The Ku Klux Klan caused a divisive Democratic National Convention in 1924 but failed to nominate its preferred candidate. A social media post shows a photo of a Klan march to falsely claim it depicts Democratic delegates at the convention in New York. But the photo is from a Klan funeral march later that year in Wisconsin.
His speech included misleading claims on inflation, crime, clean energy investments, wages and other subjects.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York reported having $60,000 at most in bank accounts and other savings and as much as $50,000 in student loan debt in her 2023 financial disclosure report. But social media posts baselessly claim that since becoming a member of Congress, she is “a verified multi-millionaire.”
The Supreme Court ruled that states may not remove former President Donald Trump from primary ballots based on the Constitution’s insurrection clause. A few days before the ruling, an Instagram post claimed a “traffic court judge” had ruled Trump shouldn’t appear on Illinois’ ballot — misrepresenting Tracie Porter’s role as an Illinois circuit court judge.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has traveled throughout the world seeking support for Ukraine’s effort to resist Russia’s invasion, but he has always returned to his war-torn country. Some social media posts — showing a fake naturalization document — falsely claim preparations are underway to bring him to the United States.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar posted condolences and support for two police officers and a firefighter killed Feb. 18 while responding to a domestic incident. A post on social media uses an altered photo to falsely claim Klobuchar previously attended a meeting with people holding “DEFUND THE POLICE” signs. The original image shows the people were not holding any such signs.
Kansas City authorities charged two juvenile suspects with crimes connected to the Feb. 14 shootings at the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory celebration, in which one person was killed and 22 others were injured. Social media posts falsely identified one of the shooting suspects as “Sahil Omar, a 44 year old illegal.” A police spokesperson said that was a “fake claim.”
Neither Taylor Swift nor Travis Kelce has endorsed a candidate in the 2024 presidential race as of Feb. 16. But social media posts are making the unfounded claim that the pair said they plan to leave the U.S. if former President Donald Trump wins the 2024 election.
Taylor Swift has previously endorsed political candidates, including Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Online posts, however, share an altered photo of Swift that purports to show she endorses former President Donald Trump’s false claim that he won in 2020 and that Democrats “cheated” in the election.
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 not be more historically misleading.”