Are police investigating the death of a former Arkansas state senator who believed she was closing in on a child trafficking ring? No, that's not true: Linda Collins, who lost her state senate post to another Republican last year, was shot to death at her Pocahontas, Arkansas, home on June 4, 2019, but there is no evidence that she had…
Did the FBI admit that President Barack Obama lied to the nation about Hillary Clinton's email? No, that's not true: The article making the claim misrepresents a Judicial Watch report that an FBI official disclosed in a deposition that one of the sources for recovered Clinton emails was the server for the Executive Office of the President. The official did…
Did Democrats say that American taxpayers must pay reparations to illegal aliens? No, that's not true: The claim is a distortion of a statement made by a member of congress in reference to children separated from parents after arriving at the border to apply for asylum in the United States. Rep. Pramila Jayapal said the federal goverment must "make reparations"…
Did Pope Francis compare Christians to a fungus during an address in Morocco? No, that's not true: The speech quoted in misleading stories included the pope quoting a biblical passage in which Jesus responds to a question about the nature of the Kingdom of God by saying "It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three…
Did firefighters in Northern California suffer neurological damage after contact with 5G cell towers? No, despite claims in several trending reports there is no "new university study" or other scientific evidence to support the claim that installation of the latest evolution of mobile communication towers -- known as 5G -- has caused such harm. An indepth look at the sourcing…
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…
Did an unnamed woman admit she was paid to frame Bill Cosby with rape? No, that's not true: a South African website copied an old conspiracy article from NewsPunch/YourNewsWire but the theory it comes up with does not make sense from a timing perspective. It also relies on unnamed sources that can't be verified. The story recently went viral again…
Did Pope Francis say a world government must rule the U.S. for their own good? No, that's not true: the story was made up by a website that attracts clicks and visitors by taking existing news reports out of context and adding an incendiary headline to it, often containing made up facts that are not found in the sources the…
Was NFL lawyer Dan Goodes found dead after claiming the Super Bowl is rigged? No, that's not true: an old copy of a fake story published in 2018 went viral again after being posted to several large Facebook groups and pages in 2019 but it is still not true. The copy of the story was an article published on Fabruary…
A Macedonian military man appears to be one of the driving forces behind a network of fake news websites that reached millions of people with articles often inciting hatred against muslims and migrants. Together with friends and family he has been spreading his messages via Facebook and Twitter. Sometimes under their own names, sometimes using fake identities. A look behind…
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