Do Asylum Seekers Get $2,100 Per Month Starting Their First Day in the United States?
A viral Facebook post compares asylum seekers to Social Security recipients, but it gets most of its numbers wrong.
status update memes
Did United States President Barack Obama Remove a ‘Citizenship Question’ from the Census?
In July 2019, a Facebook user shared a text-based status update about the census-related “citizenship question,” which claimed that such a question had existed on the United States Census for 160 years — until President Obama outlawed it: Like so many other status update memes before it, the text against a colorful background with no supporting evidence and …
Did the Supreme Court Rule 5-4 Against Swearing in on the Qur’an?
On June 11 2019, a Facebook user shared the following text-based status update (archived here), claiming the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against the use of the Qur’an for swearing oaths: Right off the bat, the format of the post was a scourge to fact-checking sites. Text against a colorful background, rarely if ever accompanied by …
Did the Supreme Court Rule 5-4 Against Swearing in on the Qur’an? Read More »
Did Nancy Pelosi Call ‘Late-Term Abortion’ Bans ‘Really Quite a Sad Thing?’
On April 14 2019, a Facebook user shared a text-based status update (archived here), claiming that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had described “late-term abortion” bans as “really quite a sad thing”: Against a purple gradient background, white text read: Nancy Pelosi just called Trump’s request to ban late-term abortion “Really quite a sad thing.” No …
Did Nancy Pelosi Call ‘Late-Term Abortion’ Bans ‘Really Quite a Sad Thing?’ Read More »
Did Bernie Sanders Say ‘Christianity is an Insult to Muslims’?
On April 20 2019, a Facebook user shared a text-based status update to their personal timeline, claiming Bernie Sanders said that “Christianity is an insult to Muslims.” The text on the post read: Bernie Sanders Says Christianity Is An Insult To Muslims. I say Bernie is an insult to America. As noted in several previous …
Did Bernie Sanders Say ‘Christianity is an Insult to Muslims’? Read More »
Are Venezuelans Being ‘Shot in the Streets’ After a 2012 Gun Ban?
An April 30 2019 text-based Facebook post (archived here) claiming that 2012 gun control legislation in Venezuela prompted political unrest was shared over 100,000 times in a few days: The status update, which came in text form without news links or other form of citation or context, and it drew a direct line between purported …
Are Venezuelans Being ‘Shot in the Streets’ After a 2012 Gun Ban? Read More »
Does Flint Still Not Have Clean Water?
In April 2019, a July 2017 text-based status update (archived here) about a lack of clean water in Flint, Michigan continued making the rounds on social media. Across a blue sky background, white text read as follows: 1188 days still no clean water for Flint MI, all my ppl share this from everywhere please As …
Were 70 Christians Massacred by Muslims in March 2019?
On March 19 2019, a Facebook user shared the status update below (archived here), claiming that 70 Nigerian Christians had been massacred by Muslims one day previously: Yesterday, muslims marched into a college in Nigeria, separated out the Christian students and killed them. 70 dead. Ten days later, the status had been shared tens of …
Were 70 Christians Massacred by Muslims in March 2019? Read More »
Does Passage of HR1 Allow Undocumented Immigrants to Vote?
On March 8 2019, a text-based status update began circulating on Facebook (archived here), asserting that the passage of legislation called HR1 granted “illegal immigrants” the right to vote. The white text across a purple background read: HR1 passed . Allowing illegal immigrants (foreigners) to vote . No country allows that Two days earlier this claim …
Does Passage of HR1 Allow Undocumented Immigrants to Vote? Read More »
Did President Barack Obama Settle 70,000 Somali Refugees in Minnesota, Leading to Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Election?
On March 12 2019, a Facebook user shared the image and text-based status update above (archived here) to the Facebook group “LARGEST GROUP EVER! We need 10000000 members to Make America Great Again!”, claiming that President Obama settled 70,000 Somali refugees into what later became Rep. Ilhan Omar’s district. White text against a purple background …