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.
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.
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.
Some social media posts have responded to Floyd’s death by pushing misinformation and conspiracy theories.
Viral text posts are advancing the groundless claim that George Floyd’s arrest and death in Minneapolis were “staged” to incite “racial tensions.” But they offer no evidence to support that conspiracy theory.
Social media posts incorrectly claim that Minneapolis police license plates “dont say POLICE,” and that proves the death of George Floyd was a planned event. Actually, many police vehicles in Minneapolis have that license plate.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly sought without evidence to link MSNBC host Joe Scarborough to the death of one of his staffers in 2001, when he was a Republican congressman.
A conspiracy theory falsely claims Bill Gates is plotting to use COVID-19 testing and a future vaccine to track people with microchips. The Gates Foundation has advocated for expanded testing and has funded vaccine research, but neither of those involves implanted microchips.
Viral social media posts and videos have falsely claimed that “martial law [is] imminent” in the U.S. Those bogus reports are being pushed in some cases by those who sell emergency and survivalist products.
Online posts have claimed to reveal various “cures” for the new coronavirus. Some are benign, like eating boiled garlic, while others are potentially dangerous, like drinking chlorine dioxide, an industrial bleach. Neither will cure the virus.