Craigslist Ads Did Not Offer to Pay Anti-Trumpers to Protest
PLUS: Fox News Stock Ticker Ticked on During Crash; Russia’s RT Launches “Journalism” Course
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In today’s edition:
Pro-MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and conservative social media users are citing Craigslist ads to claim that anti-Trump protesters at last weekend’s “Hands Off!” rallies were paid to show up. However, NewsGuard examined those ads and found that in fact, they were for people to hawk anti-Trump merch for the rallies, not an offer to pay people to march and chant.
On the other side of the ideological divide, left-leaning social media users accuse Fox News of yanking its stock ticker to cover up the market crash that greeted Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs. Not so. Our team found multiple Fox News segments that aired during the plunge displaying those scary red numbers rolling along the bottom of the screen.
Speaking of tariffs, Trump and others claim that Warren Buffett called the tariffs “the best economic moves he’s seen in 50 years.” That quote? Total BS, NewsGuard found.
Finally, RT, the Russian state media outlet and regular spreader of disinformation, is launching a workshop for English-speaking journalists on “how to detect fakes.” What could possibly go wrong?
Today’s newsletter was edited by Sofia Rubinson and Eric Effron.
1. Conservative Accounts Cite Craigslist Ad to Falsely Claim ‘Hands Off’ Protesters Were Paid to March
By Hannah Mark
What happened: Conservative social media users are falsely claiming that anti-Trump protesters at the April 5 “Hands Off!” rally in Los Angeles were paid to demonstrate, citing multiple Craigslist advertisements as supposed proof.
Context: The Los Angeles rally was one of at least 1,400 “Hands Off!” rallies held nationwide to protest the Trump administration that collectively drew millions of protesters, according to news accounts.
A closer look: One of the earliest instances of the claim that protesters were paid was an April 7 X post by pro-Trump user @WallStreetApes, which included a screenshot of six Craigslist ads related to the Los Angeles “Hands Off!” rally.
@WallStreetApes added the caption: “PAID TO PROTEST positions are being posted to Craigslist. A huge amount of the new positions being posted everywhere ARE TO PROTEST ‘CASH PAID.’” The post garnered 205,000 views and 3,900 likes in two days.
Pro-MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene reposted the @WallStreetApes post on X and stated: “The left always pays protesters and here’s the proof!! Meanwhile, we never had to hire anyone to attend and support President Trump at his huge rallies!” The post received 109,000 views and 2,200 likes in one day.
Actually: The ads sought people to sell merchandise at the rally, not to join in the protest, NewsGuard found.
Typical ads were titled “HANDS OFF! ANTI-TRUMP PROTEST MERCH SALES TEAM - CASH PAID!” and “Sell Protest and Resistance products and Protest rallies in your area.”
A review of Los Angeles-area Craigslist posts did not find any advertisements offering to hire protesters for the “Hands Off!” rally.
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2. No, Fox News Did Not Remove its Stock Ticker to Hide Market Collapse from Trump’s Tariffs
By Sarah Komar
What happened: Liberal social media users are falsely claiming that Fox News removed its live stock market ticker to hide the market fallout stemming from President Donald Trump’s April 2, 2025, announcement of sweeping new import tariffs.
Context: When Trump announced the new tariffs, including an across-the-board tax of 10 percent and additional tariffs on specific countries, global markets went into free fall.
A closer look: As the market tanked, some liberal social media users claimed that Fox News removed its onscreen stock-market ticker “for the first time ever,” in a supposed bid to hide the damage and protect Trump.
An April 3 X post from progressive user @acnewsitics, where the claim apparently originated, said, “Hey, how come Fox News took the Dow ticker off of their screen today?” The post received 2.2 million views and 82,000 likes in four days.
Liberal political activist and retired crime novelist Don Winslow said in an April 3 X post: “Dear @FoxNews[:] For almost three decades you have always had the stock market ticker on screen during all of your shows. Today - after three decades - it was removed. Why??” The post received 5.4 million views and 277,000 likes in four days.
Actually: A NewsGuard review of archived versions of Fox News programming on April 3 found that the ticker had not been removed.
The “Dow Watch” stock ticker appeared for several minutes at a time during multiple shows. For example, the ticker appeared at the bottom of the screen during the second half of “America’s Newsroom,” which ran from 10-11 a.m. Eastern Time. During “The Story With Martha MacCallum,” which ran from 3-4 p.m. Eastern Time, the live ticker was shown for seven minutes.
Moreover, the “Dow Watch” ticker was never a permanent onscreen feature on Fox News’ programming, a network spokesperson told NewsGuard.
“FOX News Channel has never featured a continuous stock market ticker throughout its history and claims that it was removed are inaccurate,” the spokesperson told NewsGuard in an April 7, 2025, email.
