Misinformation Survey False Claims and Debunks
FALSE: Conservative initiative Project 2025 proposes cutting or eliminating Social Security
The False Claim
Project 2025, the collection of conservative policies proposed by the Heritage Foundation for a possible second Donald Trump presidency, calls for cutting or eliminating Social Security benefits.
The Facts
Project 2025, a policy blueprint if former U.S. President Donald Trump wins reelection in November 2024, does not call for cuts to or the elimination of Social Security, according to the text of the proposal.
The proposed policies of Project 2025, created by a coalition of conservative organizations led by the Heritage Foundation, are articulated in a 922-page document published in April 2023. The document, titled “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” does not mention any proposed changes to Social Security, a benefit program that includes retirement, disability, survivor, and family benefits.
A July 9, 2024, X post from the official Project 2025 account stated, “Mandate for Leadership does not advocate cutting Social Security.”
Although Project 2025 does not propose any cuts to or elimination of Social Security, the Heritage Foundation itself has separately proposed changes to the welfare program that would reduce the amount of money it would pay out. For example, as part of a proposal for the U.S. federal budget in fiscal year 2023, the Heritage Foundation advocated shifting Social Security to a flat benefit, instead of one that varies based on retirees’ former income. The budget proposal also called for barring recipients from receiving Social Security disability benefits and unemployment insurance simultaneously.
However, none of these proposals are included in Project 2025.
How the False Narrative Emerged
The earliest example of the false narrative that NewsGuard identified was a Dec. 3, 2023, X post from the user @robert_vogel, who frequently posts pro-Democrat and anti-Republican content.
The post, which had received only two likes and 76 views as of July 19, 2023, stated: “GOP's Project 2025 plan to restructure government [will] eliminate civil service, administrative agencies, install an authoritarian President, cut Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare, and other social programs to pay for tax cuts for the rich.”
Where the False Narrative Spread
The spread of the false narrative exploded in late June and early July 2024, when widespread news coverage of Project 2025 boosted public awareness of the initiative. Between July 1 and July 19, 2024, the terms “Project 2025” and “Social Security” appeared alongside the word “eliminate” or “cut” at least 107,000 times across news and social media sites, according to a media analysis tool.
Moreover, the false claim was advanced by several prominent Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
At a July 11, 2024, campaign event in Greensboro, North Carolina, Harris said that Project 2025 “includes a plan to cut Social Security.”On July 23, 2024, she repeated the claim at her first rally as a presidential candidate, stating: “Can you believe they put that thing [Project 2025] in writing? … When you read it, you will see Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.”
Asked about Harris’ erroneous claim by CNN in late July 2024,a campaign spokesperson told the outlet: “Project 2025 is a blueprint for many of the dangerous policies we know that a second Trump term would include, and it is indisputable that in his first term, Donald Trump repeatedly tried to cut Social Security.”
On June 30, 2024, Democratic Party Chairman Jaime Harrison posted to his 700,000 X followers: “Donald Trump’s Project 2025 calls to: Cut Medicare and Social Security.” The post received approximately 220,000 views, 4,000 likes, and 2,000 reposts as of July 19, 2024.
Neither Harris’ deputy communications director nor the Harris campaign’s director of rapid response responded to three emails each requesting comment on Harris’ repetition of the false claim. An email to the Harris campaign’s general information email address and a LinkedIn message to its national spokesperson also were not returned. The Democratic National Committee also did not return a phone message inquiring about the matter.
Many social media users who advanced the false claim posted a graphic purporting to list policies advocated by Project 2025, including “cut Social Security.” The graphic was shared by several high-profile social media users, including actor Mark Hamill, whose July 6, 2024, X post received 88,000 likes, 33,000 reposts and 6.6 million views in less than two weeks.
Some news sites also advanced the false claim. For example, in a July 3, 2024, article headlined “Trump’s Project 2025 Leader Declares ‘Second American Revolution,’ Warns of Violence,” the Washington Informer stated that Project 2025 advocates “slashing Social Security.” The article, which was reprinted in the Cincinnati Herald, had not been corrected as of July 25, 2024.
Background
Donald Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025 and its policy proposals, which include disbanding the Departments of Education and Homeland Security and privatizing the Transportation Security Administration. “I know nothing about Project 2025,” Trump said in a July 5, 2024, Truth Social post. “Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”
However, according to news reports, several prominent Trump associates were involved in developing Project 2025. These include former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, former Trump aide Rick Dearborn, and America First Legal, an advocacy group led by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller. Paul Dans, the director of Project 2025, previously served in the Trump Administration as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
In 2016, the Heritage Foundation published a collection of conservative policy proposals for Trump’s first term. During his first year in the Oval Office, Trump implemented nearly two-thirds of the policies recommended by the think tank, according to the Heritage Foundation.
By Sarah Komar
FALSE: Ukraine has stolen up to half of its US aid
The False Claim
Ukraine has stolen 30 to 50 percent of the aid provided by the U.S. during the Russia-Ukraine war, and some of the funds were diverted to the U.S. Democratic Party.
The Facts
There is no evidence that Ukraine stole up to half of the $105 billion aid provided by the U.S. during the Russia-Ukraine war or that part of the funds were sent to the U.S. Democratic party, as claimed by a former Polish minister. Although a handful of fraud cases amounting to about $2 million were prosecuted, the U.S. State Department said that it has found no evidence of widespread U.S. aid fraud, and there is no evidence any money was diverted to the Democratic Party.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with $105 billion in aid, a U.S. State Department spokesperson told NewsGuard in a December 2024 email. Most of this aid goes toward military assistance, while the remainder provides budget support for the Ukrainian government and humanitarian assistance, according to data sent by the spokesperson.
