1
Was Nancy Pelosi Removed from a Children’s Cancer Benefit for Being Drunk?
12 January 2019 - A troll is a person who posts inflammatory content with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses.
Trending Fact Checks
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Does This Photograph Show Two Boys — One Vaccinated, One Not — Who Were Exposed to Smallpox?
13 June 2018 - In the early 1900s, Allan Warner documented several cases of smallpox and the effects of vaccinations.
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Did a 1950s TV Episode Feature a Character Named Trump Who Offered to Build a Protective Wall?
9 January 2017 - An episode of the 1950s western TV series 'Trackdown' featured a character named Walter Trump who claimed he would build a wall in order to protect a town from the end of the world.
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Does a Muslim Community Patrol in New York City Enforce ‘Sharia Law’?
13 January 2019 - Certain websites regurgitated a familiar complaint upon the debut of a new patrol group in Brooklyn.
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Will Posting This Notice Stop Facebook from Making Your Posts Public?
27 December 2018 - Facebook is not making all your posts public or claiming copyright to them, so posting an ineffective legal notice on your Facebook page is pointless.
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Is This a Wall Around Nancy Pelosi’s Home?
12 February 2018 - Web sites attempted to paint the Congresswoman as a hypocrite after she came out in support of DACA recipients.
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Do Motorists Now Face $999 Fines and 3-Year Suspensions for Using Cellphones While Driving?
14 January 2019 - A number of recent laws have focused on preventing distracted driving, but the penalties vary from location to location.
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Did Clemson’s Quarterback Say Their White House Meal Was ‘The Best We Ever Had’?
15 January 2019 - A graphic posted on Twitter used Trevor Lawrence's image to lash out at critics of his team's meeting with President Donald Trump.
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‘Got Another Friend Request from You’ Facebook Warning
7 October 2018 - A warning about a Facebook user's supposedly having received a second friend request from you is mostly useless.
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Did the Company That Makes Marlboros Announce They Intend to Stop Producing Cigarettes?
11 January 2019 - Philip Morris International sells the iconic brand outside the United States, and has for years expressed a plan to end production of cigarettes altogether.
11
Is Pepsi Contaminated with HIV?
15 July 2011 - Rumors that a worker at a Pepsi or Frooti plant contaminated those beverage products by injecting HIV-infected blood into them are old and false.
12
Is This a Photograph of a 12-Week Fetus?
10 November 2013 - An image many have viewed as a photograph of first trimester fetus is actually a picture of a hand-painted resin doll crafted by an artist.
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Is This Image an Aerial View of an Airplane Abandoned in a Forest?
22 August 2018 - Under what unusual circumstances might an airliner end up in such a position?
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Did the Trump Family Donate $1 Billion to Fund the Border Wall?
11 January 2019 - President Trump needs to raise funds before he raises walls.
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Did President Trump Urge Americans to Boycott Chinese Restaurants?
14 January 2019 - Always good to beware of what news items you ingest.
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Did the U.S. Supreme Court Rule That Oaths Not Taken on the Bible Are ‘Illegal’?
11 January 2019 - A frequent purveyor of junk news caused some uncertainty about the nation's highest court in January 2019.
17
Was a Florida Zoo Employee Killed While Attempting to Rape an Alligator?
6 April 2016 - "The young man was caught by the throat by the alligator, who dragged him underwater and drowned him."
18
Will Dangerous Cosmic Rays Pass Close to Earth ‘Tonight’?
24 May 2017 - This claim has been around for years and makes no scientific sense whatsoever.
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Have Undocumented Immigrants Killed 63,000 American Citizens Since 9/11?
22 June 2018 - The figure would mean undocumented immigrants, who account for roughly 3 percent of the population, would have to commit about one quarter of the nation's homicides.
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Was a Sculpture ‘Celebrating’ Saudi Arabia Erected at Ground Zero?
10 January 2019 - Outrage posts on clickbait web sites didn't tell the full story of an art exhibition.
21
Did Visitors to Joshua Tree National Park Cut Down Trees During the Government Shutdown?
11 January 2019 - The iconic wilderness area fell victim to staff shortages caused by the budget standoff in Washington.
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Trump Denied He Said Mexico Would Write a Check for the Wall — But He Did
11 January 2019 - President Trump's comments on how border wall construction would be funded shifted as it became clear Mexico would not pay.
23
Were 16 Girls Impregnated After a Teenager Ejaculated in a Pool?
12 February 2016 - The story of a girl becoming pregnant in a shared swimming pool is an old urban legend, but this particular version of it originated with a fake news site.
24
Did Schumer and Pelosi Help Obama Hand $150 Billion to an ‘Enemy of the US’?
8 January 2019 - Two prominent Democratic members of Congress didn't "help" bring about something that never happened.
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Were High-Income Earners in U.S. Taxed at a 70% Rate in 1980?
