Did political commentator Ben Shapiro receive a Paycheck Protection Program loan (PPP) loan of more than $20,000 that was later forgiven? No, that's not true: Shapiro did not receive such a loan. Rather, an individual with the same name as Shapiro was given the loan for their real estate business and received loan forgiveness. The claim appeared in a tweet…

Did conservative commentator Ben Shapiro tweet that liberals "make up anatomical parts like the 'clitoris'"? No, that's not true. A counterfeit Shapiro tweet that claims he doesn't believe part of the female anatomy is part of a series of satirical posts trolling him. The claim appeared as a post (archived here) where it was published on Facebook on November 1,…

Did conservative commentator Ben Shapiro tweet "next Joe Biden is gonna tell me how long my pubes have to be"? No, that's not true. A tweet allegedly by Shapiro that claimed he "doesn't have any pubes yet" is a fake satirical message. The claim appeared as an Instagram post on October 19, 2021. It opens: Next Joe Biden is gonna…

Did conservative commentator Ben Shapiro tweet that his wife sleeps in her own bedroom in a Columbus Day message? No, that's not true: A tweet allegedly by Shapiro that claimed his daughter "went into my wife's bedroom," is a fake satirical message. The claim appeared in an Instagram post (archived here) on October 14, 2021. It opens: My daughter woke…

Did a Politico article suggest the Biden administration monitoring private text messages of Americans to combat vaccine "misinformation"? No, that's misleading. The Politico article stated that "Biden allied groups" are working with SMS carriers to distribute messages attempting to "dispel misinformation about vaccines that is sent over social media and text messages." The article did not state that the administration…

Did Amy Klobuchar decline to prosecute Derek Chauvin, the cop at the center of George Floyd's death? No, that's not true: Klobuchar was not involved in the prosecutorial decisions in the October 2006 police shooting of Wayne Reyes, which happened just weeks before her election to the U.S. Senate. She had already been out of the job as Hennepin, Minnesota,…

Did Hillary Clinton ever say 'The Only Crime I Ever Committed Was Stealing The Hearts Of The American People'? No, that's not true: the quote was made up by a Christian-themed satire website but went massively viral after several right-wing and conservatives Facebook pages published links to the story with many people not realizing it was not actually real. The…

Was disabled Air Force veteran James Berrie unable to vote after NBC set up their cameras and equipment in the handicapped spot in front of his polling station? No, that's not true: a partisan website published a news story based on real events but the headline above the story directly contradicted the article body and the Facebook post it was…

Did Pope Francis really say he was going to address the latest sex abuse scandal to hit the Catholic Church but only after he is finished talking about climate change? No, that's not true: the statement was made up by a Christian-themed satire website, it is not real, although many people believed it at first. The story originated from an…