In a Nov. 22, 2024, article by Russian state-owned news outlet RT, former Polish Economy and Labor deputy minister Piotr Kulpa was quoted as saying that U.S. aid programs are used to “write off large sums of money that finance shady systems under the Democratic Party’s control,” and that the incoming Trump administration could discover “that a huge portion of the funds was stolen in Ukraine. From 30% to 50%, regardless of the nature of the aid.”RT described Kulpa, who is currently a lecturer at the Kyiv School of Public Administration in Ukraine, as a “vocal supporter” of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
Although the U.S. has uncovered an estimated $2 million in theft of U.S. aid to Ukraine, according to the Ukraine Fraud and Corruption Investigative Working Group, which consists of various U.S. government agencies that provide oversight of U.S. aid to Ukraine, no wide-scale fraud has been found. The State Department said in August 2024, “There remains no credible evidence of illicit diversion of U.S.-provided defense equipment, direct budget support, or humanitarian assistance from Ukraine — even as Russia spreads disinformation to the contrary,” according to a November 2024 report by the inspectors general from the State Department, Department of Defense, and U.S. Agency for International Development.
The Ukraine Fraud and Corruption Investigative Working Group has opened 61 investigations into the alleged misuse of U.S. aid and completed 30 of them from July to September 2024, uncovering fraud estimated at $2 million, fact-checking website PolitiFact reported in December 2024.
Kulpa comments to RT that the U.S. aid programs were used to “finance shady systems under the Democratic Party’s control” prompted pro-Kremlin and conservative websites and social media users to claim that Ukraine laundered some of the supposedly stolen U.S. aid to the U.S. Democratic Party.
However, there is no evidence that any U.S. aid has been diverted to the Democratic Party. In November 2022, some nine months after Russia invaded Ukraine, White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson said that any claim that U.S. assistance to Ukraine has “been diverted to aid American political parties is unequivocally false and not grounded in reality,” according to a November 2022 Associated Press article.
How the False Narrative Emerged
The false claim that Ukraine has stolen U.S. aid emerged with the publication of the RT article on Nov. 22, 2024, and the claim that aid has been diverted to the Democratic Party emerged one day later.
Where the False Narrative Spread
The false narrative was spread by pro-Kremlin news sites, including USA.News-Pravda.com and the website of popular Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. The claim was also spread by conservative U.S. websites, including TheGatewayPundit.com and ThePeoplesVoice.tv, in addition to the English-language Lebanese news site English.AlMayadeen.net.
A Nov. 23, 2024, article in ThePeoplesVoice.tv headlined “Polish Official Says Half of US Aid to Ukraine Was Stolen and Laundered Back to Democrats” stated, “Ukrainian officials have systematically stolen up to half of the US aid money sent to their country and funneled some of it back to the Democratic Party through laundering schemes, according to Polish former Labor Minister Piotr Kulpa.”
Pro-Kremlin and conservative U.S. accounts on X and Telegram also spread the false claim, often by sharing screenshots of the above headline from ThePeoplesVoice.tv.
Conservative X user @ImMeme0 shared a screenshot of ThePeople’sVoice.tv headline in a Nov. 25, 2024, post and said: “According to former Polish Deputy Minister Piotr Kulpa, Ukrainian authorities have allegedly siphoned off up to half of the U.S. aid money sent to their country and redirected a portion of it back to the Democratic Party through laundering schemes. Is anyone surprised?” The post received 1.5 million views, 37,000 likes, and 17,000 reposts as of Dec. 23, 2024.
Background
Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, pro-Kremlin sources have repeatedly accused the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky personally of misusing Western aid. In October 2024, pro-Kremlin sources claimed that Zelensky used U.S. military aid to purchase Adolf Hitler's Mercedes for $15 million.
Variations of this False Claim
Ukraine laundered up to half of its US aid to the Democratic Party
FALSE: COVID-19 vaccines killed 15 million people worldwide
The False Claim
COVID-19 vaccines killed between 7.3 million to 15 million people and caused disabilities in 29 million to 60 million people worldwide between 2021 and 2023.
The Facts
There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines killed 7.3 million to 15 million people and caused disabilities in 29 million to 60 million people, according to experts and government health agencies. The false narrative is based on an inaccurate analysis of deaths reported after COVID vaccination to the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), a U.S. government database that collects unverified reports of adverse reports following vaccination.
The analysis was conducted by Edward Dowd, a former portfolio manager for investment management company BlackRock who has no medical background and has previously made false claims about COVID-19 vaccines.
Dowd’s analysis, which he first presented on the Oct. 22, 2024, episode of “DarkHorse Podcast,” which has advanced anti-vaccine claims, relies on the 16,800 deaths following COVID vaccination reported between 2021 and 2023 to VAERS. However, VAERS acknowledges on its website that its data “cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness” and “cannot be used to determine rates of adverse events.”
“A death reported in the VAERS system is not a death attributed to the vaccine,” Oliver Watson, a research fellow at the Imperial College of London’s school of public health, told NewsGuard in an October 2024 email.
To calculate the total number of deaths supposedly caused by COVID vaccines in the U.S., Dowd said that he multiplied the reported VAERS deaths after vaccination by what he referred to as a “VAERS underreporting factor,” which he said ranged from 20 to 41. Dowd then extrapolated the total number of U.S. deaths he calculated to the rest of the world, estimating that the COVID vaccine had killed 7.3 million to 15 million people worldwide. (Dowd did not explain how he generated the worldwide estimates from his U.S. estimates).
“These numbers seem arbitrary and not based on any research,” Richard Watanabe, a professor of population and public health sciences at the University of Southern California, told NewsGuard in an October 2024 email.
