After Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, social media users reprised a false claim about the late Supreme Court justice — arguing she wanted to “lower the age of consent for sex to 12.” The old falsehood is a distortion of a report she co-authored in the 1970s on sex bias in federal laws.
Social media posts are using an image of a CBS News report to accuse the network of misrepresenting a campaign event for President Donald Trump as one for former Vice President Joe Biden. That’s false. The report’s voiceover was discussing the Trump campaign while the photo was on the screen.
A paper that has not been peer-reviewed reaches faulty conclusions to advance the unsubstantiated claim that the novel coronavirus was bioengineered in a Chinese lab, according to immunology and microbiology experts. The paper’s claims were amplified by Fox News, anyway.
A viral Facebook post wrongly suggests that if Joe Biden were to become president and later step down, Nancy Pelosi would become vice president. The Constitution says the vice president would become president and nominate a replacement; Congress must confirm or deny that pick.
A claim being shared on Facebook distorts the facts about fake IDs seized in a Chicago airport this year, baselessly claiming the phony IDs were tied to names “ALL Registered to Vote” as Democrats. Federal authorities announced no connection to a voter fraud scheme, and those making the claim offer no evidence.
A viral meme falsely claims to show President Donald Trump touching the face of a “veteran wounded so badly that he had no arms.” The man shown in the meme was born without arms and is not a veteran. Trump himself amplified the incorrect, debunked claim on Twitter.
Jill Biden hasn’t said that all Americans will be “required” to learn Spanish if her husband wins the 2020 presidential election, contrary to a false claim shared on social media. The quote first appeared in a headline from a website that calls its work satire.
Posts on social media falsely claim that the man shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, “wouldn’t have been shot if he was still in prison for raping the 14 year old.” There’s no evidence he was ever charged with such a crime — let alone convicted and imprisoned. Jacob Blake was charged in July with sexually assaulting an adult woman, but has not been convicted.
A baseless conspiracy theory on Facebook suggests that the California wildfires were started by a “powerful laser.” The meme spreading the theory uses the same photos that circulated in 2018 to advance a similar claim.
The prime-time programming for the Democratic National Convention every night on TV included a recital of the Pledge of Allegiance, including the phrase “under God.” Two individual Democratic caucuses omitted those words during daytime meetings — prompting claims that misleadingly suggested they were dropped throughout the convention.