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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Facebook Post Repeats Flawed Claim on Wuhan Lab Funding

Facebook Post Repeats Flawed Claim on Wuhan Lab Funding

A Facebook post is spreading the false claim that former President Barack Obama gave $3.8 million to a lab in Wuhan, China. The money referenced was actually provided to a U.S. research group. Only $600,000 went to the lab as part of a U.S.-approved collaboration. 

Biden on Economic Growth and Trump’s Tax Cuts

Biden on Economic Growth and Trump’s Tax Cuts

Former Vice President Joe Biden wrongly says “most of the conservative think tanks,” including the Heritage Foundation, agree that the tax cuts championed by President Donald Trump “generated virtually no growth at all.”

Meme Spreads Wrong Photo, Details in Floyd Criminal Case

Meme Spreads Wrong Photo, Details in Floyd Criminal Case

A meme misrepresents a 2007 criminal case in Houston involving George Floyd. The meme distorts the details of Floyd’s case and includes a photo of a woman who was badly injured in an unrelated attack in Spain in 2018.

Conspiracy Theory on Floyd’s Death Disproved by Footage

Conspiracy Theory on Floyd’s Death Disproved by Footage

A conspiracy theory on Facebook is falsely claiming that the killing of George Floyd was “filmed before covid19” because “[n]ot a single person is wearing a mask” in the videos. Some of the officers and officials in the videos can clearly be seen wearing masks.

Ahead of Trump Rally, Republicans Spin COVID-19 Metrics

Ahead of Trump Rally, Republicans Spin COVID-19 Metrics

In the days leading up to President Donald Trump’s first campaign rally since the World Health Organization declared a pandemic, Trump and his supporters are making false and misleading claims about COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and testing.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders Did Not Post Conspiratorial Tweet

Sarah Huckabee Sanders Did Not Post Conspiratorial Tweet

A tweet that suggests a conspiratorial “pattern” — from the protests over George Floyd’s death, to the pandemic, to the presidential impeachment, to the 2016 election – is being falsely attributed to former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The tweet is actually from an unverified Twitter account that misspelled her name.

Donations to Black Lives Matter Group Don’t Go to DNC

Donations to Black Lives Matter Group Don’t Go to DNC

Social media posts falsely claim donations made on the Black Lives Matter website go “directly” to the Democratic Party, because the group uses ActBlue Charities — an online fundraising platform. Donations go to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. The funds first pass through a nonprofit that sponsors the group.

Unpacking WHO’s Asymptomatic COVID-19 Transmission Comments

Unpacking WHO’s Asymptomatic COVID-19 Transmission Comments

At a June 8 press conference, a World Health Organization scientist confusingly suggested that asymptomatic transmission of the coronavirus is “very rare” — a statement that many scientists found problematic, and which some politicians and those on social media seized upon as evidence that certain public health measures were not necessary.

Bogus Claims of ‘Crisis Actors’ in Death of George Floyd

Bogus Claims of ‘Crisis Actors’ in Death of George Floyd

False claims that nearly everyone involved in George Floyd’s death — including Floyd — are “crisis actors” have spread widely online. But the pictures that supposedly prove this theory actually show unrelated people.