The second part of “Plandemic” — a documentary-style video that presents a sweeping conspiracy theory about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, patents and vaccines — landed on Aug. 18, spinning together many of the falsehoods about the disease that we’ve been debunking for months, plus some new misleading claims.
Contrary to claims in viral internet posts, Sen. Kamala Harris did not call former Vice President Joe Biden a “racist” or a “rapist.” Rather, she has been critical of Biden’s position on busing to integrate schools and comments he made about segregationist senators, and she has said that she believed women who accused Biden of making them feel uncomfortable.
A viral social media post is spreading the falsehood that wearing a face mask to slow the spread of COVID-19 could cause Legionnaires’ disease. But Legionnaires’ disease is caused by bacteria that festers mostly in warm, standing water, not in human saliva.
A deceptively edited video clip of Joe Biden circulating on social media cuts an hour-long speech to less than one minute, retaining only parts of statements and his pauses between words.
Old mugshots circulating on social media falsely suggest that they show 13 teachers who were recently arrested during the protests in Portland, Oregon. The photos are actually from 2017, and the posts provide no evidence that any of them are teachers.
A manipulated video clip of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shared widely on Facebook makes it appear that she slurred her words during a May press conference. She didn’t. The video clip was slowed down and spliced together.
A widely shared video, featuring a doctor falsely claiming hydroxychloroquine is a “cure” for COVID-19, ignited an online storm that resulted in the video being pulled by social media platforms. There is no known cure for COVID-19, and current scientific evidence hasn’t found that hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment.
A viral video misrepresents scientific papers and the reasons for wearing face masks to claim that they are ineffective in mitigating transmission of COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that masks may help prevent the spread of the disease.
A popular post on social media pages for conspiracy theorists claims that a mobile COVID-19 testing station bears a logo that depicts an ancient deity of death. It actually shows an aardvark, which is the name of the company that designs and manufactures the trucks.
A viral video falsely labeled “Registered Republican Not Allowed to Vote!” suggests that Republicans were kept from voting in Louisiana’s recent primary. The person featured in the video — which has been viewed millions of times — was actually registered as a Democrat, so she couldn’t vote in the closed Republican primary.