Watanabe added, “It is not accurate nor appropriate to take data from the US, particularly data from passive surveillance, and extend it to the rest of the world. Too many other factors influence the numbers and many times the relationships are not linear.”
A CDC spokesperson told NewsGuard in an October 2024 email that “After more than 676 million doses administered, CDC has not detected any unusual or unexpected patterns for deaths following COVID-19 vaccination that would indicate that COVID-19 vaccines are causing deaths, outside of the nine confirmed thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) deaths following the Janssen [Johnson & Johnson] vaccine,” which is no longer available in the U.S.
Dowd also stated that COVID vaccines had caused between 29 million and 60 million disabilities between 2021 and 2023, based on his analysis. Dowd said that he calculated the number of disabilities by multiplying his number of supposed worldwide deaths he had calculated by 4. Dowd justified this calculation by asserting that “for every death, there’s four disabilities,” based on comparing unspecified disability data to excess deaths, which the CDC defines as “the difference between the observed numbers of deaths in specific time periods and expected numbers of deaths in the same time periods.”
While there have been some documented cases of COVID vaccines causing serious adverse events that can lead to disability, such as Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), these events are rare, according to the CDC.
How the False Narrative Emerged
As mentioned above, the false narrative emerged from statements made by Dowd on the Oct. 22, 2024, episode of the The DarkHorse podcast, which is hosted by former biology professor and political commentator Bret Weinstein. NewsGuard has found that Dowd and Weinstein have both spread misinformation about COVID vaccines in the past.
“5 billion people on the planet got a vaccine of some sort. If you apply the range of the death rate in the US that I gave you earlier, you get a range of globally, 7.3 million to 15 million died from the vaccine,” Dowd stated. Dowd added later in the interview, “disabilities, when you look at the ratio of four to one, you multiply the 7 million and the 15, possibly 15 million times four, you get a range of … 29 to 60 million disabled globally.”
Where the False Narrative Spread
The false narrative spread to websites that NewsGuard has found to spread false or egregiously misleading health information and on X, Instagram, and the platform Rumble. Many who spread the false narrative included a clip of Dowd’s Oct. 22, 2024, interview on “TheDarkHorse” podcast.
For example, an Oct. 23, 2024, SlayNews.com article titled “Global Study Reveals 15 Million Covid Vax Deaths, 60M Disabilities” stated: “An explosive worldwide study has revealed that up to a staggering 15 million people have been killed by Covid mRNA ‘vaccines’ globally. In addition, the study shows that up to 60 million people have been left with disabilities from the injections …” The article, which quoted Dowd, included an embedded version of the clip from Dowd’s interview.
An Oct. 22, 2024, X post by a user called @UngaTheGreat stated: “Global Vaccine Impact: Study Reveals Up to 15M Deaths, 60M Disabilities Worldwide. Ex-BlackRock exec Ed Dowd reveals a startling analysis, claiming COVID-19 vaccines have resulted in millions of deaths and disabilities globally.” The post, which was shared with @UngaTheGreat’s 88,000 followers, quoted Dowd and included the clip from his interview. The post received 352,400 views and 5,500 likes as of Nov. 1, 2024.
By Andie Slomka
FALSE: Volodymyr Zelensky's approval rating is 4 percent as of February 2025
The False Claim
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's approval rating among Ukrainians is 4 percent as of February 2025
The Facts
Contrary to claims by pro-Kremlin and conservative social media users, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s approval rating among Ukrainians is not four percent, but significantly higher. Recent Ukrainian and international polls show his popularity ranging between 57 and 63 percent.
The claim apparently originated during a Feb. 18, 2025, news conference by U.S. President Donald Trump, who told reporters, “The leader in Ukraine, I mean I hate to say it, but he's down at a 4 percent approval rating.” The White House did not respond to NewsGuard’s Feb. 19, 2025, email inquiring about the president’s sources for his claim.
In fact, Ukrainian and international poll results released in January 2025 and February 2025 put Zelensky’s popularity metrics above 50 percent of respondents.
Results from a public opinion poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) — a survey organization that routinely conducts nationwide polls — showed that 57 percent of 1,000 adult Ukrainians interviewed between Feb. 4, 2025, and Feb. 9, 2025, said that they “trust” Zelensky, while 37 percent “do not trust him.” (The survey did not include Ukrainians in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.)
Results from a KIIS poll conducted with international and Ukrainian pollsters between Nov. 22, 2024, and Jan. 7, 2025, ranked Zelensky as “the most popular politician in the country,” with a 63 percent approval rating among respondents, according to a Feb. 19, 2025, press release by one of the poll partners, the U.K.-based University of Manchester.
Though Zelensky’s popularity rating has decreased significantly since its all-time high of 90 percent in May 2022, a few months after the start of Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022, full-scale invasion, his lowest-ever trust rating among Ukrainians — 37 percent in February 2022 — was still significantly higher than 4 percent, according to KIIS data.
The BBC, CNN, and The Kyiv Post, among other news outlets, also fact-checked this claim.
How the False Narrative Emerged
As noted above, the false narrative appeared to originate with Trump’s remarks to reporters in a Feb. 18, 2025, news conference.
Responding to Trump’s comments, Zelensky told a news conference on Feb. 19, 2025, “If we are talking about four percent, then we have seen this disinformation, we understand that it comes from Russia, and we have evidence.”
According to comments by Russian state presenter Vladimir Solovyov on state radio, the information Trump conveyed in the news conference may have come from Russian President Vladimir Putin from their phone call that took place a week earlier.
Solovyov said on a Feb. 19, 2025, segment of radio show “Full Contact,” “When Trump is answering questions about the press conference, I think that many of the narratives being voiced largely materialized after their [Putin and Trump’s] conversation.”
