Was a fourth batch of stimulus checks approved and "coming" in December 2021? No, that's not true: According to information from the U.S. government, by December 2021 the most recent batch of stimulus payments had been sent to qualifying Americans in March 2021.
The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on December 13, 2021. The post has a link to a so-called "news brief." The caption reads:
4th Stimulus Checks Approved
$3600 Checks Coming This Month
Must Read - Breaking News Brief APP
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Apr 18 16:58 2022 UTC)
According to a COVID-19 resource titled "Advance Child Tax Credit and Economic Impact Payments - Stimulus Checks" published by USAGov, the IRS only issued three stimulus payments during the COVID pandemic:
The IRS issued three Economic Impact Payments during the coronavirus pandemic for people who were eligible:
- $1,200 in April 2020
- $600 in December 2020/January 2021
- $1,400 in March 2021
These payments were sent by direct deposit to a bank account or by mail as a paper check or a debit card. You can check eligibility requirements for stimulus payments on IRS.gov.
At the time of writing, the USAGov page was last updated on March 10, 2022 (see the bottom of the archived page here).
The link in the Facebook post did not lead users to a "news brief;" rather, it led to a Google Play installation page for the app Breaking News Brief: US News.
