FactCheck.org Managing Editor Lori Robertson was a guest on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” on Jan. 28. She talked about debunking misinformation in the 2024 election cycle and, more broadly, explained how we do our work. Tia Mitchell, a Washington correspondent for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and a host of the “Washington Journal,” […]
Facts Check
Posts Misrepresent WHO Term ‘Disease X’ for Possible Future Illness
Para leer en español, vea esta traducción de Google Translate. SciCheck Digest The World Health Organization began using the term “Disease X” in a 2018 planning document to refer to a “currently unknown” illness. But since the term was used at the January meeting of the World Economic Forum, conspiracy theorists baselessly claim Disease X is part of a “Globalist […]
Viral Posts Misuse Rat Study to Make Unfounded Claims About COVID-19 Vaccines and Autism
SciCheck Digest COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy benefits both mother and baby. Side effects are generally mild, and studies don’t show negative effects on the baby. A criticized study that gave COVID-19 vaccines to pregnant rats doesn’t show that vaccines cause autism or that people shouldn’t get COVID-19 vaccines, contrary to […]
Biden’s Numbers, January 2024 Update
Summary Para leer en español, vea esta traducción de Google Translate. Here’s how the United States has fared since President Joe Biden took office three years ago: The economy added more than 14 million jobs. The number is now nearly 4.9 million higher than before the pandemic. The unemployment rate […]
FactChecking Trump’s New Hampshire Victory Speech
Para leer en español, vea esta traducción de Google Translate. Following his projected win in New Hampshire’s GOP primary on Jan. 23, former President Donald Trump gave a speech that included distorted claims about the state’s primary rules, his election record in New Hampshire, his Republican opponent’s general election prospects […]
Posts Distort History in Comparing Lincoln With Efforts to Disqualify Trump
Quick Take Efforts are underway in many states to disqualify former President Donald Trump from primary ballots, based on the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause. Some viral posts compare Trump to Abraham Lincoln and falsely claim Lincoln was “removed” from state ballots in 1860. A Lincoln scholar said the claim “could […]
Kentucky Lawmaker Fixes Incest Bill, But Not Until After It Goes Viral
Para leer en español, vea esta traducción de Google Translate. Quick Take State Rep. Nick Wilson proposed changing Kentucky’s incest law to add a ban on “sexual contact” to the existing ban on “sexual intercourse” between family members, but says he accidentally struck “first cousins” from the list of illegal […]
FactChecking Trump’s Iowa Victory Speech
Para leer en español, vea esta traducción de Google Translate. In a victory speech after decisively winning the Iowa GOP caucus on Jan. 15, former President Donald Trump twisted some facts on terrorism, mail-in voting and his record in Iowa caucuses. When talking about terrorism and a travel ban he […]
What We Know About the Brooklyn Synagogue Tunnel
Para leer en español, vea esta traducción de Google Translate. Quick Take Nine men were charged with criminal mischief or attempted criminal mischief and other offenses after New York officials ordered an unauthorized tunnel built adjacent to a Brooklyn synagogue be stabilized. Viral posts made baseless claims that the tunnel […]
Tucker Carlson Video Spreads Falsehoods on COVID-19 Vaccines, WHO Accord
SciCheck Digest Contrary to claims amplified by podcaster Bret Weinstein during an interview with Tucker Carlson, COVID-19 vaccines have saved millions of lives, not killed 17 million people worldwide. Weinstein also inaccurately characterized a proposed World Health Organization pandemic accord and other changes, claiming they aim to take away “personal […]