NewsGuard could not independently verify these claims.
Where the False Narrative Spread
The false narrative spread widely among conservative users around the world, as well as Russian state media and conservative social media users.
Russian state media outlets RT, TASS, RIA Novosti, and Ukraina.ru reported on Trump’s comments. A Feb. 18, 2025, article by Ukraina.ru quoted Trump’s statement about Zelensky’s alleged four percent approval rating and then said: “In other words, he actually sent Zelensky away. And not even to the elections, but much further away — to the dustbin of history, to oblivion.”
Conservative X user @BehizyTweets said in a Feb. 18, 2025, X post: “Zelenskyy will not want to hear what President Trump just said about him 😂 ‘I hate to say it, but he's down at 4% approval rating, and where a country has been blown to smithereens.’ The people of Ukraine deserve a chance to vote Zelenskyy out of office.” The post received 204,700 views, 10,000 likes and 2,000 reposts as of Feb. 19, 2025.
Background
Editor’s Note: This fingerprint was updated on Feb. 20, 2025, to include claims by Russian state radio host Vladimir Solovyov.
By Macrina Wang
FALSE: Haitian migrants are killing and eating pet cats in Springfield, Ohio
The False Claim
Haitian migrants are killing and eating pet cats in Springfield, Ohio.
The Facts
There is no evidence that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, have been stealing pet cats and eating them. Police and city officials say they have not received any credible reports of immigrants attacking, killing, or eating pets, and a Springfield woman who helped originate the false claim told NewsGuard she has no proof to support the narrative. A photo shared as supposed evidence of these claims is from another part of Ohio.
Between 10,000 and 15,000 Haitian migrants have moved to Springfield over the past five years, according to local newspaper the Springfield News-Sun. According to city officials, the Haitians in Springfield are living in the U.S. legally under the Immigration Parole Program, which allows Haitian citizens to temporarily live and work in the U.S. while the Caribbean nation copes with political instability and natural disasters. The influx of new residents has led to tensions in the western Ohio city, which had a population of nearly 59,000 in 2020.
The claim that Haitian migrants in Springfield are kidnapping and killing residents’ cats spread rapidly in September 2024 after an undated post was made in a private Facebook group called “Springfield Ohio Crime and Information.” NewsGuard was unable to directly view the post but obtained a screenshot of it from another social media post.
The Facebook user, whose name does not appear on the screenshot, stated: “My neighbor informed me that her daughters [sic] friend had lost her cat. … One day she came home from work, as soon as she stepped out of her car, looked towards a neighbors house, where Haitians live, & saw her cat hanging from a branch, like you’d do a deer for butchering, & they were carving it up to eat. … they have been doing it at snyder park with the ducks and geese, as I was told that last bit by Rangers & police.”
In a September 2024 phone interview, Erika Lee, a 35-year-old Springfield resident, told NewsGuard that she was the Facebook user behind the post. NewsGuard also spoke with the neighbor Lee mentioned in the Facebook post, a woman named Kimberly Newton. Newton, who said “I’m not sure I’m the most credible source,” told NewsGuard that the cat owner was “an acquaintance of a friend.” Newton said she heard about the supposed incident from that friend, who, in turn, learned about it from “a source that she had.” She added: “I don’t have any proof.”
After the claim began spreading, the Springfield Police Division told the Springfield News-Sun in a Sept. 9, 2024, article that the allegations from the Facebook post are “not something that’s on our radar right now.” The newspaper also stated that the police division reported receiving no complaints “related to pets being stolen and eaten.”
The City of Springfield told NewsGuard in a Sept. 9, 2024, email: “In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
Some social media users have pointed to a video of a Black woman being arrested for reportedly killing and eating a cat in her driveway. For example, right-wing commentator Ian Miles Cheong posted the video to X on Aug. 21, 2024. After another X user responded by asking if drugs were involved in the incident, Cheong said in a Sept. 7, 2024, reply: “Worse. Haitians.”
However, the woman shown in the videois a U.S. citizen, and the Aug. 16, 2024, incident happened in Canton, Ohio — not Springfield, according to news reports. The Canton Repository newspaper reported in September 2024 that the woman, Allexis Ferrell, is a Canton resident who “has no known connection to Haiti or any other foreign country.” In December 2024, a Stark County, Ohio, judge sentenced Ferrell to 12 months in prison after she pled guilty to cruelty to companion animals, a fifth-degree felony, according to news reports. (The judge also ordered Ferrell to serve an additional 18 months on a previous child endangerment charge.)
Separately, social media users have alleged that Haitian migrants in Springfield are killing wild waterfowl. Although these accusations are also unconfirmed, conservative news site The Federalist on Sept. 10, 2024, published Clark County Sheriff's Office records showing that a local resident told a police dispatcher that he saw four Haitian migrants each carrying a goose. “I’m sitting here, I’m riding on the trail, I’m going to my orientation for my job today, and I see a group of Haitian people, there was about four of ’em, they all had geese in their hand,” the caller said, according to the transcript.
Some social media users posted a photo of a Black man carrying a dead goose down a city street. However, using a reverse image search, NewsGuard found that the photo was taken in Columbus, Ohio; it was posted in a Reddit community dedicated to the city on July 28, 2024. The photo also does not include any information identifying the man as Haitian.
How the False Narrative Emerged
The earliest example of the false claim identified by NewsGuard was a Sept. 5, 2024, X post from the conservative account @BuckeyeGirrl. The account posted a screenshot of the private Facebook post described above and stated: “Remember when my hometown of Springfield Ohio was all over National news for the Haitians? I said all the ducks were disappearing from our parks? Well, now it’s your pets.”
