On April 25 2019, a Twitter user posted a claim that the social media platform possessed a “Nazi-hunting” algorithm, but opted not to employ it specifically because it would also filter the tweets or accounts of some Republican lawmakers: In a subsequent tweet, Allen cited Jewish Daily Forward as a source for the information, but the …
On April 26 2019, Facebook page “The Trump Train” shared the following post (archived here), claiming that it showed a crowd of a few dozen people in Houston ten minutes before Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) was scheduled to speak: Across the top of an image of a few dozen people, the text read: 4/24/19 – Bernie’s …
On April 1 2019, a Facebook user shared a photograph of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 (archived here), claiming that the social media site “feels this photo is offensive and keeps removing it or hiding it”: Apparently Facebook feels this photo is offensive and keeps removing it or hiding it!! I am sharing …
Does Facebook Deem Images of 9/11 Offensive and Prohibit Them? Read More »
In April 2019, in the days and weeks following the release of a heavily anticipated (and heavily redacted) Special Counsel’s report on interference into the 2016 United States presidential elections, rumors and speculation reinvigorated a March 2017 conspiracy theory that British intelligence spied on the Trump campaign for the Obama administration: President Trump provoked a rare public dispute with …
Does a ‘Leaked’ British Intelligence Document Prove Trump Wiretapping Claims? Read More »
On April 10 2019 a Facebook user shared the following post (archived here), purportedly showing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doing what appears to be a particularly athletic dance move at a party: The post’s image showed Ocasio-Cortez being supported by an unidentified man holding her legs as she did the splits. Text at the top and bottom …
Among the many conspiracy theories around the Notre Dame Cathedral fire of April 15 2019 was the rumor that an episode ofThe Simpsons had predicted the blaze, continuing a rather peculiar pattern of stories around predictions made by the long-running and beloved cartoon series: A Facebook version of this particular shared on April 21 2019 (archived here) appeared to substantiate …
On April 24 2019, a Facebook user shared the following status (archived here), claiming that a Snapchat sex trafficking ring was operating in Lawrence, Massachusetts: So there’s a sex trafficking ring going on in Lawrence Mass. If you get a random person who tries adding you on Snapchat this morning and it says “added by …
Is There a Snapchat Sex Trafficking Ring in Lawrence, Massachusetts? Read More »
On March 24 2019, the Facebook page “TRUCK ECM” shared the following image (archived here); a caption described the moments purportedly leading up to the collision: The photograph showed an eighteen-wheeler that had crushed a smaller vehicle, and the caption read: This should be the image stuck in your head anytime you think about whipping …
,On April 16 2019 the Facebook page “Proud Liberal Americans” shared a subsequently popular meme (archived here), purportedly contrasting statements provided by United States Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump about the fire that gutted Notre Dame Cathedral: At the top was a photograph of Obama and a quote: “Notre Dame is one of the world’s …
Are These Presidents Obama and Trump’s Statements on the Notre Dame Fire? Read More »
Soon after the April 15 2019 Notre Dame Cathedral fire broke out, Twitter user @FaithGoldy tweeted that the blaze occurred shortly after the arrest of “three Muslim jihadis” in Paris (archived here): A screenshot of the tweet was subsequently shared by the Facebook page “Freedom From Tyranny” (archived here.) The original tweet linked to an April …
