Q: Did President Trump donate his $400,000 salary to military cemeteries?
A: No. A year-old viral email makes that claim. But the president does indeed donate his salary to different government initiatives each quarter.
Some of the many false viral claims about Barack Obama’s faith and citizenship.
We offer a video guide of the advice we detailed in our report “How to Spot Fake News.”
Fake news is nothing new. But bogus stories can reach more people more quickly via social media than what good old-fashioned viral emails could accomplish in years past.
Q: Did President Obama sign an executive order banning the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools?
A: No. That claim comes from a satirical story on a fake news website.
In an effort to hold politicians accountable, repeatedly, for reiterating the same false claims, over and over again, we launch Groundhog Friday, an occasional wrap-up of recent repeats.
Q: Are the Obamas buying a vacation home in Dubai?
A: No. This rumor was circulated on a fake news website.
This video from FlackCheck.org helps readers identify “Key Characteristics of Bogusness” in chain emails.
We’ve long warned our readers to make good use of the delete key when emails spreading sketchy claims pop up in their inboxes. But we’ve found that old viral emails, unfortunately, never die — and new ones spread like a highly contagious disease. These overwhelmingly anonymous messages are, by and large, bogus.
On Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Managing Editor Lori Robertson discusses the resurgence of old, viral email claims about the Affordable Care Act. Bogus emails claim the law would deny dialysis to Medicare patients, or have a government committee decide what treatment anyone can receive. That’s not true.
For more on viral claims about the federal health care law, see our April 20, 2012, Ask FactCheck, “ ‘Death Panels’ Redux” and our Aug. 28, 2009, article, “Twenty-six Lies About H.R.