Kim LaCapria

Kim LaCapria is a New York-based Content Manager, fact checker, and folklore enthusiast. She began debunking viral urban legends full-time in 2009, and in 2014 became the first editorial employee of Snopes.com, authoring thousands of political and viral fact checks. For several years, she worked to modernize the site and broaden its profile and scope. Those efforts came to fruition in 2016, leading to acclaim and global acknowledgement of the necessity for fact-checking and its role in slowing mis-and-disinformation on social media. Kim joined TruthOrFiction.com in December 2018. After work, she enjoys air hockey, water parks, jjimjilbangs, and internet culture.

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April Fools’ Day 2019 Roundup

Traditionally, April Fools’ Day is a major “internet holiday” — but in recent years, roundups have largely consisted of a series of commercials designed to go viral on social media. Here is a list of April Fools’ Day 2019 pranks we’re updating throughout the day:

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Monster Supercell in Burwell, Nebraska

On March 18 2019, a Facebook user shared the image below (archived here) with the caption “monster supercell, burwell, nebraska”: Several commenters expressed their concerns for the original poster’s safety, while others pointed out that they had seen the image before. A reverse image search returned matches as far back as July 2014, and the …

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Asylum-Seekers Held Under a Bridge in El Paso

On March 28 2019, a Twitter user shared the following tweet, purportedly showing a large number of people being detained under an overpass in El Paso, Texas: The images appeared to be authentic and undoctored, but they were not accompanied by a source for their description. We were able to track the photographs to Washington Post reporter …

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Pitcher Plant or ‘Penis Flytrap’

In March 2019, the following image was shared by Thailand Secrets (archived here), Pictures in History (original, archived here), “Historical Pictures” (archived here), Reddit r/mildlypenis, and Reddit r/misleadingthumbnails: Although copious versions of this photograph existed in reverse image search results, they typically and suspiciously were all dated March 2019. Google search results for “penis flytrap” restricted …

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