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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Elon Musk Amplifies Baseless Claim About COVID-19 Vaccine

Elon Musk Amplifies Baseless Claim About COVID-19 Vaccine

Elon Musk this week amplified an unfounded claim, based on a distortion of vaccine safety monitoring data, that COVID-19 vaccines killed tens of thousands of people in Germany. The vaccines saved millions of lives worldwide during a deadly pandemic, and serious side effects or deaths from vaccination are rare.

An Attack Over ICE in the Massachusetts Democratic Senate Race

An Attack Over ICE in the Massachusetts Democratic Senate Race

An online ad attacks Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, for not being sufficiently progressive because of past policy positions. But it also misleadingly claims that Moulton, a critic of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “thanked ICE as they were terrorizing our communities and then killed citizens.”

Politicians Say Glyphosate Weedkiller Causes Cancer But Evidence Not Clear-Cut

Politicians Say Glyphosate Weedkiller Causes Cancer But Evidence Not Clear-Cut

Following an executive order from the Trump administration that promotes production of glyphosate, some Democrats have claimed that the herbicide causes cancer. The science, however, is nuanced. While there is some evidence linking glyphosate to cancers in lab animals or to the blood cancer non-Hodgkin lymphoma in agricultural workers, the findings have been inconsistent.

The U.S. Treasury Didn’t Declare the Country ‘Insolvent’

The U.S. Treasury Didn’t Declare the Country ‘Insolvent’

Q: I read this on FB. Is it true? The U.S. Treasury just declared the U.S government is insolvent.

A: No. That’s the conclusion of an opinion piece that cited a Treasury report showing the government’s liabilities outweigh its assets. But that’s been the case for decades, and unlike an insolvent business, the government can levy taxes.

Trump Fumbles the Facts with Farmers

Trump Fumbles the Facts with Farmers

In a speech to what he called “the single largest gathering of American farmers that the White House has … ever had,” President Donald Trump distorted the facts on the estate tax, soybean exports and more.

FactChecking Trump’s Prime-Time Address on Iran

FactChecking Trump’s Prime-Time Address on Iran

A month after the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, President Donald Trump addressed the nation in a prime-time speech on April 1, saying the military operation was “getting very close” to completing its mission. Trump repeated some false and questionable claims we’ve written about before.

Happy International Fact-Checking Day

Happy International Fact-Checking Day

April 2 is International Fact-Checking Day. To commemorate it, we produced a video of various mentions of our work over the years by politicians of both parties.

We Could Win a Webby with Your Vote

We Could Win a Webby with Your Vote

FactCheck.org is a nominee for the 30th Annual Webby Awards in the category for Websites and Mobile Sites: News & Politics. Now our loyal readers can help us win the Webby People’s Voice Award, which is voted on by the public.

Trump Links Biden’s Ukraine Aid to Pentagon’s Iran War Funding Request

Trump Links Biden’s Ukraine Aid to Pentagon’s Iran War Funding Request

With the Pentagon potentially seeking a $200 billion supplemental package to fund the ongoing war with Iran, President Donald Trump defended that figure in part by saying U.S. ammunition “was taken down by giving so much to Ukraine.” He then exaggerated the amount of aid to Ukraine and falsely said that former President Joe Biden “didn’t rebuild anything” in the defense stockpile.

Flaws in Government Tool to ID Noncitizen Voters

Flaws in Government Tool to ID Noncitizen Voters

Republican Sen. Mike Lee said that he believes there are “at least tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands” of noncitizens illegally registered to vote in the U.S., adding that a federal tool used in nearly two dozen states would help identify the number. But the tool has wrongly flagged many as being noncitizens, and there’s no evidence of widespread noncitizen voting.