An earlier version of this check referred to the stimulus package as being worth $19 trillion in paragraph 3. This error has been corrected to $1.9 trillion.
Social media users have been sharing posts online with a photograph of a child and claiming that it shows Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates. This claim is false.
Some users on social media are sharing a collage of photographs of U.S. President Joe Biden that points out apparent differences between the images: the color of his eyes and his writing hand. “Blue eyes vs brown eyes. Right hand vs left hand”, the meme reads. Some users allege these “differences” are evidence that the photographs show an “actor” or a “body double”, not Biden himself. This claim, which speaks to the baseless QAnon belief that Biden is not really president, is false.
A black and white video is being shared on social media that appears to have warned in 1956 about a future COVID-19 pandemic. Pointing to the purported date of creation, some users claim the footage is evidence that the outbreak, which has taken the lives of over 2.8 million people around the world, was planned. This is false: the compilation of footage was created in 2020 and was intended as satire.
Social media users have been sharing posts online that show a photo of U.S. television host Fred Rogers wearing a shirt with the image of American painter Bob Ross, posed with Australian conservationist Steve Irwin. This photograph has been altered.
Social media users have been sharing posts online with a quote about Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her family attributed to former President Ronald Reagan. This quote appears to have been fabricated.
Recent social media posts have claimed that diesel was only $1.69 a gallon in the United States soon after former President Donald Trump left office and has now reached $3.19 a gallon under President Joe Biden. This claim is partly false: the average price of diesel fuel nationally has not been lower than $1.70 a gallon since 2004, well before Trump took office. It last dipped under $2 a gallon in Feb. 2016.
Posts are circulating on social media which claim to show how harmful COVID-19 vaccines are by listing 22 ingredients allegedly present in the vaccine. In addition, the posts claim that the vaccines contain nanotechnology and modify DNA, and that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lists death as a side effect. These claims are false.
Days after U.S. President Joe Biden said he would direct states to make all adults eligible for COVID-19 vaccines by May 1, a post on social media claimed that the vaccines cause infertility and that nursing mothers who have been vaccinated can cause harm to their babies. In addition, the post claims that over 6,000 people over the age of 50 died from the Moderna vaccine in February 2021. These claims are false.
Posts have been circulating on social media claiming that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bought $1.5 million in foreign oil stock the day before the “shut down of american line (sic).” There is no evidence of this transaction in Pelosi’s Financial Disclosure Reports which she is required to file under the Ethics in Government Act. In addition, a representative for Pelosi told Reuters that this is claim is false.