In a reply to her post, @BuckeyeGirrl tagged @EndWokeness, another conservative X account that has 2.9 million followers. End Wokeness said in a Sept. 6, 2024, X post: “Springfield is a small town in Ohio. 4 years ago, they had 60k residents. Under Harris and Biden, 20,000 Haitian immigrants were shipped to the town. Now ducks and pets are disappearing.” The post was viewed 4.8 million times and received 69,000 likes in four days.
Where the False Narrative Spread
The false narrative spread on social media including X, TikTok, and YouTube and on conservative websites. Many posts included the screenshot of the post in the private Facebook group, the photo of the man carrying a dead goose, or the video of the woman arrested in Canton.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump advanced a version of the claim during his Sept. 10, 2024, debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. It was previously pushed by Trump’s running mate Sen. JD Vance, Sen. Ted Cruz, and X owner Elon Musk.
During the debate, Trump said: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs — the people that came in — they’re eating the cats. They’re eating — They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country.” Debate moderator David Muir, an ABC News journalist, responded: “You bring up Springfield, Ohio, and ABC News reached out to the city manager there. He told us ‘there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.’”
On Sept. 8, 2024, Republican commentator Charlie Kirk posted the private Facebook group story about the Haitian neighbors who allegedly stole a cat, saying: “Residents of Springfield, OH are reporting that Haitians are eating their family pets, another gift of the Biden-Harris mass immigration replacement plan. Liberals will soon be lecturing Americans on why they need to be sensitive to Haitian culture and accept this as the new normal. Those idiots deserve to be condemned and mocked mercilessly.” The post received 3.9 million views and 38,000 likes as of Sept. 10, 2024.
On Sept. 9, 2024, Sen. Cruz posted a photo of two kittens with the caption, “Please vote for Trump so Haitian immigrants don’t eat us.” The post had been viewed 16 million times and had received 105,000 likes in one day.
On Sept. 9, 2024, X owner Elon Musk reposted an X post by Republican strategist Andrew Surabian, who said: “As 20,000 non-citizen Haitians destroy a town in Ohio and reportedly kill and eat peoples pets, here is Border Czar Kamala Harris bragging about allowing them to flood into our country: ‘We extended Temporary Protected Status to over 100,000 Haitian Migrants...They need support.’” Musk added: “Vote for Kamala if you want this to happen to your neighborhood!” Musk’s post received 34.5 million views and 235,000 likes in one day.
Also on Sept. 10, Sen. Vance said in an X post: “In the last several weeks, my office has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who've said their neighbors' pets or local wildlife were abducted by Haitian migrants.” The post received 4.4 million views and 70,000 likes by later that day. Vance’s Senate office did not respond to a Sept. 10, 2024, email from NewsGuard inquiring about the matter.
The false narrative reemerged in early December 2024, after Ferrell was sentenced to prison for killing and eating a cat in Canton, Ohio. Some conservative social media users claimed that Ferrell’s sentencing proved that Trump was justified in the statements he made about Springfield’s Haitian community.
For example, on Dec. 3, 2024, far-right conspiracy theorist and Infowars owner Alex Jones shared an X post about Ferrell’s sentencing and said: “‘They are eating the cats and dogs.’ Donald Trump Oct, 2024.” Jones’ post received 1.7 million views, 40,000 likes, and 6,800 reposts in one day.
Editor’s Note: This Misinformation Fingerprint was updated on Dec. 5, 2024, to include information about Ferrell’s sentencing. This Fingerprint was previously updated on Nov. 19, 2024, to include details about NewsGuard’s interviews with two Springfield, Ohio, women who apparently helped originate the claim.
By Hilary Hersh
FALSE: The suspect in the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans was a migrant
The False Claim
The suspect who allegedly drove a vehicle into a crowd on Jan. 1, 2025, in New Orleans was not born in the United States.
The Facts
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the suspect in a New Year’s Day vehicular attack that killed at least 15 people in New Orleans, was not a migrant to the United States, contrary to comments from some conservative politicians and social media users. Jabbar said in a video before the attack that he was “born and raised” in Texas, and the FBI has identified him as a U.S. citizen — a fact confirmed by voting records.
In the early hours of Jan. 1, 2025, law enforcement officials said that Jabbar drove a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens of others. Several hours later, Fox News incorrectly reported that the truck used in the attack crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into Eagle Pass, Texas, two days before the attack, leading to figures including President-elect Donald Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. to falsely assert that the attack was an instance of migrant crime.
However, Jabbar said in a now-deleted YouTube video that he was “born and raised in Beaumont, Texas,” according to an excerpt from the video broadcast by CNN on Jan. 1, 2025. The FBI also described him in a statement that day as a U.S. citizen from Texas. Reputable outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, described Jabbar as being “born and bred” in Texas. Records from the North Carolina State Board of Elections show that Jabbar was a registered voter who voted in the 2012 general election before removing himself from the voter roll. All North Carolina voters are required to be U.S. citizens.
A variation of the claim asserts that the truck used in the attack crossed the U.S.-Mexico border two days prior to the attack, indicating that the perpetrator may have entered the country at that time. However, Fox News, the network that originally published this claim on Jan. 1, 2025, clarified in a Fox News Digital article that same day that ”[t]wo federal law enforcement who were not authorized to speak publicly” said that the truck’s driver was not the suspect. They also said that the truck had crossed into the U.S. on Nov. 16, 2024, more than a month before the attack.
How the False Narrative Emerged
As noted above, the false narrative appears to have originated from a Jan. 1, 2025, Fox News report that falsely claimed the vehicle used in the attack crossed the U.S.-Mexico border two days prior to the attack.
One hour after the Fox News report, President-elect Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account: “When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true. The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before. Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!” The post received 53,000 likes and 13,300 reposts in one day.
