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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Misleading Online Posts Distort Biden’s Joke at Meeting with Indian Prime Minister

Misleading Online Posts Distort Biden’s Joke at Meeting with Indian Prime Minister

In a meeting with the Indian prime minister and CEOs of technology companies, President Joe Biden joked about Republican investigations into him and his family. “I sold a lot of state secrets and a lot of very important things,” he joked, and added, “Now, all kidding aside.” But a viral video has been misleadingly edited to omit Biden saying that he was joking.

TikTok Video Mangles American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Estimates

TikTok Video Mangles American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Estimates

Breast cancer in younger women has been increasing gradually in recent decades. But a social media post misrepresents case number projections for 2022 and 2023 to falsely claim they show a dramatic rise in early-onset breast cancer — and then baselessly ties its faulty comparisons to COVID-19 vaccines.  

Posts Misrepresent Pentagon Accounting Errors in Ukraine Aid

Posts Misrepresent Pentagon Accounting Errors in Ukraine Aid

The Pentagon discovered accounting errors that overestimated how much it had spent on aid for Ukraine by $6.2 billion over two years. But social media posts misinterpreted the discovery to falsely claim the U.S. “lost” $6.2 billion or laundered money through Ukraine. The $6.2 billion will be added to future aid packages for Ukraine.

Q&A on Mpox

Q&A on Mpox

Last summer saw the largest outbreak ever of mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox. Here, we provide an update on the disease, and explain what makes the outbreak unusual and how people can protect themselves.

Posts Make False Claim About Cause of Gender Dysphoria

Posts Make False Claim About Cause of Gender Dysphoria

Recent research suggests that gender dysphoria is likely caused by a combination of factors, including hormone exposure before birth. But social media posts make the baseless claim that it could be caused by a vaccine containing DNA from an aborted fetus of the opposite sex. There is no scientific evidence for such a claim, experts said.

Republican Claims About Hunter Biden Offenses

Republican Claims About Hunter Biden Offenses

Several Republican lawmakers have objected to a plea deal between the Department of Justice and Hunter Biden, the president’s son, claiming it was “a slap on the wrist.” We’ll explain the plea and what we know about several other offenses Republicans say Hunter Biden committed, some of which are unsubstantiated.

Trump, Iran and the ‘Highly Confidential’ Document

Trump, Iran and the ‘Highly Confidential’ Document

In an interview with Fox News, former President Donald Trump denied showing a classified plan of a U.S. attack on Iran when he met in July 2021 with four people who lacked security clearances — contrary to an audio transcript of Trump contained in the 37-count federal indictment against him.

Cleveland Clinic Study Did Not Show Vaccines Increase COVID-19 Risk

Cleveland Clinic Study Did Not Show Vaccines Increase COVID-19 Risk

Numerous studies have found that additional COVID-19 shots are generally associated with extra protection against the coronavirus. Many people on social media, however, have shared a preliminary finding from a Cleveland Clinic study and misrepresented it as proving that getting more doses increases a person’s risk of infection.

Ad Misleads: Trump Not Charged as Spy

Ad Misleads: Trump Not Charged as Spy

The latest ad from the anti-Trump Lincoln Project promotes the same mistaken argument that Donald Trump himself has made — that the former president has been charged with spying or espionage. Trump was charged under a part of the Espionage Act concerning the willful retention of national defense information. That’s different from spying.