Author Archives: BreaJjournalist

SciCheck Digest In a 2012 documentary, Magic Johnson discussed his HIV diagnosis and how it has affected his career. Social media posts are sharing an image from the documentary to falsely claim it shows Johnson donating blood for people with COVID-19. Johnson hasn’t donated HIV-infected blood for any medical reason. Full Story  Due to a drop inContinue reading “Social Media Posts Falsely Claim Magic Johnson Donated Blood for People with COVID-19”

Quick Take After Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes funding to increase staff at the IRS, social media posts falsely claimed members of Congress “voted to exempt themselves from IRS auditing of their personal finances.” An IRS spokesperson told us “there is no such special exemption,” and we found no such vote hadContinue reading “Posts Fabricate Claim that Congress Voted to Exempt Members from IRS Audits”

Quick Take The IRS Criminal Investigation division’s “Adrian Project” educates the public about the IRS through community outreach sessions with high school and college students. Posts on social media are sharing a video from one of the sessions to falsely claim it shows agents in training. The images were posted by a New Jersey universityContinue reading “Images Show IRS Educational Program, Not Training of Agents”

Quick Take The Inflation Reduction Act includes $79 billion for the IRS. Social media posts misleadingly claim the IRS will now hire “87,000 new agents” to investigate average citizens. But most new hires will provide customer services, and enforcement efforts will be aimed at “high-income and corporate tax evaders,” a Treasury Department spokesperson said. Full Story  President Joe Biden signedContinue reading “IRS Will Target ‘High-Income’ Tax Evaders with New Funding, Contrary to Social Media Posts”

Quick Take  The House passed a bill on July 29 that would make it a crime to knowingly “import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess a semiautomatic assault weapon.” Social media posts falsely claim “millions of people will become felons overnight” because of the bill. Under the bill, current owners of such firearms would be allowedContinue reading “Proposed ‘Assault Weapons Ban’ Includes Grandfather Clause, Contrary to Social Media Posts”

Quick Take Former President Donald Trump held a rally in Wisconsin on Aug. 5. Posts on social media circulated a photo to claim that the recent Trump rally in Wisconsin attracted a “massive” crowd. But the photo was from a previous Trump rally and was shared by Eric Trump in 2020.   Full Story  On Aug. 5, formerContinue reading “Trump Rally Photo Is From 2020, Not Recent Wisconsin Rally, as Social Media Posts Claim”

Quick Take Three stimulus payments have been sent to Americans to ease the economic impact of the pandemic. Social media posts are now sharing a false claim about a new, $40,000 federal stimulus loan. But it’s a marketing ploy. The bottom of the web page says, “This is not a government program nor is itContinue reading “Online ‘Stimulus Loan’ Offers Are Not Related to Government Programs”

Quick Take Three stimulus payments have been sent to Americans to ease the economic impact of the pandemic. Social media posts are now sharing a false claim about a new, $40,000 federal stimulus loan. But it’s a marketing ploy. The bottom of the web page says, “This is not a government program nor is itContinue reading “Online ‘Stimulus Loan’ Offers Are Not Related to Government Programs”

SciCheck Digest A Wuhan Institute of Virology study describes assembling part of a monkeypox viral genome for use in a diagnostic test. Although the researchers only made a fraction of the genome — and it matches a different version of the virus — social media posts are using the study to baselessly claim that theContinue reading “Posts Distort Chinese Research Creating Fragment of Monkeypox Viral Genome”

Quick Take President Joe Biden claimed in a July 20 speech that growing up in Delaware near oil refineries gave him cancer. Posts on social media misinterpreted that to mean he currently has cancer. A White House spokesperson said Biden was referring to a skin cancer that was removed before he became president.  Full StoryContinue reading “Posts on Social Media Misinterpret Biden’s Quote on Previous Cancer”