Fake news Coverage

Wellness influencers fueled pandemic misinformation. Now they're targeting another crisis

When wildfire ripped through Hawaii's Maui last August, the impact was devastating: a whole town reduced to ashes, more than 100 lives lost. The inferno was described as the "largest natural disaster in state history." But some on Instagram suggested, without evidence, there was something much more nefarious at play.

Laura Paddison, CNN

Product misinformation & social media: How companies can fight back according to NC State study

When misinformation spreads on social media, there can be real consequences for both companies and the public. A new study offers insight into how consumers respond to these online hoaxes, which companies can use to better  respond to these misinformation campaigns.

'X' & the fog of war: Elon Musk’s former Twitter clouds Israel-Hamas conflict

Misinformation has run rampant on Elon Musk’s social media platform X in the 48 hours since Hamas militants’ surprise attack on Israel, with users sharing false and misleading claims about the conflict and Musk himself pointing users to an account known for spreading misinformation.

Fact check: Did Fox News call the UNC shooting suspect 'mostly white?'

Images showing a Fox News chyron calling the UNC-Chapel Hill shooting suspect a "mostly white Asian male," circulated on social media websites.

Jeff Cercone, PolitiFact reporter

Fake: Viral photos of Great White shark beached in NC are 'not authentic'

The images, which first appeared on a Facebook account which shares synthetic images of the Outer Banks barrier islands, are not authentic.

'Pre-bunking' builds momentum in battle against fake news, disinformation

In the fight against fake news and disinformation, an approach called pre-bunking, which involves teaching people how to spot false claims before they encounter them, is gaining support among researchers and tech companies.

Google, Meta, Twitter, TikTok commit to fighting 'fake news' in new EU campaign

European Union officials on Thursday announced new, voluntary commitments by companies including Google, Facebook-parent Meta, Twitter and TikTok to limit the spread of fake and misleading content.

How hackers, Arnold Schwarzenegger and the State Department are trying to pierce Putin's digital Iron Curtain

The information campaign over Russia's invasion of Ukraine is in full swing as a wide cast of characters -- from the US State Department to Ukrainian hackers to Arnold Schwarzenegger -- tries to circumvent Russian censors to get the truth about the war on Ukraine to Russian citizens.

By Sean Lyngaas, Kylie Atwood and Brian Fung, CNN

A Kennedy's Crusade Against COVID Vaccines Anguishes Family and Friends

Kerry Kennedy remembers how much she admired her older brother Robert as they grew up in Hickory Hill, the family estate in McLean, Virginia. She still talks about how he brought her along to ford streams, crawl through drainpipes and catch frogs and snakes, ignoring his friends who did not want a 6-year-old girl tagging behind on their outdoor adventures.

Adam Nagourney, New York Times

Coronavirus misinformation is an 'urgent public health threat', says US Surgeon General

Unvaccinated people were 13 times more likely to become infected with coronavirus and 20 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people in Texas, according to data presented by the White House COVID-19 Response Team. However, more than 62 million people remain unvaccinated in the United States.

Maggie Brown, WRAL multiplatform producer

On the Record: Health experts discuss impact of misinformation on the coronavirus pandemic

Just as we thought the coronavirus pandemic was fading, it came back like a wrecking ball. State and federal officials are putting the blame squarely on misinformation.

No, CDC didn't 'admit' overcounting COVID-19 cases in hospitals

Gateway Pundit's latest claim piggybacks on the already-debunked premise that the CDC was overcounting COVID-19 deaths. In this case, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky's recent comments about deaths from breakthrough infections -- which occur when fully vaccinated people contract COVID-19 -- were paraphrased and taken out of context.

Monique Curet, PolitiFact reporter

Fact check: No evidence of pregnancy issues for women who get COVID vaccine

New research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows no evidence that the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines pose serious risks during pregnancy. But that hasn't stopped online spreaders of misinformation from making unfounded claims about the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines being linked to things like pregnancy complications or infertility

Madison Czopek, PolitiFact reporter

Fact check: Bloggers wrong about COVID-19 vaccines causing miscarriages

Health officials in the U.K. said the figures are being taken out of context. The article doesn't account for the increase in the vaccination rates over time, or the average number of miscarriages that occur naturally.

Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact reporter

Fact check: Debunking the Biden 'green screen' conspiracy theory

A conspiracy theory on YouTube claims that President Joe Biden used a green screen on March 16 to fake an interview with reporters. It's baseless.

Ciara O-Rourke, PolitiFact reporter

Fact check: No, COVID vaccine didn't kill Hank Aaron

Just because Aaron died after receiving a vaccine doesn't prove that the vaccine caused his death. To establish causation, experts look beyond isolated data points to studies of large groups of people to see if a negative symptom is more prominent in vaccinated people than in non-vaccinated ones.

Noah Y. Kim, PolitiFact reporter

Fact check: No, Trump has not ordered secret military takeover, emergency alerts

The warnings across social media are plentiful. Alarmist claims advise people to stock up on food, water, medicine and weapons. In the days following the Jan. 6 riots on the U.S. Capitol, online message boards and social media platforms are filled with assertions that a nationwide military takeover is coming. Most versions of the rumor say the plan is being implemented by President Donald Trump, the final step in an elaborate scheme to release damning information about his enemies that will land them in jail and allow him to remain in office for another four years. But these lengthy and detailed narratives simply are not rooted in reality.

Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact reporter

People's distrust of media remains after Trump is gone

President Donald Trump has declared the media "the enemy of the people," and the term "fake news" has been a hallmark of his time in the White House.

'Fake news' label unlikely to fade away after Trump's departure

President Donald Trump has declared the media "the enemy of the people," and the term "fake news" has been a hallmark of his time in the White House.

Joe Fisher, WRAL multimedia journalist

Fact check: People misinterpreting Florida study on COVID spread

People on social media are misinterpreting a study by University of Florida researchers, inaccurately saying it found no evidence of COVID-19 spread among asymptomatic people.

Louis Jacobson, PolitiFact reporter

Fact check: 'No record' of nurse claiming she got Bell's Palsy from COVID vaccine

A woman claiming to be a nurse says that she developed Bell's Palsy after taking the coronavirus vaccine. The state health department says it has no record of the woman who appeared in the video.

Daniel Funke, PolitiFact reporter

Fact check: Viral posts show fake COVID 'survival rates' from the CDC

As the U.S. continues to distribute the first COVID-19 vaccines, a viral tweet shared what it said were "COVID-19 survival rates" from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to downplay the severity of the virus and the need for vaccinations.

Bill McCarthy, PolitiFact reporter

Fact check: No, the COVID-19 vaccines don't have 'toxins'

A lengthy and popular Facebook post attributed to an alternative medical doctor makes several misleading claims about the new coronavirus vaccines. The post also erroneously claims that the vaccine contains toxic ingredients like aluminum, mercury "and possibly formaldehyde," and then concludes that, ultimately, receiving the shot is more harmful than contracting the disease itself.

Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact reporter

Lie of the Year: Coronavirus misinformation

Every year, PolitiFact editors review the year's most inaccurate statements to elevate one as the Lie of the Year. The "award" goes to a statement, or a collection of claims, that prove to be of substantive consequence in undermining reality.

Daniel Funke and Katie Sanders, PolitiFact reporters

Twitter will warn you when you like misleading tweets

The new feature expands upon another one that was recently implemented by the social media platform ahead of the 2020 election.