Where the False Narrative Spread
The claim that the alleged perpetrator of the attack was a migrant spread among conservative accounts on X.
For example, conservative commentator Donald Trump Jr., son of the president-elect, reposted an X post falsely claiming that the “suspect came through Eagle Pass, Texas two days ago” and stated, “Biden’s parting gift to America — migrant terrorists.” The Jan. 1, 2025, post garnered 3.8 million views and 23,000 likes in one day.
Pro-Trump X account @Gisele_Is_MAGA posted on Jan. 1, 2025, “Fox News reports that the suspect is a criminal illegal immigrant who came into the country via our wide open southern border in Eagle Pass, TX, just 2 days prior.” The post received 415,100 views and 1,000 likes in one day.
Variations of this False Claim
The vehicle of the suspect in the New Year's Day attack in New Orleans crossed into the US from Mexico two days earlier
FALSE: Ukraine sold Hamas weapons that were donated from the West
The False Claim
Ukraine sold Palestinian militant group Hamas weapons that were donated from the West
The Facts
Claims that Western weapons donated to Ukraine to fight Russia were used by Palestinian militant group Hamas in its large-scale invasion of Israel in October 2023, are baseless. A video that spread widely on social media after the invasion purported to show Hamas thanking Ukraine for sending them Western weapons. The video shows about half a dozen guns and grenades placed haphazardly on a floor, with a voice saying in Arabic, “We thank the Ukrainian authorities for sending us these weapons. We will use these weapons against you, enemies.”
However, there is no indication that weapons shown in a video came from Ukraine. Moreover, there is no evidence that Ukraine sent Western weapons to Hamas, or that weapons were illegally trafficked out of Ukraine, according to arms trade experts.
“We have seen no compelling evidence of international trafficking of weapons exported to Ukraine since February 2022,” Matt Schroeder, a senior researcher at the Small Arms Survey, a research project at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, told NewsGuard in an October 10, 2023 email.
Additionally, in February 2023, Robert Storch, the Pentagon's inspector general, told Congress that his office had not found evidence that Western weapons in Ukraine had been diverted.
Ukraine’s Military Media Center, which is coordinated by the country’s Defense Ministry, has denied that Ukraine could have sold weapons to Hamas, “because our Western partners closely monitor the weapons and military equipment that they supply us to fight against the Russian aggressor.”
Pro-Kremlin social media accounts also shared a fake BBC video, claiming that investigative news outlet Bellingcat revealed Ukraine smuggled arms to Hamas. The BBC and Bellingcat have denied having anything to do with the video and such reports. “The video is 100% fake. Neither BBC News nor Bellingcat have reported that,” BBC journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh said in an Oct. 11, 2023, post on X (formerly known as Twitter).
In November 2023, pro-Kremlin social media users shared a screenshot of a supposed Washington Post article titled, “Weapons supplies from Ukraine to Hamas have tripled over the past month.”
A Washington Post spokesperson told French news agency Agence France-Presse
(AFP) that it had not published the story, and a keyword search by the AFP and NewsGuard did not reveal the article on the Washington Post website.
Frank Slijper, an arms trade researcher with PAX, a Netherlands-based organization that works to protect civilians from armed violence, said in an Oct.10, 2023, email to NewsGuard that such claims were “aimed at driving a wedge in societies supporting Ukraine (and beyond).”
How the False Narrative Emerged
The claim was amplified by senior officials in Russia. For example, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council and former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, stated in a post on X, “The weapons handed to the nazi regime in Ukraine are now being actively used against Israel.”
An Oct. 8, 2023, post on X by U.S. Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene was also widely shared on Russian media and platforms. “We need to work with Israel to track serial numbers on any U.S. weapons used by Hamas against Israel. Did they come from Afghanistan? Did they come from Ukraine? Highly likely the answer is both,” she said in the post, which was quoted by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti in an article titled, “The US Congress said that Kyiv could have armed Hamas to attack Israel.”
The baseless narrative was advanced by Kremlin-owned news outlets including Russian state-owned Sputnik Africa,Sputnik India,RT, and Ukraina.ru,pro-Kremlin site TopWar.ru, and U.S. conservative sites, including Sonar21.com. The claims were also shared widely on social media, where the video allegedly showing Hamas thanking Ukraine for weapons gained more than 7,000 mentions on X, according to a social media analytics tool used by NewsGuard.
Background
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, countries around the world have provided Ukraine with weapons, including the U.S., UK, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, New Zealand and Japan.
As of September 2023, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with $23.5 billion in weapons, according to the The Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think-tank. Deliveries include almost 12,000 anti-armor systems, more than 1,550 anti-air missiles, machine guns, rifles and ammunition, and body armor, according to the U.S. State Department as of September 2023.
Editor’s note: This Misinformation Fingerprint was updated on Nov. 28, 2023, to add a new variation of the claim involving a fake Washington Post headline.
Variations of this False Claim
The Washington Post published an article in November 2023 headlined, “Weapons supplies from Ukraine to Hamas have tripled over the past month.”
The BBC reported that investigative news outlet Bellingcat revealed that Ukraine smuggled weapons to Hamas.
Contributor Eva Maitland
FALSE: Elon Musk’s satellite internet company, Starlink, was used to rig the 2024 US presidential election for Donald Trump
The False Claim
The 2024 U.S. presidential election was rigged for Republican Donald Trump using Starlink, a satellite internet provider owned by Elon Musk.
The Facts
There is no evidence that Starlink, an internet provider owned by billionaire X owner Elon Musk, was used to rig the 2024 U.S. presidential election for Republican Donald Trump.
