We wrote about a lot of misinformation in 2024, and, as usual, some fact-checking articles piqued our readers’ interest more than others. In this post, we present the 10 most popular stories published on our website this past year.
President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden from serving time for gun- and tax-related crimes. But contrary to claims on social media, Hunter Biden’s gun charges did not stem from a 1994 “crime bill authored” by then-Sen. Joe Biden.
President Joe Biden is one of only a few presidents who have granted pardons to a relative. But social media posts falsely claim that former Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush also pardoned family members. While Billy Carter and Neil Bush faced controversies, neither was criminally charged nor received a pardon.
On Dec. 1, President Joe Biden provided a blanket pardon for his son Hunter for any potential crimes committed over nearly an 11-year period. In the statement Biden provided to justify his reversal of position, he left out a few inconvenient facts.
Elon Musk trolled President Joe Biden on X after Hunter Biden’s pardon, sharing a community note mocking the president’s previous post that said, “No one is above the law.” Soon after, a Threads post falsely claimed Musk threatened “anyone glorifying” the pardon “will be suspended from X permanently.” There’s no evidence Musk made such a statement.
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.
House Republicans passed a resolution on Dec. 13 to formalize their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. In attempts to build momentum for the vote, Republicans continued to present misleadingly incomplete information in service of the claim that Biden benefited from his family members’ “influence peddling” with foreign businesses and governments.
Congressional testimony by Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Devon Archer, on July 31 led to competing narratives about what Archer said, and how damaging his testimony was to President Joe Biden. We sort through the facts.
Democrats’ response to Republican claims that Hunter Biden got a “sweetheart deal” has been to note that former President Donald Trump appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss – the prosecutor who allowed Biden to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and enter a pretrial diversion program on a gun charge.
Hunter Biden, who has no prior criminal history, has reached a plea deal that would avoid jail time for a gun-related charge. Some conservative commentators claim the president’s son is getting special treatment, misleadingly equating his case with one involving a rapper who had a criminal record before getting a 46-month sentence for two gun-related charges.