Brooke Binkowski

Brooke Binkowski is a veteran, award-winning journalist who spent more than a decade reporting on immigration, post-conflict, and humanitarian issues at the U.S.-Mexico border before making the switch to fighting disinformation and propaganda online. Her work has taken her from Argentina to Alaska and everywhere in between. Before joining TruthOrFiction.com, she reported for National Public Radio, CNN, CBS, and then spent several years running editorial operations at Snopes.com.

Crime scene tape with red and blue lights in the background.

Was the Thousand Oaks Shooter Identified as a Man of Middle Eastern Descent?

Disinformation, Fact Checks, Mass Shootings / By /

Mere hours after a gunman entered a nightclub in Thousand Oaks, California, murdering at least twelve people before shooting himself, the social media disinformation machine and its usual array of bots and paid trolls began to peddle unverified information about the suspect’s identity: This was quickly picked up and disseminated by the usual disreputable sites …

Was the Thousand Oaks Shooter Identified as a Man of Middle Eastern Descent? Read More »

CNN reporter Jim Acosta.

Did a CNN Reporter Assault a White House Employee?

Disinformation, Fact Checks, Politics / By /

The morning after a hotly-contested midterm election resulted in Republicans resoundingly losing control of the House, United States President Donald Trump held a press conference to discuss the results and take questions from journalists. In the middle of the event, CNN reporter Jim Acosta stood to ask questions of Trump, including one about the ongoing …

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American flag at an angle.

Are Members of a Refugee Caravan Defiling American Flags on Their Way to the United States?

Disinformation, Fact Checks, Immigration, Trump / By /

An annual caravan heading from Central America to the southern United States border to seek asylum has been beset by rumors, misinformation, and dramatic disinformation during the 2018 election cycle; stories about the event were resurrected in January 2019 to bolster the Trump administration’s argument for an additional border wall. Participants in the annual event are …

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Painting of three crosses against a vibrant red background.

Was a Large ‘Make the Gospel Great Again’ Billboard Put Up in Missouri?

Fact Checks, Politics, Viral Content / By /

On November 3rd, 2018, just days before the United States held hotly-contested midterm elections, rumors appeared of a billboard by the side of a Missouri interstate that featured United States President Donald Trump’s face with a strange, slightly ominous Biblical message: It references John 1:14, which reads in full: The Word became flesh and made his …

Was a Large ‘Make the Gospel Great Again’ Billboard Put Up in Missouri? Read More »

Three men sitting behind a chain link border fence.

Were Seven Children Rescued From Smugglers Embedded in a ‘Migrant Caravan’ in Guatemala?

Disinformation, Fact Checks, Politics / By /

On October 25th, 2018, as bots and paid trolls pushed talking points on social media about a caravan of people from Honduras on their way to Mexico’s border with the United States to turn themselves in to seek asylum, the Judicial Watch blog published a shocking story about seven children who were saved from human …

Were Seven Children Rescued From Smugglers Embedded in a ‘Migrant Caravan’ in Guatemala? Read More »

Connecticut GOP Sends Mailer Showing Jewish Candidate Grinning at Fistful of Money

News / By /

In late October 2018, just days after a gunman — reportedly encouraged by racist political  rhetoric — slaughtered eleven people during a service at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, Connecticut’s Republican candidate for a state senate seat sent out a flyer that showed his Democratic opponent Rep. Matthew Lesser (who is Jewish) grinning over a fistful …

Connecticut GOP Sends Mailer Showing Jewish Candidate Grinning at Fistful of Money Read More »

Hands typing on laptop; code appears on the screen.

Special Counsel’s Office Asks FBI to Investigate Smear Scheme

Disinformation, Reporting / By /

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has referred a possible scam to the Federal Bureau of Investigation after a number of reporters were contacted by someone apparently shopping a story about him sexually assaulting unidentified women: 13 days ago I received this tip alleging an attempt to pay off women to make up accusations of sexual misconduct …

Special Counsel’s Office Asks FBI to Investigate Smear Scheme Read More »

Donald Trump.

Is the United States the Only Country that Offers Birthright Citizenship?

Disinformation, Fact Checks, Politics / By /

On October 30th, 2018, three days after a Pennsylvania white supremacist stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue with guns and murdered eleven people during a service and four days after a Florida man was arrested for mailing a series of glass-packed pipe bombs to public figures, United States President Donald Trump spoke out at length not against …

Is the United States the Only Country that Offers Birthright Citizenship? Read More »

Yellow tape bearing the word "CAUTION."

The Florida Mail Bombs Are Not ‘False Flags’

Crime / Police, Disinformation, Fact Checks, Politics / By /

In the final days of October 2018, after a series of glass-packed pipe bombs were delivered to high-profile critics of United States President Donald Trump, rumors ran wild about who the suspect was and what he wanted. Few of these theories were organic, and instead appeared to have originated from the usual suspects — throwaway …

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Suspect in Attempted Bomb Attacks Had History of Crime, Conspiracy Theories

News / By /

An unsettling week of threats and bombs sent to various high-profile political figures and pundits culminated in the arrest of a suspect in south Florida, a reckoning online, and a whole slew of conspiracy theories around the bombs and the culprit. Cesar Sayoc, Jr. already had a long list of convictions by the time he …

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