Bait And Switch

Is "Pizza Gate" real? No, that's not true: So-called proof for Pizzagate is unsubstantiated and speculative. It relies on tricks of the trade common to people pushing unproven allegations. Authorities have described Pizzagate as a "fictitious online conspiracy theory." The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on Facebook on August 21, 2020. The post contains a nearly hour-long…

Do photos show mass microchipping has begun in Sweden? No, that's not true: Only a few thousand Swedes have had the rice- grain-sized chips implanted under the skin of their hand over the past several years, hardly a "mass microchipping" of Sweden's population of more than 10 million people. Some of the photo examples used in an article making the…

Did conservative political provocateur Dinesh D'Souza die at the age of 58? No, that's not true: D'Souza is alive, and an article suggesting otherwise is just the latest in a long line of celebrity death hoaxes to take the Internet by storm. The claim most recently appeared in an article (archived here) published by environmentdepth.org on November 11, 2019, under…

Has the actor who played bionic man Steve Austin died and left $6 million to the Trump reelection campaign? No, that's not true: The former "Six Million Dollar Man" has not died and donated the amount that was used to "rebuild him" with bionic parts on the iconic 1970s television show. The story is a work of fiction and originated…

Did President Trump just sign an executive order banning all assault rifles nationwide? No, that's not true: the "news" may have caused joy or dismay depending on which side of the debate you are on but it was totally made up by a prankster who launched the rumor through prank website LA TLMES (a name that looks a lot like…

Were some alien enthusiasts shot dead during today's "Storm Area 51" event? No, that's not true: the source of the story was not the LA Times but a prank site designed to look like it. The story originated from an article published on the LA TLMES (with L, not I) on September 20, 2019 titled "Alien Enthusiasts Shot Dead At…

Did the Los Angeles Times report President Donald Trump admitted to being a Nazi in a speech? No, that's not true: a prank website with a domain name that is almost identical to the real LA Times published a webpage that looked just like an LA Times article on social media but when clicked it revealed a video of Rick…

Did Russian President Vladimir Putin ban all Microsoft products from Russia? No, that's not true: a 2016 article was reposted to Facebook by website that has a reputation for making up unsubstantiated claims in its headlines that are not backed by the content of the articles it links to. The story originated from an article (archived here) on NewsPunch where…

Tara, Jesica, Ana, Lora: since a few weeks dozens of trolls on Twitter are dangling bait in front of American Trump supporters. Their goal: bring in as many clicks as possible for two commercial, (potentially Serbian) anti-islam websites. And it is working: in twelve days they reached a potential audience on Facebook of 3.8 milion users. Lead Stories went troll…