In early February 2019, a number of outlets began reporting on the “Peppa effect,” a purported trend causing American preschoolers who watched the show to speak in British accents. The claims were virtually guaranteed to achieve viral traction, probably owing to the number of parents across the United States whose young children watched the often …
Is ‘Peppa Pig’ Giving American Kids British Accents? Read More »
In January 2019, a meme that appeared to be a screenshot of an older post asserting that the real Lone Ranger was a black man named Bass Reeves spread on social media: Above what appeared to be an archival photograph of a black man and the television character the Lone Ranger, a screencaptured Facebook post …
On February 10 2019, NBC managing editor Dafna Linzer shared the following image and caption (subsequently transcribed) on Twitter: The tweet stated that the “stark photo taken this week in Knoxville tells a very different story about the economy,” and it included what appeared to be a caption from a news item: People in need of …
In February 2019, a meme about the 1921 Tulsa race riot was shared to Facebook, racking up tens of thousands of shares in 24 hours: Above what looked to be an archival photograph of Ku Klux Klan members lining a dirt road, and caption (“History we should all know”), it read: May 31st 1921 The …
On February 12 2019, YouTube star Shane Dawson published his second video in his conspiracy series — called, appropriately, “Investigating Conspiracies with Shane Dawson” — and by far the most popular of its three topics was a claim that Chuck E. Cheese’s pizza is “recycled” between customers. (Part two of Dawson’s series can be viewed here.) …
In February 2019, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez was among a number of Democratic women wearing all white ensembles for the president’s State of the Union address, and the New York congresswoman’s outfit in particular inspired a number of memes. On Facebook, one iteration (and variations) asserted that Ocasio-Cortez’s look was expensive, heavily implying (or even saying …
Did Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s State of the Union Outfit Cost Thousands of Dollars? Read More »
In early February 2019, a Facebook user shared the meme below, which claims that after Australia went through a government shutdown in 1975 its citizens kicked out the entire legislature and started over: Text overlaid on a photograph of what looked like the inside of a legislative building stated: In 1975 Australia had a government …
Did Australia Fire Its Entire Legislature After a 1975 Government Shutdown? Read More »
Ongoing debate about a January 22 2019 change to abortion law in New York piqued interest in the topic across social media, reviving an old rumor that a long-circulating GIF sbows the American Sign Language translation of the word “abortion.” On February 7 2019, the Facebook page “For America” shared the clip as a video. Various …
On January 23 2019, a Facebook user shared what appeared to be a screenshot of an unlinked Facebook post, alleging that a man named Jordan Lee Grinnell assaulted an unnamed black middle school student: Above three images (a handcuffed man sitting on steps, presumably the same man in an unrelated photograph, and what looked to …
Did a 38-Year-Old White Active Duty Naval Officer Assault a Black Middle School Student? Read More »
On February 7 2019, Facebook user Marcus Rogers shared a video post captioned: “SHOCKING VIDEO of Abortion Doctor GROWLING and Saying He loves Killing Babies. This is just DISGUSTING [emoji] AND YOU KNOW, they don’t want you to see this one! [emoji]: No information about the video, the identity of the individual in the video, …
Shocking Video of ‘Abortion Doctor’ Saying He ‘Loves Killing Babies’? Read More »
