Satire

Did Dr. Anthony Fauci petition the State Department for an emergency travel visa to China so he can take up a position at the Wuhan Institute of Virology? No, that's not true: A Facebook post making that claim originated on a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer. The owner of the page is known for tricking conservatives into liking and…

Did the federal government pay Barack and Michelle Obama $30 million over the course of the Biden administration, from 2021 to 2025? No, that's not true: That claim originated in an April 2025 post by a Facebook account that labels its content as satirical in nature. We found no corroboration whatsoever for the claim. The story appeared in the form…

Did Casey Anthony, a Florida woman cleared of murdering her daughter in 2008, open a daycare center in Branson, Missouri in April 2025? No, that's not true: A widely-shared Facebook post was created by an account that labels its output as satire. In March 2025, Anthony described herself as a legal advocate and researcher. The claim that Anthony opened a…

Is there a real news story saying every FBI agent involved in the Mar-a-Lago raid was fired and did they have their pensions stripped? No, that's not true: A meme making that claim originated on a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer. The owner of the page is known for tricking conservatives into liking and sharing made-up content. The meme…

Did Representative Jasmine Crockett "conveniently overlook" social security checks going to her dead grandmother for 13 years and did this come out during a DOGE audit? No, that's not true: A meme making that claim originated on a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer. The owner of the page is known for tricking conservatives into liking and sharing made-up content…

Are there news reports about FBI Director Kash Patel seizing phone and bank records for "everyone on Pelosi's staff on January 6th"? No, that's not true: A meme making that claim originated on a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer. The owner of the page is known for tricking conservatives into liking and sharing made-up content. The meme appeared in…

Did the family of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez overlook 14.5 years of cashing the social security check of their dead grandmother? No, that's not true: The "news" about the social security check originated on a website with a clear satire disclaimer. It is run by a man known for tricking conservatives into liking and sharing made-up content. The claim appeared in…

Did commentator Ben Shapiro criticize the work of American painter Georgia O'Keeffe for "not looking like anything"? No, that's not true: quotations attributed to Shapiro actually originated in a 2021 article by the self-described satire website The Hard Times, and were re-shared again in March 2025. Similarly, Shapiro never posted a video to YouTube with the title "Ben Shapiro DESTROYS…

Did the U.S. State Department deny Dr. Anthony Fauci's passport renewal application in March 2025? No, that's not true: The original source of that claim about the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was an article on a website that describes its own content as "fiction" and "satire." The article attributed quotations to two fictional…

Did King Charles III give official notice that he has revoked U.S. independence, effective immediately, will reign as monarch and that "The nincompoop you've elected as President will go to gaol", as social media posts claim? No, that's not true: There was no official statement to that effect from the British monarch. No such statement appeared on Buckingham Palace social…