Year in Review

2018 was the year of “Truth isn't truth,” laurel versus yanny, the false missile alert in Hawaii, and the infamous mic grab. It was also the year national attention zeroed in on what families and children face at the southern U.S. border, a rare 'firenado' roared over already devastating wildfires in California, and the country’s scourge of deadly mass shootings showed no signs of relenting.

Does it feel like it’s getting harder to discern reality from fiction … or to read the news at all? Take heart. Snopes.com is (and always will be) here for you, calling fouls, clarifying details, and uncovering truth.

Notable Numbers

At our last count in 2018 we found our team, which you could fit in two minivans, reported, wrote, edited, and reviewed:

• • 1,658 Fact Checks
  • 285 News stories
  • 3,757 Updates

What we mean by "updates": On top of investigating current headlines and memes bubbling up in your timeline today, our team works daily to ensure our material remains current, accessible, and relevant for the fact checkers of tomorrow.

Behind the scenes Snopes.com’s development team performed 2018 code commits in 2018, no joke. (Update: Make that 2020 and counting.) These efforts vastly improved our processes and site speed while implementing a framework that will allow us to rapidly launch new features (read: cool stuff coming soon). We also cleaned out 25 years of accumulated cruft in the codebase. In total, we added 668,604 lines of code and removed 1,453,382.

Inbox Zero? Not Exactly

At last count we received…

• 172,190 reader emails using our contact form.
• 972,204 comments in our Facebook group
• 36M+ searches on Snopes.com

Readers supply countless tips that support our reporting and topic selection. Send us a tip any time.

Look, Ma! We’re on the News!

A selection of Snopes.com mentions in news media coverage.

You may also remember us from such articles as:

• The Fact-Checkers Who Want to Save the World (The Ringer)
• 100 Websites That Shaped the Internet as We Know It (Gizmodo)
• The Debunking Website Snopes Turns 25 Next Year. And That’s Not Fake News (Los Angeles Times)
• That Meme You're Sharing is Probably Bogus (The Atlantic)

Some You Don't Want to Miss

Featuring original reporting by Snopes.com fact checkers.

• The Comically Flawed Attempt to Smear Robert Mueller, Explained
• Michael Avenatti Was Arrested on Domestic-Violence Charges, And Then Things Got Weird
• The EPA Suggested We Change Our Rating on an Asbestos Story. Here’s Why We Declined
• Christian Non-Profit Faces Scrutiny Over Government Foster Care Contract for Separated Children
• Did a Couple Adopt a Native American Child for $10 in 1952?
• How a Weight Loss Company Lured People Into Paying to Join a Non-Existent Study

Special Thanks To...

Students at the University of Washington’s Information School whose Snopes.com sponsored project for crowdsourcing misinformation, “Making Sense of Misinformation at Scale,” won the program’s 2018 Research Award.

Some Things We May Never Fully Understand

We’ve seen a lot, but we never saw these questions coming.

• Is ‘Trumpy Bear’ a Real Product?
• Could a Blue Whale’s Fart Contain a Horse?
• Was ‘The Electric Slide’ Written About Vibrators?

‘Fauxtography’ We Couldn’t NOT Click On

Some of our most popular visual fact checks.

• Is This Anderson Cooper Standing in a Ditch While Reporting Hurricane Florence?
• Does This Video Show School Lemonade Spiked with Laxatives?
• Does This Video Show Trump’s Hair Blowing in the Wind?

And Then There Was This:

Most Popular Trump-checks Reported This Year

Readers love to fact-check our Tweeter-in-Chief.

• Did President Donald Trump Donate His Entire $400,000 Salary to Rebuild Military Cemeteries?
• Did a Russian Asbestos Company Put Trump’s Face on Their Product?
• Did President Trump Revoke Gun Background Checks for Mentally Ill People?

Desperately Seeking ...

Recent visitor queries on our site search engine. (Uh, no comment).

• Are aliens real
• Red peacock
• Sex
• Soy sauce cleanse
• Snake swallows salad tongs
• My dad won the powerball
• Is Goofy a cow
• A woman can make a difference in your stress levels

Reader Comments We Won't Soon Forget

More than 5,000 Snopes.com readers made direct contributions to support our work this year. Some thoughts they shared with their gifts:

Thank you for existing. And particularly for fact-checking the claim that existing laws require separating children from families.

Thank you for helping me cope with my anxiety when it comes to the situation in Yellowstone super volcano.

Thanks for providing a light in the darkness.

Thank you for the Christine Blasey Ford research clearing her name from false accusations. The article was impressively thorough.

Thanks for all that you do! Have I really be going to snopes.com for over 20 years now?!

Thanks for pointing out the Harley Davidson CEO 'moron' quote was fake. I hate Trump but we must always be truthful.

thank you!! you followed up on the Starbucks thing, where 2 black men were egregiously arrested! way to go!

The Internet needs you.

I really like your Daily Debunker - saves me from searching when I am sure something is false that friends have fallen for!

As a retired judge I appreciate your neutrality, and your straightforward presentation of facts. Thank you.

God Bless Snopes.

Looking Ahead

Will Mueller’s Russia investigation lead to more indictments and prison terms in 2019? Could the field of potential Democratic presidential nominees get any bigger? Can we ever eat Romaine again without cringing?

We have insufficient data to make any sound predictions, but, come what may, we will be there for our readers, debunking bogus claims spreading on social media and beyond.

Thank you for reading and supporting Snopes.com. Here's to a happy, healthy, and fact-full 2019.