Author Archives: BreaJjournalist

Quick Take Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest Jan. 2 on the football field after being hit in the chest during a tackle. Hamlin was discharged from the hospital on Jan. 11 and has made several public appearances since then. But posts on social media falsely claim Hamlin died. Update, April 19:Continue reading “Damar Hamlin Is Recovering and Has Appeared Publicly, Contrary to Online Claims”

Quick Take   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.” Full Story The IllinoisContinue reading “Posts Mislead on Illinois SAFE-T Act and Elimination of Cash Bail”

Quick Take A judge on Dec. 24 dismissed Kari Lake’s claim that there was no chain of custody for 300,000 mail-in ballots in Maricopa County, Arizona, during the 2022 election, yet posts on social media continue to spread the baseless claim. Every mail-in ballot in the county had a unique barcode and chain of custodyContinue reading “No Evidence for Kari Lake’s Claim that Maricopa County Ballots Lacked Chain of Custody Records”

Quick Take  In a clip from Fox News’ coverage of the Georgia Senate runoff, the vote tallies for both candidates briefly drop by thousands of votes. Social media posts use the clip to falsely claim election fraud. The Associated Press, which provided the data to Fox, said the clip shows a brief overestimate of votesContinue reading “Human Error, Not Fraud, Shown in Fox Election Coverage of Georgia Runoff”

SciCheck Digest Country singer Jake Flint died unexpectedly on Nov. 27, just hours after his wedding. Social media posts baselessly insinuate Flint died because of the COVID-19 vaccine. The 37-year-old singer received his second dose more than a year before his death, and his representative said Flint’s death was “not related in any way” toContinue reading “Country Singer’s Death Not Related to COVID-19 Vaccine”

Quick Take  About 540,000 voters went to polling places in Arizona’s Maricopa County on Election Day, including roughly 250,000 who voted in person and over 290,000 who dropped off mail-in and provisional ballots, according to election officials. But online posts falsely claim that while 540,000 voters went to the polls, county officials only counted 248,000Continue reading “Posts Mislead on Number of Election Day Votes in Maricopa County”

Quick Take Social media posts falsely suggest there was fraud in the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race, citing a TV graphic that showed Republican State Sen. Doug Mastriano with nearly 500,000 more votes than Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro, but Mastriano trailing 41.6% to 56.6%. The graphic showed inaccurate numbers that were quickly corrected on air. Full StoryContinue reading “Inaccurate TV Graphic Sparks Erroneous Claims of Election Fraud in Pennsylvania”

Quick Take Florida law allows election officials to start counting early in-person and mail-in ballots before Election Day. But social media posts falsely claim Florida counted all of its more than 7 million votes in five hours on Election Day and states that took longer committed “voter fraud.” Most states don’t allow vote counting to begin until ElectionContinue reading “Posts Misrepresent How Florida Arrived at Quick Election Results”

Quick Take Dominion voting machines have had no issues reading ballots filled out with Sharpie pens. But an Instagram video spread the false claim that ballots filled out with Sharpies could not be counted by voting machines in Pennsylvania’s 2022 election. A Pennsylvania Department of State spokesperson said the claim is “disinformation.” Full Story PennsylvaniaContinue reading “Bogus ‘Sharpiegate’ Claim Resurfaces in Pennsylvania Election”

Quick Take Pennsylvania uses a “not verified” code on mail-in ballot applications if a voter’s identity couldn’t be immediately verified; voters have six days after an election to submit a valid ID. But an Instagram post and some Republican leaders — including former President Donald Trump — falsely claim the state has “sent out 249,000Continue reading “Posts Misrepresent ‘Not Verified’ Code on Pennsylvania Ballot Applications”