On January 31 2019, a Facebook user shared the following meme (archived here), claiming that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had once said that it was possible to “land on the sun” and “we just have to go at night”: Not only did the post not include any indication as to whether it was presented as real …
During a May 23 2019 vote in the UK, early-morning rumors circulated that the latest in a line of milkshake-throwing incidents involved elderly British Army veteran Don McNaughton in the south England town of Aldershot: British tabloids raced to publish articles about the latest purported milkshaking incident. Express.co.uk reported the rumors: The elderly man was covered in a thick …
Was a Milkshake Thrown at an Elderly Brexit Party Volunteer? Read More »
On February 26 2019, a Facebook user shared the following post (archived here), purportedly showing the world’s youngest parents: Aside from a caption (“Man Wtf????”), no included information explained how the original poster had divined this information from a single photograph. Nevertheless, the image accrued tens of thousands of shares. Commenters on the image were …
Does This Picture Show the ‘Youngest Parents in the World’? Read More »
Amid a rash of near-total abortion bans in various American states in May 2019, a screenshot of two tweets regarding sexual consent laws in North Carolina caused further confusion on social media. As of May 22 2019, one of the two tweets was deleted, but one was still live: In the screenshot, both the deleted …
Is North Carolina Changing Rape Laws So Victims Cannot ‘Withdraw Consent’? Read More »
A protest amendment to HB 148 appearing to require notarized monthly statements from fertile women was mistaken for sincere legislation by some readers.
On May 14 2019, a Facebook user shared the following screenshot (archived here), purportedly showing a 1989 Associated Press item prognosticating “disaster” by the year 2000 if “global warming” remained unchecked: In the screenshot, text from an unlinked Associated Press article’s headline and first sentence was visible (with indicated emphasis), reading: U.N. Predicts Disaster if …
Is a 1989 ‘U.N. Predicts Disaster if Global Warming Not Checked’ Article Authentic? Read More »
On May 17 2019, a Facebook user shared one of several social media claims that controversial new near-total abortion bans in Alabama, Ohio, and Georgia constituted “forced pregnancy” under United Nations (UN) regulations governing the definition and handling of genocide and genocidal acts. The post (archived here) included a screenshot from the United Nations Office …
On May 18 2019, the Facebook page “Husbands & Partners of Menopausal Women” shared the following image (archived here), with a caption suggesting that a man had a heart attack after viewing what appeared to be the severed head of his mistress in the refrigerator he shared with his extremely disgruntled wife: A caption at the …
Did a Man Have a Heart Attack After His Wife Faked His Lover’s Head in the Fridge? Read More »
An October 2018 Turning Point USA Facebook video featured a brief clip of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking, purportedly explaining the manner in which Democrats use a “wrap up smear” tactic against Republicans. At the time the clip appeared, controversy was raging over the appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. All-caps text at the top of …
On the evening of May 15 2019, participants in popular Facebook groups and related pages became swamped by notifications that they were changing en masse from “closed” to “secret” after other groups with high membership counts were purportedly deleted (called “zucced” in Facebook group terminology, short for “Zuckerberg”) for initially unknown reasons. In announcement posts …
‘Indonesian Reporting Commission’ Facebook Purge Controversy Read More »
