FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on the social media network. We provide several resources for readers: a guide on how to flag suspicious stories on Facebook and a list of websites that have carried false or satirical articles, as well as a video and story on how to spot false stories.
Q: Will California allow HIV-positive people to donate blood?
A: No. The Legislature has passed a bill that would reduce the penalties for those, including blood donors, who knowingly expose others to the HIV virus.
Q: Is Western Kentucky University offering free tuition to black students because of slavery?
A: No. The school does not plan to adopt a resolution passed by the Student Government Association demanding “full and free access” for black students.
Q: Did Vice President Mike Pence say, “Allowing rape victims to have abortions will lead to women trying to get raped”?
A: No. That fabricated quote comes from a made-up story published by a “hybrid news/satire” website.
Q: Is the Clinton Foundation charging the Federal Emergency Management Agency to send supplies to victims of Hurricane Harvey?
A: No. That claim originated on a satirical news site. The Clinton Foundation has not charged FEMA for bottled water or other relief items.
Q: Did former President Barack Obama pardon Wendell Callahan, who was later accused of killing three people after his early release?
A: No. Congress unanimously passed a bill changing drug sentencing laws and Obama signed it. Callahan petitioned for early release under the new law and it was approved by a federal judge.
Q: Did Katie Couric cancel an interview with Hillary Clinton because Clinton called former President Barack Obama a racial slur?
A: Clinton did no such thing. Those claims were made-up by a satirical website.
Q: Did Black Lives Matter protesters block emergency crews from reaching Hurricane Harvey victims?
A: No. That false claim was made in a satirical story featuring a 2016 photo of a protest in Atlanta, Georgia.
Q: Did President Donald Trump fire 14 Muslim federal judges?
A: No. The satirical website that originally published the story describes itself as “your beacon of something you can kinda rely on sometimes but not really.”
Q: Did the Supreme Court rule that President Donald Trump can build a border wall without the approval of Congress?
A: No. That story comes from a website that “makes no guarantee that anything you find here will be based at all in reality.”
Q: Did President Donald Trump defend a Confederate flag he hung in the White House?
A: No. That was written by a website that “provides a satirical view of current events.”