Don Rickles intended to reprise his role […]
