O.J. Simpson, a football star who was acquitted in the murder of his ex-wife and her friend, died of cancer on April 10 at age 76. Misinformation spread online within hours of the news. Social media posts falsely claimed that the cancer was related to his COVID-19 vaccination. Simpson was vaccinated, but there is no evidence that vaccination causes cancer or that it was to blame for his death.
A claim on social media misrepresents the number of people who have registered to vote in three states in 2024 and suggests the new voters are immigrants in the country illegally. There have been 194,000 newly registered voters in those states — not 2 million — and there’s no evidence they are immigrants in the U.S. illegally.
As a primer for the 2024 election, here’s our guide to the top 10 falsehoods and distortions — so far — in terms of Trump’s and Biden’s propensity to repeat them.
In a video statement outlining his position on abortion, former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that “all legal scholars, both sides, wanted and in fact demanded” that Roe v. Wade “be ended.” Legal scholars told us that was “utter nonsense” and “patently absurd.”
Small amounts of aluminum have been used for many decades to strengthen the immune response to vaccines. Exposure to high levels of aluminum has been associated with brain and bone problems, but there is no evidence that the level of exposure provided by vaccines leads to such toxicity, contrary to social media claims.
During a speech in Green Bay, Wisconsin, former President Donald Trump pointed to a chart on apprehensions of people trying to enter the U.S. illegally at the southwest border. “See the arrow on the bottom? That was my last week in office,” he said. “That was the lowest number in history.” But Trump was wrong on both points.
Women are having fewer children today than in the past globally, but experts say that’s by choice and it doesn’t mean “we are facing a crisis in reproductive health,” as Nicole Shanahan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, said during her announcement speech. Infertility rates have remained steady during the last decades.
Former President Donald Trump attended the wake for slain New York City Police Officer Jonathan Diller and met with his family. But social media posts make the unsupported claim that Trump paid off the family’s mortgage. A nonprofit announced it would pay the mortgage and told a news outlet it had no contact with Trump about the Diller mortgage.
Both Easter and the Transgender Day of Visibility happened to fall on March 31 this year. President Joe Biden recognized both occasions, as he has done every year in office. But some social media posts and conservative politicians characterized his acknowledgement of Transgender Day of Visibility as “mocking” Easter and declaring “war” on Christianity.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who won a civil fraud case against former President Donald Trump, has a net worth of about $2.7 million, her most recent financial disclosure statement shows. But social media posts baselessly claim she’s worth $15 million. The claim appears to come from a website that says it “cannot guarantee its accuracy.”