Facts Check

Foreign investors own about 40 million acres of U.S. agricultural land, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Of that, Chinese investors own 383,935 acres, or about 1% of foreign-held acres. In a July 2 interview, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said China “bought 400,000 acres […]

Quick Take Lady Gaga campaigned for Joe Biden during the 2020 election and performed at his inauguration. But viral social media posts use an altered photo to falsely make it appear she has endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2024. The performer, who has been highly critical of Trump, has […]

Quick Take Hunter Biden, who has no prior criminal history, has reached a plea deal that would avoid jail time for a gun-related charge. Some conservative commentators claim the president’s son is getting special treatment, misleadingly equating his case with one involving a rapper who had a criminal record before […]

President Joe Biden has been giving a series of campaign-style speeches, touting the success of his economic policies, which he calls “Bidenomics,” and talking about his efforts to diversify the federal courts. But we found that some of his claims were wrong or imprecise. Biden wrongly claimed to have “appointed […]

Quick Take FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in 2022 for allegedly defrauding customers by stealing billions of dollars for personal use, including nearly $38 million in political donations to Democrats. Online posts falsely claim the Biden administration has dropped all charges against Bankman-Fried. But he is under house arrest […]

SciCheck Digest It remains unknown how the virus that causes COVID-19 originated, but many scientists think a natural spillover is most likely. Online posts have cited unnamed sources to claim that scientists in Wuhan, China, were the first to get sick with COVID-19. But U.S. intelligence says the researchers’ symptoms […]

In June 24 remarks, former President Donald Trump made misleading claims about the reach of the National Archives and Records Administration and the federal charges he is facing for allegedly retaining classified documents after he was no longer in office. Trump also made an unsubstantiated claim about President Joe Biden. […]

Quick Take A Harvard University professor warned in 2018 that steps were needed over the next five years to reduce carbon pollution to preserve Arctic ice. Climate activist Greta Thunberg then shared a tweet that misquoted the professor. But recent social media posts have distorted Thunberg’s tweet to falsely claim […]

Quick Take In a meeting with the Indian prime minister and CEOs of technology companies, President Joe Biden joked about Republican investigations into him and his family. “I sold a lot of state secrets and a lot of very important things,” he joked, and added, “Now, all kidding aside.” But […]