Facts Check

Quick Take Jacob Chansley, also known as the “QAnon Shaman,” was sentenced to 41 months in prison for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, but he was released early to a halfway house on March 28 because of his plea agreement and prison protocols. Social […]

In a speech from Mar-a-Lago hours after pleading not guilty to criminal charges in Manhattan, and in social media posts, former President Donald Trump has said the case against him is unfair. Here, we explain his attacks on the prosecutor, judge and venue. Trump was charged with 34 counts of […]

The unsealed 16-page indictment against Donald Trump accuses the former president of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, but it is the accompanying 13-page “Statement of Facts” released by the Manhattan district attorney that gets to the heart of the case. In it, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg details […]

Nominees for the 27th Annual Webby Awards were announced today, and FactCheck.org is one of the contenders in the category for Websites and Mobile Sites: News & Politics. To help us win the Webby People’s Voice Award, which is voted on by the public, go to vote.webbyawards.com and use one […]

SciCheck Digest A folic acid supplement is recommended during pregnancy and prior to conception because it reduces the risk of neural tube defects in babies. Social media posts have claimed that people should avoid folic acid in favor of a different form of the vitamin, but folic acid is the only one that has been […]

Q: Is the development of offshore wind energy farms in the U.S. killing whales? A: Whales have been dying at an unusual rate along the Atlantic Coast since 2016, often from ship strikes or entanglements with fishing gear. Federal agencies and experts say there is no link to offshore wind […]

Quick Take   A tweet posted years ago by the late comedian Norm Macdonald has been altered to falsely claim that he’d commented on the possibility of a transgender school shooter back in 2016. A search of Macdonald’s account shows he didn’t write that transphobic tweet. Full Story Among the flotsam […]

Quick Take Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman has been hospitalized since Feb. 15 for treatment of depression, an aftereffect of a stroke. Social media posts use two photos of Fetterman — taken years apart — to falsely claim the Democrats are using a body double for Fetterman. Differences in the photos […]

In his first 2024 campaign rally in Waco, Texas, and in a recent interview, former President Donald Trump repeated many claims we’ve fact-checked before — but he also made new false and unsupported statements: In talking about the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, Trump may have left the false impression that […]

Quick Take   False claims about the shooter at a Christian elementary school in Nashville have been swirling on social media. Police shot and killed the suspect, whom they identified as 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale. The person was not named “Samantha Hyde” — a reference to a long-running internet hoax. Full […]