Alligator Alcatraz’s Phantom Moat
PLUS: Big Beautiful Falsehoods About the Budget Bill; How Chatbots Are Breeding Grounds for Disinformation
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In today’s edition, we break down the myths surrounding Florida’s new “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention center, including the false claim that it is encircled by an alligator-infested moat. We also debunk falsehoods from both sides of the political spectrum about Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” and we preview an analysis on how chatbots are being exploited by Russia, China, and Iran to spread disinformation.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Sofia Rubinson and Eric Effron.
1. False Claim of the Week: Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Immigrant Detention Center is Surrounded by an Alligator-Infested Moat
NewsGuard’s “False Claim of the Week” highlights a false claim from NewsGuard’s False Claim Fingerprints proprietary database of provably false claims and their debunks. The claim that the “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention center is surrounded by an alligator-infested moat was deemed the “False Claim of the Week” due to its widespread appearance across social media platforms and websites, its high engagement levels, and the high-profile nature of the sources promoting it. Given those three factors — in addition to its significant subject matter — its potential for harm makes it our False Claim of the Week.
Debunk: ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is Not Surrounded by an Alligator-Infested Moat — and Other Claims About the Migrant Center That Don’t Hold Water
By Jack Olson, Ines Chomnalez, and Sarah Komar
What happened: Social media users cheering the opening of Florida’s new “Alligator Alcatraz” immigrant detention center are claiming that the facility is surrounded by an alligator-infested moat — and some are pointing to an AI-generated photo as supposed proof.
Context: On July 1, 2025, President Donald Trump attended the opening of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz,” a migrant detention center built in eight days on a remote airstrip in the Florida Everglades. The facility, which has drawn protests from critics who say it is inhumane and violates environmental regulations, is expected to house thousands of migrants suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, according to news reports.
A closer look: “Alligator Alcatraz” is a reference to the infamous former prison on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay, which is surrounded by waters rumored to be infested with sharks to prevent inmates from escaping.
Trump said of the Florida facility, “We have a lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops that are in the form of alligators … it’ll keep people where they’re supposed to be,” referring to the native Everglades wildlife.
Some social media users have taken the claim about alligators to another level, sharing an image that appears to show a bird’s eye view of “Alligator Alcatraz.” The photo depicts several white buildings on a strip of land, surrounded by a moat populated by dozens of alligators.
Conservative X user @ToryLaneNV shared the image in a June 28 X post with the caption: “Florida’s new detention site is now fully enclosed by gator-infested waters — and it opens in 72 hours. Over 5,000 illegals will be held there. No fences needed when nature handles security.” The post received 7.5 million views and 100,000 likes in three days.
The Spanish-language site for Russian state-controlled media outlet RT (NewsGuard Trust Score: 20/100) published an article on June 30 that included the image and stated, “The so-called ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ in Florida.”
Actually: There is no alligator-infested moat surrounding “Alligator Alcatraz,” and the photo cited as evidence is AI-generated, according to AI detection tool Hive.
Real images of the detention center published by CNN on June 30 show temporary structures situated on an asphalt aircraft ramp adjacent to the runway of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport. There is no moat.
In addition to the false moat claim, social media accounts and websites across the political spectrum are advancing other falsehoods about the detention facility.
Scorching cells? On the left, social media users claim that the facility does not have air conditioning, creating inhumane conditions in the scorching Florida summer heat.
On June 27, anti-Trump Facebook page Alt National Park Service posted: “We’ve talked about ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ before. Here are more details. Starting the first week of July, when South Florida’s heat index regularly hits 100°F, they plan to detain up to 5,000 people in tents. No A/C.”
Actually: Multiple government officials, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, said that the facility will be air conditioned. Florida TV news reporters at Fort Myers-based WINK reported that they saw air conditioning units on-site.
Red Cross hoax: Meanwhile, far-right conspiracy websites claimed that the American Red Cross requested to inspect “Alligator Alcatraz,” but that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles ordered that the organization stay away from the facility.
Conservative site Survive the News (Trust Score: 0/100) published an article that stated, “The Trump administration has forbidden Red Cross representatives from inspecting Alligator Alcatraz.”
Actually: Both the White House and the Red Cross told NewsGuard the claim is false. Indeed, NewsGuard found that it originated on satirical news site RealRawNews.com (Trust Score: 7.5/100).
White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers said in a July 1, 2025, email to NewsGuard, “Fake news!” Red Cross media relations director Nicole Maul told NewsGuard in an email, “No individual from the American Red Cross has requested access to the ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention facility in Florida and all claims about and/or in the article are false.”
Brands Under Attack: An Exclusive Briefing for Reality Check Members
Reality Check members are invited to an exclusive online briefing by NewsGuard analysts and editors who specialize in false claims related to high profile consumer products. The one-hour session will be on July 10, 2025, at 1pm ET. We’ll unpack the origins and spread of viral false claims targeting major brands, revealing how these campaigns take root and the real-world impact they can have on trusted brands and consumer decision-making. Become a member today and get your invitation to this exclusive event.
Members also get a FREE copy of the definitive book on the misinformation crisis, The Death of Truth by NewsGuard Co-CEO and bestselling author Steven Brill ($30 value), free access to NewsGuard's browser extension that shows reliability ratings for 11K+ news sites right in your browser ($25 value), and unlimited access to our members-only content and archives.
2. What’s Really in the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’? Sorting Through the Myths
By Nicole Dirks, Chiara Vercellone, and Sam Howard
What happened: As Congress continues to debate Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” social media users across the political spectrum are spreading falsehoods about the massive budget and policy measure. NewsGuard so far has identified seven provably false claims related to the budget bill.