The U.S. agency tasked with election security has said there is no evidence of vote-rigging. Elections officials in key swing states have stated that their voting machines do not connect to the internet, meaning this equipment would not be susceptible to a cyberattack through Starlink. Moreover, states have established protocols to verify election results after the initial count. There is also no evidence that the November 2024 destruction of a Starlink satellite — cited by some who advanced the false narrative as evidence of a coverup — was anything but routine. Starlink satellites regularly fall out or are taken out of orbit, breaking apart as they return to Earth.
In the days immediately after the November 2024 U.S. presidential election, obscure and frequently anonymous left-wing social media users claimed that Starlink — whose owner, Musk, has emerged as a high-profile Trump confidante— was used to swing the election away from Democrat Kamala Harris. Starlink provides internet using satellites launched and operated by its parent company SpaceX, which is also owned by Musk.
In fact, Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, an agency in the U.S. Department Homeland Security monitoring election security, said in a Nov. 6, 2024, statement that her office saw “no evidence of any malicious activity that had a material impact on the security or integrity of our election infrastructure” in the 2024 election.
Websites for the secretaries of state in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, as well as the site for the North Carolina State Board of Elections, say that voting machines in their states are not connected online, making it impossible to hack equipment through an internet provider such as Starlink. Pennsylvania’s website states, “Voting systems are never connected to the internet, and every vote cast on a voting machine is recorded on a user-verifiable paper ballot.” Georgia’s website says voting “machines do not connect to the internet, which limits cybersecurity risks.”
The Michigan Secretary of State’s website says its voting equipment may go online to transmit results “only after counting has finished.” However, the site also states that when precincts in Michigan use the Internet to report election results to the county clerk, election workers “will bring a hard copy of the paper tally to the county clerk to ensure all vote counts remain accurate.”
And in Wisconsin, state elections commission members stated in a November 2024 article for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that voting “machines are never connected to the internet, and in fact are unable to connect, to prevent tampering.” The state’s largest city, Milwaukee, reports election results using flash drives, local news site Wisconsin Watch reported in November 2024.
States also have safeguards in place to confirm the accuracy of their election results. All but one state — Alabama, a traditionally red state that Trump won in a landslide — will audit its November 2024 election results, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Some social media users who advanced the false narrative claimed that aNovember 2024 explosion of a Starlink satellite was engineered to cover up evidence of election interference. A fireball was visible in the sky above Colorado, Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma on the night of Nov. 9-10, 2024, and was most likely caused by a Starlink satellite reentering Earth’s atmosphere and breaking apart, according to news reports.
However, there is no evidence that Starlink purposely destroyed a satellite to hide evidence of election interference. The atmospheric reentry and resulting destruction of Starlink satellites is routine, according to a document on Starlink’s website that states, “SpaceX proactively deorbits satellites that are identified to be at an elevated risk of becoming non-maneuverable.” More than 670 Starlink satellites have been destroyed since 2019, either by falling out of orbit on their own or by being intentionally deorbited, according to a tracker maintained by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics astronomer Jonathan McDowell.
Starlink did not respond to a November 2024 email from NewsGuard sent to parent company SpaceX’s media team.
How the False Narrative Emerged
The earliest example of the false narrative identified by NewsGuard came on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, when liberal X user @princess_kim_k stated: “Elon has govt contracts. He knows our election software. Easy with computers- musk is good with that aspect isn’t he? Starlink? He has govt contracts-doesn’t he know how our election computer and systems run- pretty easy fix to manipulate!” The post was viewed 2,509 times and reposted 25 times by Nov. 11.
Where the False Narrative Spread
Posts speculating on Starlink’s supposed role in rigging the election generally received little engagement until Nov. 9, when liberal X user @AesPolitics1 posted a video of an unnamed woman saying she heard that “California and other swing states were able to use Starlink in order to tally up and to count … ballots in their state.” The woman said the alleged use of Starlink “is why the numbers don’t make sense.” (State law in California, which has not voted for a Republican for president since 1988, says, “No part of the voting system shall be connected to the internet at any time.”)
The @AesPolitics1 post, captioned “This woman just made the most convincing case for Biden to investigate the election. She exposes Starlink,” was viewed 4.4 million times and reposted 12,000 times in two days.
One day later, on Nov. 10, 2024, there were 281,644 mentions of Starlink on X — compared to a daily average of 40,100 mentions a day from Nov. 5 to Nov 9, according to a social media monitoring tool used by NewsGuard. NewsGuard also identified the false claim on social media platforms Reddit, Facebook, and Threads.
A Nov. 10, 2024, X post from progressive user @Michell33650674, who previously advanced false or misleading information about the July 2024 assassination attempt on Trump, stated: “STOP F***ING SAYING THAT TRUMP WON THIS ELECTION! HE DIDN'T! … THIS ELECTION WAS RIGGED BY TRUMP, LEON, AND RUSSIA! STARLINK WAS USED! MILLIONS OF VOTES WEREN'T COUNTED!” Her post was viewed 2.8 million times and reposted 15,000 times over the following day.
Another Nov. 10, 2024, X post from progressive user @JamesTate121 stated: “Elon Musk used Starlink to hack our elections so he can have nice things while inflicting pain on Americans.” The post was viewed 168,100 times and reposted 3,300 times by Nov. 11.
Background
The Ukrainian military has relied on Starlink for internet access and battlefield communication in its war with Russia, according to news reports by the Washington Post and CNN, among others. Many experts have said that Starlink is vital to Ukraine’s survival in the war, although the Washington Post reported in November 2024 that Musk threatened to revoke Ukraine’s access before the Pentagon began paying for the service. On Nov. 6, 2024, Trump brought Musk onto a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who thanked Musk for Starlink, the Post reported.
