Most Hospitals ‘Legally Have to Forgive Your Medical Bills’ if You Make Under 300 Percent of the Federal Poverty Line
A viral TikTok purportedly explains how medical debt can be legally forgiven.
Viral Content
Facebook Data Mining Posts
Actor Wil Wheaton and others shared warnings about Facebook data mining, and why seemingly innocuous questions might be more sinister.
‘Don’t Get Vaccinated’ Funeral Home Truck
On September 19 2021, images of a truck appeared on social media, appearing to show a purported funeral home’s box truck advertisement reading, “don’t get vaccinated”: Per posts, the vehicle was “making laps around Bank of America Stadium before the Panthers game” in Charlotte, North Carolina. In what appeared to be a photograph captured from a vehicle, two …
Eric Cantona ‘Kicking a Nazi’ Facebook Post
On September 17 2021, the Facebook page “These memes kill fascists” shared a post about Manchester United striker Eric Cantona kicking a Nazi: Kicking a Nazi cost Manchester United striker Eric Cantona a 9 month penalty, an €18000 fine, and 2 weeks of community service. When asked about it he says it was the best …
Gabby Petito Lodi Truck Stop Sighting Rumor
Late on September 16 2021, a Facebook user shared a screenshot which referenced missing woman Gabby Petito at a truck stop in Lodi, California: As of midday on September 17 2021, the post was rapidly spreading and circulating on Facebook. It appeared to consist of a screenshot of a post to the private group “Lodi Crime …
Stillbirths in Mississippi Doubled During Pandemic
On September 16 2021, an Imgur user shared the following screenshot, showing a headline’s claim that stillbirths had doubled in Mississippi since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic: A source for the headline was not visible in the screenshot, which was dated September 9 2021: Stillbirths have doubled during covid in Mississippi. Officials are sounding …
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‘George Washington Mandated Inoculation’
On September 13 2021, a Facebook account shared a screenshot of the following tweet, which claimed that George Washington mandated inoculation: That September 9 2021 read: George Washington mandated inoculation against small pox. The Supreme Court has ruled state vaccine mandates to be constitutional for more than a century. We’ve had vaccine mandates, including for things …
Norm Macdonald ‘When I Hear a Guy Lost a Battle to Cancer’ Quote
On September 14 2021, the death of comedian Norm Macdonald was widely reported; soon after the news broke, a purported quote of Macdonald’s about “cancer” and “battles” began circulating on Imgur: Across news outlets, Macdonald’s death was attributed to long-term cancer, a diagnosis he did not publicly discuss. Macdonald was quoted as having said the …
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‘I Know More Than the Scietists’ Protester
On September 13 2021, a photograph of a man with a poorly spelled sign (“I know more than the scietists”) went viral on Twitter: One popular tweet read, “This is where we’re at and it hurts,” a sentiment seemingly addressing a widespread distrust of public health experts during the events of 2020 and 2021. A …
Was George Orwell’s ‘1984’ Banned in the United States and the USSR for Conflicting Reasons?
A September 2021 Facebook post suggested that George Orwell’s ‘1984’ was banned in the US for being pro-communist, but banned in the USSR for being anti-communist.