Exploring Internet Nonsense
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A video claims to show a person posing as a victim of the coronavirus pandemic in a body bag while smoking a cigarette. The video is being circulated online by conspiracy theorists who claim there is a global cover-up by governments and the media and that the COVID-19 pandemic is not real, and as such […]
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A screenshot showing an apparent CNN broadcast had a banner reading “Investigation: Shooter was factually Arabic, but morally white“. FALSE The image is below. The image is spreading in the aftermath of the Boulder, Colorado shooting where ten people were gunned down in the latest mass shooting within the United States. It is also spreading […]
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Online rumours claim the movie I Am Legend was not only set in 2021, but claims that people were turned into zombies because of a failed or wrong vaccine. FALSE Examples of the claims on social media are below. I don’t want to alarm anybody.. but y’all remember that I Am Legend Movie? Yeah the […]
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Conspiratorial messages on social media claim that a video of President Biden on the White House’s front lawn during a brief exchange with reporters wasn’t real, and utilized “green screen” video manipulation. Such claims seem to hinge on the observation that Biden’s hand “goes through” a boom microphone visible in the bottom of the video […]
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Rumours on social media claim that the Payday candy bar popular in the United States is changing its name to avoid causing offense to people who do not have a job. FALSE An example of the claim on social media is below – Payday candy bar is changing it’s name because it’s offensive to those […]
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A video purports to show the moment a truck races onto a motorway to help a plane thats landing gear failed to operate correctly. In the video the truck races below the front of the plane as it lands and acts at the front landing wheel. Captions associated with the video often purport that the […]
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Conspiracies online claim that Oprah Winfrey was wearing an ankle bracelet during her interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in March 2021. FALSE An example of the claim on social media is below – Why does Oprah have an ankle tag? The conspiracies derive from a series of assertions often associated with conspiracy theorists […]
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March 4th is a pretty big date in the paranoid landscape of the conspiracy world. Many who follow the sprawling QAnon network of beliefs claim this is the day that President Trump gets sworn into power. Again. You did indeed read that correctly. Ever since Joe Biden officially became the 46th US President on January […]
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Claims spreading online assert that the percentage next to rainfall on a weather website or app actually means what percentage of a designated area that will see rainfall, as opposed to the overall chance of rainfall within that designated area. MOSTLY FALSE The claims spread largely within the UK after a handful of celebrities posted […]
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A post claimed that in order to avoid going to “Facebook jail” a user can go to their settings and block the ‘Community Standards’ Facebook page. FALSE An example of the claim is below. For those of you that are constantly in Facebook jail like myself here is a way you can avoid that. Go […]