Editor’s Note: This Misinformation Fingerprint was updated on Nov. 26, 2024, to reflect the spread of claims that the destruction of a Starlink satellite was proof of an election-interference coverup.
By Sam Howard
FALSE: Polio vaccines contain mercury-based ingredients
The False Claim
Polio vaccines contain mercury-based ingredients.
The Facts
Polio vaccines, which have been available since 1955, do not and have never contained any mercury-based ingredients, according to health authorities including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.
Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, has been used in some vaccines for decades. However, the CDC states on its website that thimerosal is not an ingredient in the inactivated polio vaccine, which is the only type of polio vaccine used in the U.S. since 2000. Similarly, the WHO says on its website that the oral polio vaccine, a live virus vaccine that is still used outside the U.S., also does not contain thimerosal.
Moreover, a 2001 report from the U.S. Institute of Medicine stated that both the inactivated polio vaccine and the oral polio vaccine “do not contain, and have never contained, thimerosal.”
Thimerosal contains a type of mercury compound called ethylmercury, which is different from a separate compound called methylmercury and is found in certain kinds of fish and can be toxic at high levels. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia explains on its website that “Ethylmercury is broken down and excreted much more rapidly than methylmercury,” meaning it is far less likely to accumulate in the body and cause harm.
Concerns about the safety of mercury compounds led thimerosal to be eliminated from most childhood vaccines in the U.S. in 2001, with the exception of some flu vaccines. However, studies published after the ingredient was removed did not support the hypothesis that it was harming children. A 2004 study published in the journal Pediatrics that monitored the thimerosal exposure of 14,000 children from the time they were born in the U.K. in 1991 and 1992 through the age of seven, found “no convincing evidence that early exposure to thimerosal had any deleterious effect on neurologic or psychological outcome.”
Where the False Narrative Spread
NewsGuard was unable to determine the false narrative’s origins. However, the claim spread on social media platforms in mid-January 2025 based on comments made by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a biotech billionaire and owner of the Los Angeles Times.
In a Jan. 13, 2025 episode of “The Morning Meeting” – a YouTube political talk show co-hosted by political commentator Mark Halperin, former Trump administration White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, and Democratic strategist Dan Turrentine — Soon-Shiong was interviewed about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the anti-vaccine activist nominated by Donald Trump to serve as his Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Referencing a December 2024 New York Times article, which reported that a lawyer affiliated with Kennedy had petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to revoke its approval of an inactivated polio vaccine, Soon-Shiong said: “There's no way he wants to ban the polio vaccine. He's talking about some of the old versions that happen to have mercury in it. We all know there's mercury that causes deficiencies, and if you can take the mercury out, which you know you can, and they've done.” Although Soon-Shiong did not make it clear whether he was claiming mercury had been removed from any polio vaccine, as noted above, there was never any mercury-based ingredient in the inactivated polio vaccine in the first place.
The YouTube episode generated 31,000 views on YouTube in two days.
The claim was subsequently spread on X by accounts that have previously shared false or egregiously misleading claims about vaccines. For example, a Jan. 13, 2025, X post from Holden Cullotta, whose LinkedIn profile says he was an “independent consultant” to American Values 2024 — a Political Action Committee that supported Kennedy’s 2024 presidential bid — included a clip of Soon-Shiong’s remarks about polio vaccines from the “The Morning Meeting” episode mentioned above. The post generated 537,000 views, 7,200 likes and 2,000 reposts in three days.
The same clip of Soon’s Shiong’s remarks about polio vaccines were also shared on Instagram, Telegram, Rumble, and on websites that NewsGuard has found to have repeatedly published false or egregiously misleading content, including AgeOfAutism.com and WLTReport.com.
Background
Polio epidemics were common throughout the first half of the 20th century, reaching a peak in the U.S. in 1952 with 21,000 people being paralyzed due to polio infections, according to the CDC’s medical textbook about vaccines, called the PinkBook.
The CDC PinkBook also states that following the introduction of the first polio vaccine in 1955 and the oral polio vaccine in 1961, the number of paralytic polio cases declined to fewer than 100 by the mid-1960s. The last documented case in the U.S. of a wild poliovirus infection – meaning an infection caused by the spread of a naturally-occurring poliovirus – was in 1979.
An October 2024 report from the WHO said that vaccination has resulted in the elimination of wild poliovirus infection in all but two countries worldwide, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
By John Gregory
FALSE: Abortion increases risk of breast cancer
The False Claim
Induced abortions increase women’s risk for getting breast cancer.
The Facts
A number of global health organizations, including the World Health Organization, U.S. National Cancer Institute, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and American Cancer Society (ACS) have published statements denying a link between abortion and breast cancer. “At this time, the scientific evidence does not support the notion that abortion of any kind raises the risk of breast cancer or any other type of cancer,” the ACS says on its website.
In 2003, the National Cancer Institute held a workshop in which more than 100 experts on pregnancy and breast cancer risk reviewed existing studies on the relationship between abortion and breast cancer. The group concluded that there is no link between induced or spontaneous abortions and breast cancer risk and said that the level of scientific evidence to support that conclusion was “well established” — the NCI’s highest possible level of evidence.
A committee opinion first published in 2009 and reaffirmed in 2021 by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) stated that “rigorous recent studies demonstrate no causal relationship between induced abortion and a subsequent increase in breast cancer risk.” ACOG also stated that approximately a dozen case-control studies dating to 2008, cited by proponents of the theory, have been discredited because of their reliance on asking participants to report their own health history, which is subject to recall bias.
According to the American Cancer Society, several cohort studies, which are generally acknowledged in the scientific community as more reliable because they are not subject to recall bias, have found no link between abortion and increased breast cancer risk.
Editor’s Note: This False Narrative was updated on Aug. 2, 2023.