June 2019

Did a Woman on Facebook Mistake Drill Bits Discarded at a Gas Station for Bullets?

Disinformation, Fact Checks / By Kim LaCapria / June 28, 2019

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: Underneath a photograph of what is clearly four drill bits, a poster named “Emily Noel” wrote: Was At the gas station …

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Did Dwight Eisenhower Say Someday ‘Someone Will Claim It Never Happened’ in 1945?

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / June 28, 2019

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: Above a photograph skeletal human remains, text read: “Get it all on record now — get the films — get the witnesses — because somewhere …

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Did a Man Get Plastic Surgery and Change His Name to Circumvent a Restraining Order?

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / June 27, 2019

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 …

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Did Socrates Say ‘When Debate is Lost, Slander Becomes the Tool of the Losers’?

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / June 27, 2019

On June 26 2019, Eric Trump tweeted a meme attributing a quote about slander to the philosopher Socrates: 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 the tool of the losers. – Socrates Eric …

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Dr. Seuss ‘Foreign Children’ Comic

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / June 27, 2019

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 …

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There Is No Credible Evidence Rep. Ilhan Omar Married Her Brother

Disinformation, Fact Checks / By Kim LaCapria / June 26, 2019

On June 23 2019 pundit Dinesh D’Souza tweeted a very old claim: That Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) once married her own brother: In the tweet above, D’Souza claims without citation or evidence that Omar “married her brother to evade immigration laws,” and that “she divorced him and illicitly filed joint tax returns with another guy years …

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Does It Cost $750 a Day to House Migrant Children in Camps?

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / June 26, 2019

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 …

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Does a Photograph Show Rosaries Confiscated from Border Detainees?

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / June 25, 2019

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 …

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Did U.S. President Barack Obama Have a Separation Policy at the Border?

Disinformation, Fact Checks / By Kim LaCapria / June 24, 2019

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 …

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Was Don Rickles Included in ‘Toy Story 4’ Thanks to Archival Material?

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / June 24, 2019

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: Beneath a still from the animated films, the text read: Don Rickles intended to reprise his role as Mr. …

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