4 January 2019 - The question arose in light of proposal by freshman U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to tax such earners at a 70% rate.
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Did These Politicians Build Walls Around Their Homes?
4 January 2019 - A meme attempting to equate a national border wall with home security featured provocative images of politicians' residences.
27
Is DC Comics Publishing a Series Depicting Jesus Christ?
11 January 2019 - Conservative media outlets began reporting on "Second Coming" months after its release was first announced.
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Did Trump Criticize Obama for a Lack of Leadership During the 2013 Government Shutdown?
20 January 2018 - Who's most to blame for failing to "get everyone in a room" to "make a deal" when a government shutdown looms?
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Did Clifford Walker Say at a 1924 KKK Rally That He Would Build a ‘Wall of Steel’ Against Immigrants?
14 January 2019 - A presidential biographer drew a comparison to then-Georgia Gov. Walker's comments and steel border wall construction desired by President Trump.
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Is This a Real Photograph of Donald Trump’s Older Sons?
16 July 2017 - A cartoonish photograph purportedly showing presidential sons Eric and Donald Trump, Jr. was digitally manipulated.
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Was Kelly Clarkson Fired from ‘The Voice’?
20 December 2018 - Genuine news articles typically don't contain plugs for scammy diet pills.
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Did Cassidy Boon Sue Her Rescuer for Rape?
29 September 2015 - "I was disgusted at this hairy man having felt it appropriate to touch my body like that."
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Is This the World’s First Dab?
14 January 2019 - A photograph purportedly captures a soldier doing the dab all the way back in 1932.
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Were All Speed Limit Cameras on Two Major English Roads Set to 72 MPH in January 2019?
10 January 2019 - A viral social media message warned users in the U.K. about driving on the M1 and M25.
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Did Poland’s First Lady Refuse to Shake President Trump’s Hand?
8 July 2017 - A short viral video clip was cut off before showing that Agata Kornhauser-Duda did indeed greet the United States president.
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Did Members of Led Zeppelin Pleasure a Groupie with a Mud Shark?
19 May 2003 - Tales of sexual exploits involving groupies and animals are familiar entries in the Led Zeppelin canon of rumors.
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Do Steering Wheels Include Braille So Visually Impaired Drivers Can Find the Horn?
15 January 2019 - "Just realized that these little bumps on the steering wheel are in Braille."
38
Hillary Clinton Gave 20 Percent of United States’ Uranium to Russia in Exchange for Clinton Foundation Donations?
16 November 2017 - Allegations of a "quid pro quo" deal giving Russia ownership of one-fifth of U.S. uranium deposits in exchange for $145 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation are unsubstantiated.
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Is the ‘Talking Angela’ App Unsafe for Children?
3 September 2013 - The Talking Angela app supposedly unsafely prompts children to provide personal information about themselves.
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Does Trump Donate All of His Presidential Salary, While Obama Donated None?
8 July 2018 - An Internet meme made misleading comparisons between presidential donations and the sizes of the first ladies' staffs, calling the Trumps "givers" and the Obamas "takers."
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Does Elizabeth Warren Have a Piece of Racist Memorabilia on Her Kitchen Shelf?
8 January 2019 - Accusations of racism were based solely on a blurry and obscured glimpse of an object on Sen. Elizabeth Warren's shelf.
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Were the Mysterious Remains of a Whale Found in a Field in Utah?
8 December 2014 - “We have to admit that we find this case very puzzling.”
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Did a Man Die of E. Coli After Sex with His Girlfriend?
28 November 2018 - A morbid tale of a sexual experiment gone fatally awry.
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Did Four AI Robots Kill 29 Scientists in Japan?
19 December 2018 - The claim came from a UFOlogist -- and, yes, it does sound like something from a movie.
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Did a Dry Run Hijacking Take Place on Flight 297?
4 December 2009 - An account of Muslims' allegedly engaging in a 'dry run' hijacking in 2009 was contradicted by airline officials.
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Were U.S. Democratic Lawmakers ‘Partying’ in Puerto Rico During the Government Shutdown?
15 January 2019 - The outing was reportedly planned in order to highlight the territory's recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria.
47
Did Obama Pledge ‘More Flexibility’ Toward Russia After the 2012 Election?
13 December 2016 - In 2012, President Obama was overheard over a hot microphone telling President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia he would have "more flexibility" to negotiate with Putin after the election.
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Were Ewok-Like Creatures Called ‘Chay Na Men’ Found Near a Cave in Thailand?
12 November 2018 - Ewoks, for the time being, can still only be found on the fictional forest moon of Endor.
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Were ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ Characters Created to Represent Different Mental Disorders?
21 August 2018 - A popular theory holds that the characters in 'Winnie-the-Pooh' stories each represents a different mental disorder.
