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!!!! …
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 …
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 …
Did Muslim Men Attack a UK Serviceman on New Year’s Eve? Read More »
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 …
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 …
Is ‘Bar’ an Acronym for ‘Beer and Alcohol Room’? Read More »
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 …
Do Two-Thirds of Millennials Not Know What Auschwitz Is? Read More »
Every day, a new fake story emerges with the power to affect policy or further corrode relationships, from interpersonal to international. This is corrosive disinformation, as different from garden-variety scams and hoaxes as a molehill is from a mountain. The difference is intent — not just to mislead, but to defraud and misinform — and scale. Simple …
How to Slow the Spread of Disinformation: A Guide for Newsrooms Read More »
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 …
Did President Donald Trump’s Secretary of State Call Same-Sex Marriage ‘Evil’? Read More »
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 …
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. — …
Did the FBI Declare That ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Was ‘Communist Propaganda’? Read More »
