Was billionaire and philantropist George Soros arrested in Saint Margrethenberg, Switzerland at 13:23 GMT on Feb. 3 2019 because of evidence supplied by Barack Obama who has been incarcerated at Gitmo because he was charged with treason? No, all reports making that claim are based on a single story by an author with a long history of publishing untrue conspiracy…

The story originated from an article published on January 7, 2019 titled "ISIS Luring Irish Members By Offering Decent Broadband" (archived here) which opened: AFTER NEWS of the apprehension of Irish citizen and suspected member of ISIS Alexandr Ruzmatovich Bekmirzaev in Syria reached Ireland, more information relating to ISIS recruitment of Irish people has been shared by leading terrorism ...…

Yesterday Eli Saslow at the Washington Post wrote a fantastic article about Christopher Blair, a man from Maine who has been trolling conservatives and Trump supporters online for years and occasionally even made a living out of it. Blair's main website and Facebook page are named "America's Last Line of Defense" and he uses them to publish various articles and…

Can citizens of Zimbabwe now visit Canada for up to 90 days without needing a visa? No, that's not true: a fake news site with a misleading domain name that pretends to be the New York Times said the requirement had been waved but the story is not real. The story originated from an article published by nytiwes.com (not nytimes.comà…

Did sperm bank nurse Kim Joyce get pregnant after not properly washing her hands at work and accidentally touching her genitals during a toilet break? No, that's not true: the story was made up by a Spanish website that invents tales about bizarre incidents for entertainment purposes that also carries a well-hidden "satire" disclaimer which is very hard to reach…

Did Pope Francis step down over a sexual abuse coverup? No, that's not true, even though a fake news site pretending to be the New York Times is claiming he did. None of it is true. The story originated from an article published on nytiwes.com (not nytimes.com) on titled "Pope Francis Steps Down Over Sexual Abuse Coverup" (archived here) which…

Did Pope Francis cut his visit to Ireland short in order to investigate some financial irregularities of a small island parish? No, that's not true: a satirical website made up the story using details from the fictional television show "Father Ted". It is not real. The story originated from an article published by the Southend News Network on August 25,…

Did the Pope claim the catholic religion was "a load of bollocks" at a mass during his visit to Ireland? No, that's not true: the story making the claim was made up by a satirical website, it is not real. Don't just believe anything people on the internet tell you... The story originated from an article published by the Waterford…

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…

Did the U.K. government "accidentally" sell 10,000 children to child traffickers? No, that's not true: the claim was made by a site that takes real news articles and then adds some invented facts to the headline and first paragraphs of its own version of the story, often involving pedophiles or conspiracies. The people behind the site presumably do this to…