Claim reviews
Abortion can be medically necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman
CLAIM
“Abortion is never medically necessary”
SOURCE: Kendra Kolb, Live Action
Published: 09 Jul 2022
VERDICT
Justin Bieber’s facial paralysis is caused by a viral infection; no evidence that COVID-19 vaccine played a role
CLAIM
Ramsay Hunt syndrome that caused Justin Bieber’s facial paralysis is linked to the COVID-19 vaccine
SOURCE: Social media users, Steve Kirsch, Facebook, Twitter, Substack
Published: 07 Jul 2022
VERDICT
Studies show that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines outweigh their risks; preprint claiming to show otherwise is flawed
CLAIM
“Covid Vaccines More Likely to Put You in Hospital Than Keep You Out”
SOURCE: Will Jones, The Daily Sceptic
Published: 01 Jul 2022
VERDICT
The claim that medical doctors are more likely to kill than firearms isn’t supported by evidence
CLAIM
“In America, you’re 6x more likely to be killed by a Doctor than a gun”
SOURCE: Facebook Users, Facebook
Published: 26 Jun 2022
VERDICT
No scientific evidence supports claims that plant-based food supplements reduce blood sugar to normal levels and cure type 2 diabetes
CLAIM
Food supplements get “perfect sugar levels restored” and “help with type 2 [diabetes]”
SOURCE: Facebook Users, Facebook
Published: 10 Jun 2022
VERDICT
Warming of Earth’s surface and oceans continues apace, contrary to claims in blog
CLAIM
”Global warming started to run out of steam over two decades ago… Half of the apparent global temperature increase from January 1910 to January 2000 is due to administrative adjustments.”
SOURCE: Chris Morrison, Daily Sceptic
Published: 09 Jun 2022
VERDICT
Published research from the Wuhan Institute of Virology didn’t describe artificially created monkeypox strains; the research is unrelated to the 2022 monkeypox outbreak
CLAIM
Researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) “assembled monkeypox strains”
SOURCE: Natalie Winters, The National Pulse
Published: 03 Jun 2022
VERDICT
Sperm washing to help HIV-discordant couples conceive biological children safely was reported in the 90s; not “huge medical breakthrough” in 2022
CLAIM
A South African scientist made a “huge medical breakthrough” by successfully removing HIV from a sperm cell in a lab
SOURCE: Facebook users, Facebook
Published: 31 May 2022
VERDICT
No scientific data support the existence of orgone and its ability to cure cancer
CLAIM
“Wilhelm Reich invented a way to cure cancer”
SOURCE: Facebook Users, Facebook
Published: 27 May 2022
VERDICT
Monkeypox outbreak triggers conspiracy theories on social media claiming that it was planned or incorrectly linking it to COVID-19 vaccines
CLAIM
Monkeypox is caused by COVID-19 vaccines; a 2021 tabletop exercise portraying a monkeypox pandemic is evidence that global leaders planned the outbreak; the monkeypox vaccine was “ready” before the outbreak
SOURCE: Social media users, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube
Published: 26 May 2022
VERDICT