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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Biden’s Misleading Unemployment Statistic

Biden’s Misleading Unemployment Statistic

At the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ winter meeting, President Joe Biden left the false impression that unemployment declined by more than 16 million people on his watch, when the decline was under 5 million.

Viral Tweet Misrepresents NOAA Report on Rising Global Temperature

Viral Tweet Misrepresents NOAA Report on Rising Global Temperature

The warming trend in global temperature continued in 2022, which was the sixth-warmest year on record, according to a recent report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But a viral tweet — using just a small segment of a NOAA graph — wrongly claimed the agency had announced a “global cooling” trend.

Polio Elimination Due to Vaccination, Not End of Pesticide Use

Polio Elimination Due to Vaccination, Not End of Pesticide Use

Polio, a paralytic disease caused by a virus, has been eliminated in the U.S. — and nearly wiped out globally — thanks to vaccines. But social media posts are reviving old, false claims that polio is instead caused by pesticides and outbreaks of the disease ended when people stopped using DDT.

Posts Mislead on Illinois SAFE-T Act and Elimination of Cash Bail

Posts Mislead on Illinois SAFE-T Act and Elimination of Cash Bail

Illinois’ new criminal justice law, known as the SAFE-T Act, would eliminate cash bail but allow a judge to detain anyone who is deemed a danger to others or a flight risk. Social media posts misleadingly claim that anyone arrested for serious crimes, including second-degree murder, “will be let out free.”

Posts Misinterpret NYC Health Tweet About Omicron Subvariant XBB.1.5

Posts Misinterpret NYC Health Tweet About Omicron Subvariant XBB.1.5

An unclear tweet from New York City health officials was meant to caution residents that the latest omicron subvariant, XBB.1.5, might be more likely than previous variants to infect vaccinated or previously infected people. Social media posts misinterpreted the tweet to mean that vaccinated people were at higher risk than unvaccinated people.

Social Media Posts Twist Meaning of CDC, FDA Disclosure on Bivalent Booster

Social Media Posts Twist Meaning of CDC, FDA Disclosure on Bivalent Booster

Government health agencies disclosed a potential safety concern for strokes in those 65 and older with one of the COVID-19 vaccines, but the agencies haven’t found any causal relationship and the concern was flagged by just one of several monitoring systems. Anti-vaccine campaigners, however, have wrongly claimed the agencies have found a link between the boosters and strokes.