Andrew Tate

Was Steve Bannon slated to speak at the Republican National Convention -- and is he still on the schedule for Tuesday night? No, that's not true. The claim that Bannon would be one of the speakers at the GOP convention came in a Facebook post after news broke of Bannon's arrest on a fraud charge. The subsequent claim that he…

Is the COVID-19 pandemic a conspiracy manufactured by "Deep State Democrats" and the "mass media" to disrupt, even rig, the upcoming presidential election in a bid to topple Donald Trump? And did the coronavirus provide the perfect cover for the mass racial justice protests since the death of George Floyd after being knelt on for nearly nine minutes by a…

Is a meme listing 22 points, including conspiracy claims about 5G hazards, adrenochrome, Jeffrey Epstein, Pizzagate, and Britain's Royal Family factual? Mostly no, although some points are true and others are just predictions that cannot be fact checked. An example of the massive meme is found in a post (archived here) shared on Facebook June 4, 2020. It opened:…

Did U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defer $2.2 billion from Social Security to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget amid the ongoing battle against the coronavirus pandemic? No, that's not true. This is a satirical piece written by a known network of fictional news sites that tries to trick conservatives into sharing bogus reports. Often, click-bait sites steal the satire…

Did Italian law enforcement arrest several cardinals and did they seize Vatican City? No, that's not true: the story originated as satire on Patheos.com and was later copied by "real" conspiracy websites. None of it is true. The original story appeared as an article (archived here) on Patheos.com where it was published on January 17, 2019 under the title "Italy…

Have FEMA "smart" guillotines been placed in FEMA internment camps? No, that's not true: it is a re-cycled conspiracy hoax published by a website known to published bizarre fiction submitted by the general public as news. The claim that internment camps operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been stocked with modernized devices to chop off heads has been…

Did President Trump send out a tweet that included the phrase "Oldies will have to die" in connection with lifting coronavirus restrictions? No, that's not true: the claim originated on a satire website but was widely picked up on Twitter and presented as real by several people. A search of Trump's recent tweets did not show any that contained the…

Is Hillary Clinton heading to jail after taking a payoff from the Russian government in connection with the Uranium One controversy? No, that's not true: In fact, according to the Washington Post, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has basically wrapped up its inquiry into the matter -- and the DOJ has no plans to pursue it further. The claim was…

Did President Trump say that "hundreds" of state governors are calling him? No, that is false. This is a claim making the rounds on social media that takes the words of the president out of context. And it appears designed to make the president look ignorant of the fact there are only 50 states. The claim appeared in a post…

Did the New York Jets sign free agent Colin Kaepernick to a one-year, $9 million contract? No, that is not true: Kaepernick was not signed to a new deal with the NFL's Jets. A Tweet was sent from an account with a photo that looked like ESPN's SportsCenter logo -- but with the name "SuperToughScene" -- claiming Kaepernick signed with…