Did CNN praise the Taliban for wearing masks in Afghanistan? No, that's not true: The image of a CNN chyron claiming Taliban fighters were wearing masks as they attacked is fake -- it is from the Babylon Bee, a conservative satire website. The claim appeared as a post (archived here) where it was published on Facebook on August 14, 2021.…

Did New Zealand female weightlifter Laurel Hubbard suffer from a testicular injury just weeks before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics? No, that's not true: the claim is lifted from from The Babylon Bee, a satirical website that writes about "Christian stuff, political stuff, and everyday life." The story, titled "Female Weightlifter Suffers Tragic Testicle Injury Just Weeks Before Tokyo Olympics," got…

Is the Chicago Police Department now requiring its officers to ask for consent before arresting criminals? No, that's not true: The claim came from a satirical website, and a spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department said the claim is "not accurate." The story originated in The Babylon Bee, a conservative news satire website (archived here). It was then published on…

Did CNN run a caption saying the shooter who killed 10 people in Boulder, Colorado, on March 22, 2021, was factually Arabic but morally white? No, that's not true: the screenshot with the caption originated on a satire site but took on a life of its own when it went viral independently and was taken to be real by several…

Did the Coca-Cola company discontinue "Vanilla Coke" in an effort to fight white supremacy? No, that's not true: This story, a satirical spin-off of a real controversy regarding online diversity training and Coca-Cola, was published originally by the well-known satire website The Babylon Bee. The story has been duplicated and spread by several other websites and blogs that are not…

Were eight years lost when the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582, meaning that the global apocalypse supposedly foretold in the Mayan calendar for 2012 actually was supposed to happen in 2020? No, that's not true: Only 10 days were lost when the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar because it is more accurate. Besides, the Mayan calendar did not…

Did Twitter shut down its entire network to slow the spread of negative news about Joe Biden? No, that's not true: the story was published by The Bablylon Bee (a satire website) after Twitter did experience some downtime shortly after a controversial story from the New York Post was blocked on Twitter under their hacked materials policy (which they later…

Did Fisher-Price release 'My First Peaceful Protest' playset with a house that children can set ablaze? No, that's not true: This is a satirical claim published by a well-known satire website. This satire piece stems from the recent protests that have been happening across the United States following the death of George Floyd. The claim originated in an article published…

Did LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Los Angeles Lakers' leading scorers this season, wear lace collars to honor the life of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg after her death? No, that's not true: This is a satirical claim published by a known satire website. Neither James, Davis, nor any other NBA players have worn lace collars in the…

Did Netflix tweet that its content is "mostly pedophila-free" in response to criticism over its streaming of "Cuties"? No, that's not true: The claim was made in a satire article on a popular satire site. However, several non-satire sites republished the claim without satire labeling. It also became a meme that appeared to be taken seriously by those who shared…