&Quot;Pope Francis&Quot;

Did Pope Francis compare Christians to a fungus during an address in Morocco? No, that's not true: The speech quoted in misleading stories included the pope quoting a biblical passage in which Jesus responds to a question about the nature of the Kingdom of God by saying "It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three…

Can making love in the sea cause your baby to be born with blue eyes? No, that's not true: the story was made up by a Spanish humor website for entertainment purposes. It is not real. The story originated from an article published on March 20, 2019 by "There Is News" titled "Making love in the sea can make your…

Did a trapeze artist with diarrhea shit on 23 people in Boston? No, that's not true: the story was made up by the English language version of a Spanish humor website that used to disguise itself as a news source. They have now added the phrase "Not real, but so funny" to their logo and added following warning at the…

Did Pope Francis declare masturbation is no longer a sin for followers of the Catholic Church? No, that's not true: the quote was made up by a Spanish website with a well hidden satire disclaimer and it later translated the story for its English language version. The story went viral via an article published on February 17, 2019 by There…

Did Pope Francis say a world government must rule the U.S. for their own good? No, that's not true: the story was made up by a website that attracts clicks and visitors by taking existing news reports out of context and adding an incendiary headline to it, often containing made up facts that are not found in the sources the…

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…