Fact Checks – Page 209 – Truth or Fiction?

Can Shaking Your Phone Report Posts and Land Your Friends in Facebook Jail?

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / June 13, 2019

In June 2019, a number of Facebook posts popped up warning mobile users of a purported new mobile feature in which shaking a phone with the social media platform’s mobile app open could lead to automatic reporting of posts (and, readers surmised, unwittingly sending friends to “Facebook jail”): The most commonly shared variation of the …

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Does an X-Ray Show Hundreds of Undigested Boba Pearls in a Young Chinese Patient?

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

In June 2019, a number of websites and news outlets reported that a young girl in China was treated for symptoms related to the discovery of “hundreds” of undigested boba pearls in her digestive tract via x-ray. Notably, headlines for the story often indicated that elements of it were mostly likely unedited and unvetted: Doctor …

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Did Steinway and Sons Airdrop Pianos During World War II?

Fact Checks, Viral Content, War / By Kim LaCapria / June 11, 2019

In June 2019, a Facebook page shared the following image (archived here) and story about Steinway & Sons pianos dropped into areas of combat during World War II: A status update said of the image: During World War II, Steinway & Sons airdropped pianos with large parachutes and complete tuning instructions into the battle for …

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Did Slaves Braid Routes to Freedom Into Hairstyles?

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

In February 2019, a Facebook user shared a post (archived here) that showed patterns for hairstyles with a claim that slaves used braid patterns to plot out routes to freedom: What if I told you all, during slavery, our ancestors braided escape route patterns in their hairstyles too flee bondage and seek freedom from their oppessors! …

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Did Keanu Reeves Tweet ‘Be Kind to Animals or I’ll Kill You’?

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

In June 2019 (not long after the feature film John Wick 3 was released), a purported tweet attributed to Keanu Reeves began circulating on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and meme sites. Screenshots of what looked like a verified @KeanuReeves account tweeting “be kind to animals or I’ll kill you” spread across social media, followed by a rumor …

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Viral Facebook Video of Unknown Creature on Home Security Footage

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

On June 6 2019, a Facebook user shared the following clip (archived here), asking readers to identify what appeared to be an unusual creature captured on home security footage: In comments, the original uploader responds to a question about whether the footage was captured by a Ring doorbell (it wasn’t). In an appended update status, she …

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Did Julia Roberts Say Women Are Not Rehabilitation Centers for Badly Raised Men?

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / June 7, 2019

On June 7 2019, the Facebook page “Sarcastic Mama” shared the above quote meme (archived here), featuring a photograph of Julia Roberts superimposed with a quote about women not being “rehabilitation centers for badly raised men.” The quote attributed to Roberts said: Women, you are not rehabilitation centers for badly raised men. It is not your …

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The Chernobyl ‘Bridge of Death’

Entertainment, Fact Checks / By Kim LaCapria / June 6, 2019

In May 2019, the release of HBO’s show Chernobyl caused a spike of interest in all aspects of the nuclear disaster — including the revival of some long-forgotten rumors. A postscript relating to a scene in Pripyat brought back one suck story: that most or all residents gathered on what was later dubbed the “Bridge of Death” …

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‘Neither the Fanatics Nor the Faint-Hearted Are Needed’

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By Kim LaCapria / June 6, 2019

In April 2019, a Facebook user shared the following meme (archived here), which purportedly provided several lines from an undelivered speech scheduled for U.S. President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Above an excerpted portion of text, the meme read: These are JFK’s last words, written for end of speech he planned to give …

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Was a Dutch Teenager Euthanized Because of Rape Trauma?

Disinformation, Fact Checks / By Kim LaCapria / June 5, 2019

In early June 2019, a number of English-speaking news organizations reported that a 17-year-old Dutch girl named Noa Pothove had been “euthanized” at her request, following years of unsuccessful treatment due to the trauma of rape and sexual abuse: Among organizations reporting the claim were the Washington Post, the Daily Mail, The Sun, the New York Post, Fox News, and …

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