Fact Checks

The U.S.-Mexico border wall in Playas, Tijuana, where it extends out into the Pacific Ocean.

Was Teargas Used ‘Once a Month’ at the Border Under the Obama Administration?

Disinformation, Fact Checks, Politics / By /

The days following a cross-border chemical attack by American forces on unarmed members of a caravan of men, women, and children from Central America across the border with Mexico were filled with disinformation and outright propaganda as people and organizations attempted to justify the actions. One of the tear gas canisters the US used on …

Was Teargas Used ‘Once a Month’ at the Border Under the Obama Administration? Read More »

Were Photographs Showing the United States Firing Teargas at a Crowd in Mexico ‘Staged’?

Disinformation, Fact Checks / By /

On November 25th, 2018, at the tail end of the long Thanksgiving weekend in the United States, the United States government closed down the San Ysidro port of entry — one of the busiest land crossings in the world — into and out of Mexico. When a group of people ran to the border crossing, …

Were Photographs Showing the United States Firing Teargas at a Crowd in Mexico ‘Staged’? Read More »

Writing desk and stacks of books.

Did Leeds Trinity University Ban Capital Letters to Avoid Frightening Students?

Disinformation, Education, Fact Checks, Viral Content / By /

In November 2018, an odd little article about a leaked internal memo at Leeds Trinity University appeared in the British tabloid the Express. According to the story, the university told professors not to use all capital letters in order to avoid “frightening” students: Staff at Leeds Trinity’s school of journalism have also been told to “write in …

Did Leeds Trinity University Ban Capital Letters to Avoid Frightening Students? Read More »

Michael Avenatti.

Does a Photograph Prove that Michael Avenatti (or Keith Ellison) Badly Beat a Woman?

Disinformation, Fact Checks, Politics, Viral Content / By /

A bombshell report about Michael Avenatti, a high-profile lawyer turned potential politician, appeared on celebrity news and gossip site TMZ in November 2018: Michael Avenatti, who became famous for representing Stormy Daniels in her battle with President Trump, has been arrested for felony domestic violence … law enforcement sources tell TMZ. Our law enforcement sources say Avenatti was …

Does a Photograph Prove that Michael Avenatti (or Keith Ellison) Badly Beat a Woman? Read More »

Is a Caravan of Central American Asylum-Seekers Demanding Special Treatment?

Disinformation, Fact Checks, Politics, Viral Content / By /

An annual caravan of people traveling from Central America to the United States to seek asylum and refuge from extreme violence in their home countries has been beset by falsehoods, lies, and disinformation from start to finish — from baseless claims that they are “invaders” and gang members and the ensuing arrival of American troops to “secure” …

Is a Caravan of Central American Asylum-Seekers Demanding Special Treatment? Read More »

Menstrual pad.

Are Young People Boiling Menstrual Pads to Get High?

Fact Checks, Viral Content / By /

A strange story about Indonesian youths finding a interesting “new” way to get high made the rounds in November 2018: taking sanitary pads, boiling them into a soup, and then drinking the ensuring slurry after it cooled. The pads, the story helpfully assured us, could be either new or used, and that diapers could also do …

Are Young People Boiling Menstrual Pads to Get High? Read More »

Did United States President Donald Trump Threaten to Withhold Disaster Funding from California?

Disinformation, Environment, Fact Checks, Natural Disasters, Politics / By /

Sizable wildfires burning up and down California in late 2018 left dozens of people dead, destroyed an entire Northern California town, Paradise, and the heat and speed of least two enormously destructive fires — the Woolsey Fire in the south of the state and the Camp Fire in the north — overwhelmed safety measures and firefighters: …

Did United States President Donald Trump Threaten to Withhold Disaster Funding from California? Read More »

William Shatner.

Did William Shatner Record a Christmas Album With Iggy Pop and Henry Rollins?

Entertainment, Fact Checks / By /

As people began to get ready for the holidays in November 2018, social media suddenly became aware of an odd little rumor that had evidently passed under the radar months before. Apparently William Shatner, an actor and performer who is perhaps best known for his years playing Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek …

Did William Shatner Record a Christmas Album With Iggy Pop and Henry Rollins? Read More »

Shepard Fairey street art encouraging people to vote.

Hundreds of Wrapped Voting Machines Discovered in a Georgia Warehouse?

Fact Checks, Politics / By /

The American midterm elections on November 6, 2018 transformed what is normally a relatively sleepy affair that receives little coverage into a bitter, heavily-tracked series of races around the country punctuated by scandals, violence, and unexpected twists and turns. Georgia’s gubernatorial election attracted particular attention because its Republican candidate, Brian Kemp, was serving as its …

Hundreds of Wrapped Voting Machines Discovered in a Georgia Warehouse? Read More »

Crime scene tape with red and blue lights in the background.

Was the Thousand Oaks Shooter Identified as a Man of Middle Eastern Descent?

Disinformation, Fact Checks, Mass Shootings / By /

Mere hours after a gunman entered a nightclub in Thousand Oaks, California, murdering at least twelve people before shooting himself, the social media disinformation machine and its usual array of bots and paid trolls began to peddle unverified information about the suspect’s identity: This was quickly picked up and disseminated by the usual disreputable sites …

Was the Thousand Oaks Shooter Identified as a Man of Middle Eastern Descent? Read More »