A NewsGuard review of dozens of episodes of Fox News programming prior to April 2 confirmed that the ticker did not appear onscreen at all times ahead of the tariff announcement.
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.
3. Trump and Allies Claim Warren Buffett Backed Tariff Policy — Not True
By Macrina Wang
What happened: Conservative accounts are spreading the false claim that renowned investor Warren Buffett called President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs “the best economic moves he’s seen in over 50 years.”
Among those spreading the claim is Trump himself.
A closer look: After Trump announced a round of tariffs on Canada and Mexico in early March, Brian Decker, a prolific cryptocurrency and finance commentator, told his 235,000 Instagram followers in a March 13 video:
“Trump is crashing the stock market by 20 percent this month, but he’s doing it on purpose. And this is why Warren Buffett just said Trump is making the best economic moves he’s seen in 50 years.”
Decker went on to claim in the video that Trump was intentionally crashing the stock market in order to push cash into Treasury securities — debt instruments that finance government spending — to ultimately force the U.S. Federal Reserve to slash interest rates.
In early April 2025, another video, created by TikTok user @wnnsa11, integrated the audio of Decker speaking about Buffett and the Trump tariffs alongside stock images of Trump.
You can watch that video here:
The @wnnsa11 TikTok video received 3.2 million views and 111,100 likes, while another user who posted the video to X garnered 3 million views and 47,000 likes.
Trump himself posted the TikTok video to his Truth Social profile without a caption on April 4, attracting 24,000 likes and 5,900 reposts on the platform.
Actually: Buffett, who leads multinational conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway and is one of the most widely quoted investors in the world, made no such statement praising Trump or tariffs.
The same day that Trump shared the video on April 4, Berkshire Hathaway said in a news release: “There are reports currently circulating on social media (including Twitter, Facebook and Tik Tok) regarding comments allegedly made by Warren E. Buffett. All such reports are false.”
Decker has since edited the description of his Instagram post to acknowledge, “The comment from Warren Buffet [sic] is incorrect.” He claimed in the revised caption that he saw the fake Buffett comment on X, although NewsGuard did not find any X posts with the alleged comment published ahead of Decker’s video.
As of April 10, Buffett has not publicly commented on Trump’s tariff decisions.
On April 4, Buffett told CNBC (Trust Score: 95/100) business reporter Becky Quick that he would not speak publicly about the markets, the economy, or tariffs until Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting on May 3.
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4. Those Who Can’t Do: Russia’s RT Launches ‘Journalism Courses’ on ‘How to Detect Fakes’
By McKenzie Sadeghi and Eva Maitland
What happened: Russian state-run media outlet RT (Trust Score: 20/100) announced on April 8, 2025, that “300 media professionals from all over the world” have enrolled in its English-language international journalism training course.
A closer look: RT says the course will take place from April 7 to May 16 and will offer workshops on “how to develop and craft engaging news” and “how to detect fakes and ways to verify sources” from experts. RT said the workshops also enable participants to “join RT’s global news family” and receive an RT media certificate.
NewsGuard has found that the academy’s “experts” include sources who regularly spread disinformation.
One is Moscow-based Irish commentator and RT correspondent Chay Bowes who has advanced 23 provably false narratives about the Russia-Ukraine war identified by NewsGuard in our Misinformation Fingerprints database.
Another academy “expert” is RT’s managing director Alexey Nikolov, who was sanctioned by the U.K. for spreading Russian propaganda about the war.
Context: The academy was launched in February 2024 for journalists in Asia, expanded to cover Africa in September 2024, and is now targeting English-language speakers in the U.S. and Europe.
Disinformation specialists say that the course is aimed at promoting Russia’s interests abroad.
In an April 9, 2025, X post, Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation said, “RT’s courses — yet another tool in Russia's information warfare. The goal of such educational initiatives — to draw foreign professionals into the Russian media space. This will help build a network of journalists loyal to the Kremlin.”
Addressing Russia’s Africa-focused curriculum, Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, an academic institute within the U.S. Department of Defense, told NewsGuard in a September 2024 email: “It is highly unlikely that this is an authentic journalism course. This sort of journalism training does resemble other Russian efforts to try and woo African voices to provide more favorable coverage of Moscow on the continent and to parrot Russian talking points.”
RT receives a 20/100 Trust Score from NewsGuard. The site has repeatedly published false or egregiously misleading information, including the false claim that Ukraine is developing bioweapons with the support of the U.S. and that the Red Cross is involved in children’s organ trafficking. NewsGuard has found that RT’s English, French, German and Spanish affiliates have advanced a total of 116 false claims.
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