Election

Did nearly a quarter of a million voting attempts fail in the November 8, 2022, election in Arizona and did that impact the vote count? No, that's not true: The communications director for the Maricopa County Elections Department called the allegation "textbook disinformation." While many ballots were scanned and rescanned multiple times, the votes were ultimately counted. Arizona Secretary of…

Did the German government claim that investigating COVID vaccines would be "dangerous for democracy"? No, that's not true: Alena Buyx, who is not in the German government, did not claim that such investigations would be a threat to democracy. She is a German medical ethicist who since 2020 has been chair of the German Ethics Council, an independent group of…

Is President Joe Biden actually "unelected" and is his status as president "in violation of the Constitution"? No, that's not true: In accordance with the Constitution, Biden was duly elected as president of the United States. This process is not, as a social media post claims, an overreach of the federal government. The claim appeared in a post on Instagram…

Did the judge in the trial of Young Thug sentence the Atlanta rapper to 25 years in maximum-security prison, as of January 12, 2023? No, that's not true: Young Thug, whose legal name is Jeffery Williams, was not convicted -- much less sentenced -- as of January 12, 2023, when this fact check was written. The claim appeared on Facebook…

Did the U.S. House of Representatives' committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol withdraw its subpoena of former President Donald Trump because "they knew Trump did nothing wrong"? No, that's not true: The withdrawal had nothing to do with Trump's guilt or innocence. The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States…

Did former President Donald Trump endorse Florida Rep. Byron Donalds for House speaker? No, that's not true: Trump, himself, says the claim is false. He described the statement making the claim as a forgery and a fake. Trump has publicly endorsed California Rep. Kevin McCarthy for the coveted House position. The claim appeared on Twitter (archived here) on January 4,…

Does Jacques Attali's book "Verbatim," published in 1981, contain a prediction of a man-made pandemic that would eliminate the elderly and other vulnerable parts of the population? No, that's not true: There is no such quote in his book. The claim appeared on Instagram on December 21, 2022. The caption read: #pandemic #conspiracy#control #media #lies #viral #wow #fyp #reels This…

Did Elon Musk announce, as of December 24, 2022, that he is running for president? No, that's not true: As one of the most-reported-on persons of 2022, any such announcement would have been a top story for dozens of credible professional news organizations. No such reporting existed as of December 27, 2022. Nor had Musk, who owns Twitter and uses…

Did President Joe Biden put his hand on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's buttocks while pausing for a photo op during Zelenskyy's December 2022 visit to the United States? No, that's not true: The original image was posted to Twitter by Jill Biden and shows both Jill Biden's and Joe Biden's hands on Zelenskyy's back. The image was digitally edited and…

Did Rep. Scott Perry make an official statement saying that "Italian satellites," the CIA and the Italian government collaborated to manipulate votes in President Joe Biden's favor? No, that's not true: According to Perry's office and a review of his Twitter account, the television graphic containing that statement is fake. Though he made no such official statement and the television…