Conservative social media users have praised the bill as beneficial to the middle class by citing provisions that do not exist. Liberals, meanwhile, are fabricating provisions and presenting them as a threat to democracy. And pro-Kremlin accounts have joined the fray by stoking conservatives with an anti-Ukraine myth of their own.
Context: The “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed the House on a 215-214 vote on May 22 and cleared the Senate on July 1 on a 51-50 vote. It is now back in the House, which could approve the Senate version or make changes, in which case it would go back to the Senate.
Medicaid misinformation: Conservative accounts are falsely claiming that the bill does not contain any Medicaid cuts and that it would prevent 1.4 million undocumented immigrants from receiving Medicaid benefits.
Trump himself said on May 20: “The only thing we’re cutting is waste, fraud and abuse. … We’re not changing Medicaid.”
Conservative news site Breitbart (Trust Score: 49.5/100) said in a May 15 article, “House Republicans are moving to block an estimated 1.4 million illegal aliens from receiving American taxpayer-funded Medicaid as Democrats struggle to message their support for the unpopular position.”
Actually: The budget bills approved by the House and Senate both include cuts to Medicaid and would lead to an estimated 17 million people losing their health insurance over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The bill would cut Medicaid primarily by imposing a work requirement on Medicaid recipients. Most already do work or are unable to. And the CBO estimates that others will fall off the rolls because of the paperwork that will have to be processed by recipients to prove that they are working.
Undocumented immigrants are already ineligible for federally funded Medicaid. This claim is based on a misrepresentation of an estimate of how the bill would affect state-funded programs, for which migrants are eligible. (Reality Check members can read NewsGuard’s False Claim Fingerprint for this claim here.)
Fake election changes: Liberal critics of the bill claim that it includes a provision giving Trump the ability to delay or cancel elections, thus putting democracy at risk.
Liberal X user @Mollyploofkins posted, “Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ is the most dangerous legislation in U.S. history.” The post included a screenshot that stated, “He can delay or cancel elections—legally.” The post garnered 856,100 views and 11,000 likes.
Actually: NewsGuard reviewed the House and Senate versions of the legislation and found no such provision, or any provision that would change the federal law governing the timing of elections.
Aiding and abetting: Pro-Russia news sites are falsely claiming that the bill allocates $60 billion in aid to Ukraine.
GlobalResearch.ca (Trust Score: 17.5/100), a Canadian website that publishes pro-Kremlin content, posted an article titled: “The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’: Another 60 Billion for Ukraine...”
Actually: The legislation does not include any provisions committing U.S. foreign aid to Ukraine, or to any country, a NewsGuard review of the document found. The measure is a domestic policy blueprint addressing U.S. spending on health care, immigration, taxes, and more.
Click here to find out more about NewsGuard Trust Scores and our process for rating websites. You can download NewsGuard’s browser extension, which displays NewsGuard Trust Score icons next to links on search engines, social media feeds, and other platforms by clicking here.
NewsGuard’s Reality Gap Index: 49% of Americans Duped by Top False Claims in June
NewsGuard this week launched the monthly Reality Gap Index, the nation’s first regular measurement of Americans’ propensity to believe the top false claims circulating online. For June, NewsGuard found that nearly half (49 percent) of Americans believed at least one of the month’s top three false claims.
Through a monthly survey of a representative sample of Americans conducted by polling and market research firm YouGov, the Reality Gap Index measures the percentage of Americans who believe at least one of the month’s top false claims, as reported in Reality Check.
Nearly half of Americans (49 percent) reported they believed at least one of the three false claims to be true, while only seven percent of respondents could correctly identify all three claims as false. Seventy-four percent were unsure about the truth or falsehood of at least one claim.
For example, asked about the claim that Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Richard Blumenthal spent $800,000 in taxpayer money on hotels during a trip to Ukraine, 27 percent of those surveyed said the claim was true and 57 percent were “not sure.” Only 17 percent correctly identified the claim as false.
Read NewsGuard’s first Reality Gap Index report and the press release announcing the new initiative here.
If you see something, say something
If you see or hear something that you think may be provably false, please alert NewsGuard via realitycheck@newsguardtech.com and we'll do our best to get to the bottom of it. Note: Tips should not include content that you simply disagree with, however strongly.
3. As Seen in Lawfare: How Foreign Propaganda and False Claims Use ‘Data Voids’ to Infect AI Models
In the lead-up to the 2024 global elections, media outlets, think tanks, and world leaders issued dire warnings about AI-generated misinformation and deepfakes. While there were many cases of foreign actors using generative AI to influence the 2024 U.S. presidential election — as documented by the intelligence community — multiple analyses argued that fears of an AI-fueled misinformation wave were largely overblown and that falsehoods still came from low-tech old-school tactics such as cheap video edits, memes, and manipulated headlines.
The greater threat, it turns out, isn’t what AI is creating but, rather, what it’s absorbing and repeating. As generative AI systems increasingly replace search engines and become embedded in consumer products, enterprise software, and public services, the stakes of what they repeat and how they interpret the world are growing. The large language models (LLMs) powering today’s most widely used chatbots have been exposed to a polluted information ecosystem where state-backed foreign propaganda outlets are increasingly imitating legitimate media and employing narrative laundering tactics optimized for search engine visibility — often with the primary purpose of infecting the AI models with false claims reflecting their malign influence operations.
Read the full article in Lawfare, a publication reporting on policy and legal issues related to national security, by McKenzie Sadeghi, NewsGuard’s editor for AI and foreign influence.
Reality Check is produced by Co-CEOs Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, and the NewsGuard team.
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On the subject of AI disinformation, it would be helpful to publish more examples of queries that have elicited such disinformation. A few have been available, and I have used them to test my own favoritie AI (which so far has passed with flying colors).