Society

Did the New York Times fail to mention Nascimento Blair's kidnapping conviction and prison sentence in an April 2025 article about his deportation from the United States to Jamaica? No, that's not true: the authors mentioned the conviction and 15-year sentence in detail, and in several different parts of the article. Blair was convicted of first-degree kidnapping in 2006, released…

Does a video of a Black man being escorted from St. Peter's Basilica show that Africans were banned from viewing the body of Pope Francis? No, that's not true: The man seen in the video was ejected after he jumped the long line of people waiting to enter, bypassed Vatican security, and began shouting. Lead Stories reporters at St. Peter's…

Did U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi threaten that anyone saying "Fuck Trump" may get "15 years in El Salvador" for doing that? No, that's not true: The viral image with the supposed quote was not an authentic screenshot of Bondi's interview. In the picture circulating on social media, the contents of the lower banner were digitally replaced with a made-up…

Does an inverted cross in a viral video from St. Peter's Basilica offer evidence of satanism in the Vatican? No, that's not true: The upside-down cross, also known as the Petrine cross, has a distinctive theological meaning in the religious context. It is associated with St. Peter whose wish was, as the Vatican website describes it, to be crucified head-down…

Did JD Vance's sister take to social media to ask internet trolls to stop saying the Vice President killed Pope Francis? No, that's not true: The video is one of a series by comedian Blair Erskine in which she has played roles such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's baby sitter and a Trump voter waiting in the cold for a…

Did now-retired soccer player Megan Rapinoe lose her job at ESPN after one day in April 2025? No, that's not true: The story originated from a network known for publishing made-up stories with satire labels. As of April 23, 2025, no credible sources had reported Rapinoe was fired. The claim originated from an article (archived here) on the Dunning-Kruger Times…

Did a video shared in April 2025 show a real prison guard smoking and partying with real prisoners in a prison cell? No, that's not true: The clip, which bore the caption "Jail Life", was recorded at a party attended by participants in "Banged Up", a prison-based reality TV show that aired in the U.K. in 2023. The woman in…

Did the U.K. newspaper The Guardian publish an opinion column withe the headline "The next Pope must be Muslim or there will be violence on the streets of Europe" by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, in April 2025? No, that's not true: A screenshot that appeared to show such an article was originally published by an account on X that says it publishes…

Does a viral clip of a procession consisting of people wearing black pointy hats show Pope Francis' funeral? No, that's not true: The claim first appeared on the internet four days before the scheduled burial of the pontiff. The footage captured members of a religious group in Spain, most likely celebrating the days leading up to Easter, known as Holy…

If the 2025 draft of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act is enacted, will 69 million married American women be unable to vote without getting a new official ID, as opponents have said on social media? The bill aims to prevent non-citizens from voting by requiring in-person registration with citizenship and ID documents in hand. SAVE Act sponsors say…

Did Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene post that "evil is being defeated", shortly after the death of Pope Francis was announced on April 21, 2025? Yes, that's true: Screenshots of the X post were shared widely online, especially among those critical of what they interpreted as a celebratory reference to the death of the pontiff. The Georgia Congresswoman also wrote that…

Is there a real article written by "Barry Mdikkin" titled "Teen Tycoon: Young Black Entrepreneur Karmelo Anthony Nears Millionaire Status Before Graduation" on CNN's website? No, that's not true: A Google search for the article title limited to CNN's website revealed no such article. There is also no trace of an author by that name on the site. A screenshot…

Did authentic security camera footage show U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer kissing Waheed Alli, a television entrepreneur and prominent supporter of the governing Labour Party? No, that's not true: The video, which was shared widely in April 2025, was clearly fake, and likely a product of generative AI. The clip contained several tell-tale glitches typical of AI-generated videos. The video…

Does a photo show alleged FSU shooter Phoenix Ikner marching in an anti-Trump demonstration? No, that's not true: The picture shows Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society organizer Oliver Cheese marching behind a banner that says "Fight Trump and the GOP agenda". Social media posts claiming or implying Ikner participated in the march likely were based on an FSU News…

Did Statista publish a graph detailing the nationalities of the people described as "mercenaries" who fought for Ukraine and were killed in the Kursk region of Russia? No, that's not true: The data on the Statista website doesn't show the graph shared on social media. Unlike authentic charts published by that company, the graph omitted the source of the figures…

Is a man named Samuel Hyde the suspected shooter at the shooting at Florida State University on April 17, 2025? No, that's not true: Comedian Sam Hyde is often named as the perpetrator by internet trolls whenever a mass-casualty incident happens. It is a bizarre in-joke that has been going on for years, often using variations of his name to…

Did The Atlantic publish an op-ed saying that ending racism is worth a rise in sexual assaults by migrants? No, that's not true: As of this writing, the magazine's website did not show such an article. No other credible media outlet mentioned the purported story, and a supposed screenshot of it was a digital fabrication. A spokesperson for The Atlantic…

Did law enforcement find "rolls of cash" and drugs on Kilmar Abrego-Garcia upon his arrest, as was asserted by a representative of the Department of Homeland Security? That's not found in a court document detailing a 2019 police stop involving the Salvadoran man and three others. Police records, newly released by the U.S. Department of Justice, among other files from…

At the press briefing during his visit to Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, was the casually-dressed Vice President JD Vance asked "Why don't you wear a suit?", as a TikTok video makes it sound? No, that's not true: The TikTok clip combines authentic video from Vance's March 28, 2025 Greenland visit with authentic audio from a February 28, 2025 White…

Did an image shared on social media capture the recent arrest of a "45-year-old British mother in the UK" later sentenced to nine months in prison for a Facebook post? No, that's not true: The image first appeared online in 2017. It documented a drug bust. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on April 16,…