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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Posts Misrepresent Military’s Response to Maui Wildfires

Posts Misrepresent Military’s Response to Maui Wildfires

The White House declared the site of the Maui wildfires a disaster area, and the Department of Defense has provided more than 400 troops, air support and other resources in firefighting and recovery efforts. Yet posts on Instagram misrepresent the federal response and one falsely claimed “the military is standing down.”

Biden Cherry-Picks Unemployment Record

Biden Cherry-Picks Unemployment Record

In recent speeches touting so-called Bidenomics, President Joe Biden has repeatedly cited the statistic that “unemployment has been below 4% for the longest stretch in over 50 years.” That’s true, but there’s some cherry-picking going on.

Q&A on Trump’s Georgia Indictment

Q&A on Trump’s Georgia Indictment

For the fourth time in a little more than four months, former President Donald Trump was indicted. Here we answer some questions about the Georgia state indictment, as we did for two federal indictments and a state indictment that was brought against Trump in New York.

Trump’s Co-Conspirators in Georgia

Trump’s Co-Conspirators in Georgia

In addition to former President Donald Trump, the indictment handed up by a state grand jury in Georgia names 18 defendants. Here we identify them and what they are alleged to have done.

Posts Exaggerate Significance of Swiss Study on Heart Risk and COVID-19 Vaccination

Posts Exaggerate Significance of Swiss Study on Heart Risk and COVID-19 Vaccination

A Swiss study found that after a COVID-19 booster, less than 3% of people briefly had a slightly elevated blood level of a protein that can be a marker of heart injury. No one in the study had any serious heart damage, and other experts say the findings are unlikely to be clinically significant. Viral posts, however, are spinning the results to falsely claim that the study shows the vaccine’s risks are “off the scale.”

Post Distorts Florida School Policy on ‘Romeo and Juliet’

Post Distorts Florida School Policy on ‘Romeo and Juliet’

A Florida school district is allowing students to read only excerpts of “Romeo and Juliet” in class — not passages with sexual content. But a Facebook post incorrectly suggests all Florida high schools are removing the “full text” of the play from classrooms. The state’s education commissioner included the play on a recommended reading list for grades nine to 12.

RFK Jr.’s COVID-19 Deceptions

RFK Jr.’s COVID-19 Deceptions

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s battle against vaccines — and against the institutions that promote them — goes back to at least the mid-2000s, as we explain in the first article of this series. But the arrival of COVID-19 gave the environmental attorney fresh grounds to intensify his attacks and a timely platform to gain new followers and revenue.

Video Misrepresents Lasting Effects of Nuclear Bombs Dropped on Japan During World War II

Video Misrepresents Lasting Effects of Nuclear Bombs Dropped on Japan During World War II

The United States dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, killing hundreds of thousands of people to force Japan’s surrender in World War II. A video on social media falsely claims the cities “were never nuked,” reasoning that nuclear bombs would have made those cities “uninhabitable for thousands of years.”

Trump Makes Unsubstantiated Claim About Fani Willis

Trump Makes Unsubstantiated Claim About Fani Willis

There is no evidence that Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, had “an affair” with a “gang member” she was investigating, as former President Donald Trump claimed in a campaign speech.