Did Teddy Roosevelt Stand Up for the First Black Female Postmaster?
A meme about the former United States president and Minnie Cox compelled readers, but some versions circulated without sources.
Fact Checks
Was a Snake Head Found in a Can of Green Beans?
In late December 2018, a Facebook user shared a photograph set showing what appeared to be a snake’s head, claiming that she had found it in a can of Glory Foods green beans: Accompanying the images was a post, which read: Snake for supper anyone?! This was in the CAN of green beans I cooked!!!! …
Did Donald Trump Say Generals at the Pentagon Were Better Looking and Stronger Than Tom Cruise?
On January 2, 2018, the Facebook page Union Thugs shared a meme attributing a quote about Pentagon generals and how they compared to actor Tom Cruise: The quote was bookended with commentary from the meme’s maker. It read: An actual thing the President of the United States said today. Out loud. “I had a meeting at …
Did Muslim Men Attack a UK Serviceman on New Year’s Eve?
On January 1, 2019, British far-right activist Tommy Robinson (née Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon) shared a post with photographs of an injured man, claiming that fifteen Muslim men had seriously assaulted a British serviceman one day prior in Batley: I have been informed by his family that this serving soldier was out celebrating the new year in Batley …
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Is ‘Bandersnatch’ a Real Game?
Netflix released Black Mirror standalone special “Bandersnatch,” which featured an interactive “choose your own adventure” style plot, on December 28, 2018. Immediately, viewers began dissecting its elements — chief among them claims that the story was (at least in part) based on real-life events. “Bandersnatch” follows a young British video game designer named Stefan who begins to …
Is ‘Bar’ an Acronym for ‘Beer and Alcohol Room’?
A meme with the claim that the word “bar” is an acronym for “beer and alcohol room” suddenly appeared in late December 2018: The meme was virtually identical in both presentation and format to a similar post claiming the word “hospital” had a similar etymology; this version also utilized the “today years old” theme. It was captioned …
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Do Two-Thirds of Millennials Not Know What Auschwitz Is?
In late December 2018, the Facebook page for Yahoo! Now shared a link to an article with a comment that two-thirds of millennials “don’t know what Auschwitz was.” The post linked to an article aggregated to Yahoo! from Newsweek on April 12 2018, “One-Third of Americans Don’t Believe 6 Million Jews Were Murdered During the …
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Did President Donald Trump’s Secretary of State Call Same-Sex Marriage ‘Evil’?
On December 27, 2018, a brief video appeared to show Trump administration Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussing homosexuality and referring to the Rapture, which according to certain sects of evangelical Christianity is the end of the world in which all “true believers,” dead or alive, ascend to Heaven: One of the “battles” Pompeo is …
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Did a Twitter User Claim a Border Wall GoFundMe Campaign Got ‘Almost Halfway’ to a Billion Dollars?
In late December 2018, a screenshot of a tweet attributed to a Twitter user who goes by “@MAGA_diane” began circulating on social media: The tweet appeared with a link to a GoFundMe campaign to fund a border wall between the United States and Mexico (created and pushed by Brian Kolfage, who has a history of …
Did the FBI Declare That ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Was ‘Communist Propaganda’?
In December 2018, claims that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had once deemed the holiday classic film It’s a Wonderful Life to be “communist propaganda” circulated on various social media sites: Fun Fact: Months after It’s A Wonderful Life was released, The FBI thought it was communist propaganda due to the wealthy banker being the villain. — …
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