During an uproar following a viral video of Covington Catholic students surrounding a Native American man at the National Mall on January 19 2019, allegations surfaced that students from that institution had been photographed in blackface. On January 21 2019, the Facebook page “The Other 98%” shared a status update and image purportedly demonstrating sanctioned blackface …
On January 19 2019, Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann was named in a viral video after a clip of his interaction with Native American activist Nathan Phillips at the National Mall spread across social media. In the ensuing controversy, a tweet attributed to U.S. President Donald Trump spread in screenshots on social media: The purported tweet said: …
Did the President Tweet in Support of a Covington Catholic Student? Read More »
In January 2019, various posts appeared in myriad Facebook groups urging users to provide engagement with the post to avoid a purported purge of “inactive members.” Iterations of the same warning spread across Facebook groups of all types: Y’ALL, FB IS DELETING INACTIVE PEOPLE OUT OF GROUPS. IF YOU SEE THIS COMMENT AN EMOJI, PLEASE …
Is Facebook Removing Inactive Members from Groups? Read More »
Amid a flurry of headlines about the government shutdown and Michael Cohen on January 18 2019, President Donald Trump tweeted a highly dubious claim that ranchers on the southern United States border had found “prayer rugs” as part of a plea to fund his plan to build a wall to separate the U.S. from Mexico: Border …
Did Texas Ranchers Find ‘Prayer Rugs’ Near the U.S.-Mexico Border? Read More »
On January 10, 2019, a text-based status update about United States President George W. Bush’s Secure Fence Act of 2006 went viral: President George W. Bush signed the Secure Fence Act of 2006 into law “approved $50 Billion for the wall” WHERE IS THAT MONEY? Although the post was exceptionally well circulated (in excess of 200,000 …
Did the United States Authorize $50 Billion for the Secure Fence Act of 2006? Read More »
On January 12 2019, a Facebook user added the caption “The Swan embracing the veterinarian, who saved his life” to the photo below: Part of the image’s appeal seemed to be a long-circulating myth that swans are inherently dangerous and fond of breaking human bones. The BBC addressed the risk of handling swans in an …
Is This a Photograph of a Swan Hugging the Veterinarian Who Saved Its Life? Read More »
After Netflix’s Tidying Up with Marie Kondo debuted in January 2019, social media lit up with takes lambasting Kondo’s supposedly draconian position on the possession of books: Wait Marie Kondo is telling people to toss their books? THEIR BOOKS? was very intrigued by marie kondo’s konmari method until she got to the category of throwing out books…………. …
Did Marie Kondo Tell People They Could Only Keep Thirty Books at a Time? Read More »
In January 2019 amid an ongoing government shutdown, a May 2018 Occupy Democrats meme showed up once again on Facebook: Under a photograph of Melania Trump and President Trump, text stated: Today, Melania Trump announced her new agenda, focused on “children’s health and well-being.” Also today, Donald Trump asked Congress to cut $7 billion from …
A purported 1990s-era photograph of McConnell in front of a large Confederate flag has circulated intermittently since at least 2015.
In January 2019, Facebook page “The Original American Resistance” shared a meme attributing a quote to former United States Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” Mattis: The quote at the bottom of the image said: WHAT PISSES ME OFF IS, MY MEN DEFEND FREEDOM ALL OVER THE WORLD WITH A GUN. YET WHEN THEY GOME HOME …
