Kim LaCapria – Page 185 – Truth or Fiction?

dell_childrens_hospital_rape_victim_maria

Is Dell Hospital Collecting Donations for a Young Assault Victim Named Maria?

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / April 12, 2019

A February 2016 Facebook post about Dell Children’s Hospital and a purported young rape victim (archived here) continued circulating several years after the fact. The post and its variations featured roughly the same all-caps text, with rotating images of a man as seen above: THIS GUY RAPED A FIVE YEAR OLD LITTLE GIRL… HE RUINED …

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Does Flint Still Not Have Clean Water?

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / April 12, 2019

In April 2019, a July 2017 text-based status update (archived here) about a lack of clean water in Flint, Michigan continued making the rounds on social media. Across a blue sky background, white text read as follows: 1188 days still no clean water for Flint MI, all my ppl share this from everywhere please As …

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‘Sequencing Fish Samples’ Viral Twitter Thread

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / April 12, 2019

On April 6 2019, a screenshots (archived here) of a Twitter thread originally published by @AwesomeBioTA one day prior went viral on social media: In the original thread, the poster (@AwesomeBioTA) recounted the purported results of her class’s attempt to sequence samples of seafood gathered at places like supermarkets and sushi restaurants: In at least one …

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Is USPS Losing Money Because of a 2006 Pension Law?

Fact Checks, Politics / By Kim LaCapria / April 11, 2019

On April 8 2019, Facebook page “The Other 98%” shared a post (archived here) claiming that the United States Postal Service was mistakenly believed to be losing money thanks to online retailers like Amazon, when in actuality the shortfall was because of a 2006 law mandating that USPS pre-fund worker pensions: It read: DID YOU KNOW? …

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Is This an Actual Photograph of a Black Hole?

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / April 11, 2019

On April 10 2019 the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) captured the first image of a black hole in history, making worldwide headlines: This is what a black hole looks like. A world-spanning network of telescopes called the Event Horizon Telescope zoomed in on the supermassive monster in the galaxy M87 to create this first-ever picture …

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Jordan Peele, Tim Burton, Woody Allen, Ridley Scott, and Racism in Casting

Entertainment, Fact Checks / By Kim LaCapria / April 10, 2019

On March 31 2019, a Facebook user shared a screenshot (archived here) of a different Facebook post which dissected the purported race-related casting decisions made by Jordan Peele, Tim Burton, Woody Allen, and Ridley Scott: The original post seen in the screenshot accrued 19,000 shares as of April 10 2019; the screenshot 36,000: It read: …

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Did Free Birth Control in Colorado Drop Unplanned Pregnancies by 40 Percent?

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / April 10, 2019

On March 31 2019, a Facebook user shared a meme (archived here) about the purported effects of “free birth control” in the state of Colorado: Across an image of mountain scenery, the meme (watermarked by The Other 98%) read: COLORADO HAS OFFERED FREE BIRTH CONTROL FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS AND HAS SEEN: * UNINTENDED …

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sen_dianne_feinstein_electoral_college_unfair

Did Sen. Dianne Feinstein Say It’s Unfair That Smaller States Count as Much as California Because of the Electoral College?

Disinformation, Fact Checks / By Kim LaCapria / April 9, 2019

On April 4 2019, this meme was posted to a Facebook group (archived here) with a purported quote by Sen. Dianne Feinstein about California and the United States’ electoral college. Text across a photograph of the California Democrat with a superimposed a Twitter icon (suggesting that was the source of the quote) read: “…smaller states get the …

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Does Fentanyl-Laced Marijuana Smell Like Popcorn?

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / April 9, 2019

On April 4 2019, the following warning appeared (archived here), containing the claim that marijuana smokers can detect fentanyl contamination by smell: In addition to its primary claim (that fentanyl-laced weed smells like popcorn), the post contained some secondary tacit claims: primarily that marijuana can be contaminated with fentanyl and that smoking it could be lethal. No …

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first_bills_house_democrats_2019_impeachment

Were 2019’s First Three House Bills for Impeachment, an Electoral College Ban, and Foreign Aid?

Disinformation, Fact Checks / By Kim LaCapria / April 8, 2019

On April 7 2019 the Facebook page “ForAmerica” shared the following meme (archived here), purportedly describing Democrats’ first three House bills in 2019: Atop a photograph of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California), text read: THE FIRST THREE BILLS INTRODUCED IN THE HOUSE BY DEMOCRATS: IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT BAN THE ELECTORAL …

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