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.”
During a lengthy interview with House investigators on Feb. 28, Hunter Biden repeatedly insisted that his father was never involved in any of his businesses. We lay out how Hunter Biden’s testimony matched up against GOP talking points.
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.
People vaccinated with an authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine can donate blood immediately after receiving a shot if they’re feeling well. Social media posts distort a question from the American Red Cross to baselessly claim the vaccines are unsafe.
A missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi militants damaged a British-owned cargo ship on the Red Sea on Feb. 18 and forced its crew to evacuate. Some social media posts falsely claimed the Houthis “made sure to rescue” the 24-member crew. U.S. Central Command said the crew was rescued by a “coalition warship along with another merchant vessel.”
Encounters on the southern border of those trying to enter the U.S. without authorization have gone up significantly under President Joe Biden. Government statistics show that in the initial processing of millions of encounters, 2.5 million people have been released into the U.S. and 2.8 million have been removed or expelled.
An international study of around 99 million people confirmed known serious side effects of COVID-19 vaccination. It also identified a possible relationship between the first dose of the Moderna vaccine and a small risk of a neurological condition. Social media posts about the study left out information on the vaccines’ benefits and the rarity of the side effects.
Given the extra scrutiny and large number of doses, reports of possible side effects to a vaccine safety monitoring system increased with the COVID-19 vaccines. The high number of reports does not mean the vaccines are unsafe, contrary to suggestions made by posts sharing a clip of a Food and Drug Administration official acknowledging the surge.
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.
In a Feb. 20 town hall in South Carolina that aired on Fox News, days before the state’s Republican primary, former President Donald Trump repeated several false and misleading claims we’ve fact-checked before.