Fact Check: Meta Did NOT Add New Tags On Threads Posts To Warn That Certain Users Are Suspected Of Membership In Antifa -- Meme Appears To Mock Trump Administration War On Antifa

Hoax!

Did Meta, the owner of the Threads social media platform, announce it had begun labeling some accounts with a warning that "𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘢"? No, that's not true: Users add the italicized phrase themselves at the bottom of their own posts. Neither Meta nor Threads announced such a program.

The line proliferated on September 25, 2025 Threads like this one (archived here) attached to a photo of the Buc-ee's convenience store mascot, Buc-ee Beaver . The full "warning" users are adding to posts on Threads reads:

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘢. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘳.

Here's what one example of the meme looked like on Threads at the time this fact check was written:

(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at .threads.com/@wlotspod)

No announcement of such labelling appeared on the "Newsroom" page of Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

Users were adding the fake tag to posts ranging from political declarations to sillier items, as seen here:

(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of items found when using the Antifa warning tag as a search term.)

The only "Antifa" item found by the Meta Newsroom search agent was an August 19, 2020 post (archived here) about a Facebook policy restricting posts by militia organizations and those encouraging riots. That coincided with the summer of clashes between Antifa and far right groups in Portland, Oregon and elsewhere. The Facebook post said 980 groups, 520 pages and 160 ads had been removed from Facebook, "including some who may identify as Antifa." The Meta statement did not say the social media platform would label suspected Antifa members.

Lead Stories reached out to the Meta press office September 25, 2025 for comment about the spoof labels and will update this fact check when they reply.

Using key words to search the GoogleNews index of thousands of sites, Lead Stories found one reference to the label, an article on Lifehacker that quoted an unnamed Meta spokesperson saying the labels were a hoax being spread by users.

Using the same key words to search the YahooNews index of its publishing partners and news services, Lead Stories found (archived here) the same anonymously-sourced Lifehacker article, plus other posts speculating about it, but without even an anonymous source.