9/11

Did Michelle Obama slam First Lady Melania Trump, saying, "She's a terrible role model for America's women?" No, that's not true: The quote is fabricated and part of a satirical site that trolls conservative readers into believing the stories are true. The claim originated from an article (archived here) published by Obama Watcher on November 26, 2019, under the title…

Were 23 people killed and dozens injured at a Virginia pro-gun rally? No, that's not true: The protest on Monday was peaceful, according to media reports. The website that posted the story is known for creating satirical content and describes itself as "the most reliable source of fake news on the planet." The claim originated from an article published by…

Is the Virginia governor preparing to order up to 10,000 body bags in anticipation of civil war breaking out? No, that's not true: The Democratic governor denies he has ordered body bags. This is an unsupported claim - a hoax played on people who fear the governor's new gun-control efforts will confiscate residents' weapons and set off a civil war.…

Were hundreds of birds that fell out of the sky found dead near a 5G installation? No, that's not true: Even though hundreds of starlings were found dead in Bodedern, a village in Wales, on December 10, 2019, Vodafone has confirmed that there is no 5G wireless service in the area, nor have any tests taken place. The mystery continues…

Is the Virginia governor planning to use roadblocks and U.N. troops to seize guns? No, that's not true: Gov. Ralph Northam has not requested United Nations assistance to confiscate guns, and he has not suggested using roadblocks for weapons seizures. The story first surfaced on an online radio program called "The Common Sense Show," which is known to traffic in…

Has the Virginia governor ordered plans to cut off electricity, telephones, and Internet communications ahead of statewide gun confiscation during the new year? No, that's not true: Gov. Ralph Northam has not issued any such order, and the false claim first surfaced from a white supremacist radio host with a history of spreading conspiracy theories and other falsehoods. This claim…

Did the entire European Union vote to ban all single-use plastics by 2021? No, that's not true: this article is misleading, taking out of context the very BBC story to which it links. The EU's Parliament did pass the Single-Use Plastics Directive, which bans only products for which alternatives exist. The ban applies to only the top 10 single-use plastics…

Was a man whose fart is known to kill mosquitoes hired to produce belly gas for a repellent? No, that's not true: The man was a fictional creation of a satire website, but many publishers failed to pick up on the joke and republished the claim as real. The Sun newspaper of London was duped into publishing a story, which…

Did a Nigerian man hack the U.S. government to give his family and friends permanent citizenship? No, that's not true: The story was originally put out by a South African satire website that used to disguise itself as news and got widely picked up by various English-language websites in Africa that didn't realize the source of the story was a…

Did a former CIA agent say the agency would supply elite pedophiles with child prostitutes in return for secret information, and that it was legal? No, that's not true: Former CIA case officer John Kiriakou was seen on video speaking on an anti-war panel in 2017 as he gave the hypothetical scenario to make a point about the lack of…