Harvard Hit From Both Sides
PLUS: Killings at Capital Jewish Museum Labeled ‘False Flag’
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In today’s edition, Trump supporters and opponents alike are targeting Harvard with false claims amid the university’s battles with the Trump administration and far-right social media users are baselessly labeling the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers as a “false flag” operation.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Sofia Rubinson and Eric Effron.
1. Harvard Praised for Fictional Free Course on Dictatorship, Condemned for Bogus Blacklist of Trump Supporters
By Sam Howard
What happened: Liberals and conservatives are seizing on Harvard University’s showdown with the Trump administration to level false charges advancing their respective agendas. From the left, social media users are praising the Ivy League school for supposedly launching a free course open to the public with instructions on “how to recognize a dictatorship.” And from the right, users claim that the school has embarked on a campaign to “blacklist” all Trump supporters.
Both claims are bogus.
Context: Since Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, he has repeatedly attacked Harvard, claiming it fosters antisemitism and is run by “Leftist dopes” who teach “Hate and Stupidity.”
On April 11, the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to the school, threatening to withhold funding if the university did not agree to demands including subjecting its courses to viewpoint diversity audits, no longer “admitting students hostile to the American values,” and immediately ending all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. Harvard responded by filing a suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, claiming First Amendment violations.
On May 22, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent a letter to Harvard saying the government was revoking the school’s ability to enroll international students. Harvard sued, again alleging that the Trump administration was infringing on its First Amendment rights.
In recent days, Trump has threatened to revoke the school’s tax-exempt status and to redirect billions of dollars allocated for Harvard research grants to trade schools.
A closer look: Against this backdrop, both pro- and anti-Trump social media users are circulating false claims about the university.
On the left: Anti-Trump accounts praised Harvard for supposedly launching a new, free course for the public called “How to Recognize a Dictatorship Takeover 101.”
Anti-Trump Threads user @etennesseegal posted: “Harvard University set to launch FREE college courses online for every US Citizen. Highlighting basic U.S. Government, understanding the Constitution, and How to recognize a Dictatorship takeover 101.” The post received 346,000 views and 14,100 likes.
Liberal X user @RobertCStern posted the same text as the Threads user, adding, “Harvard for the win.” The post garnered 63,400 views and 1,500 likes.
Actually: Harvard has not launched such a course, according to a NewsGuard review of the university’s course catalog.
As of May 27, none of the 167 courses offered by Harvard on the free, publicly accessible education platform EdX were titled “How to Recognize a Dictatorship Takeover 101” or included the word “dictatorship” in the class title.
Harvard spokesperson Sarah Kennedy-O'Reilly told fact-checking site Lead Stories (NewsGuard Trust Score: 100/100) that EdX “courses take roughly 12-18 months to build online so none have been created in response to recent events.”
And on the right: Pro-Trump social media users are citing a screenshot from a private university messaging platform used by students to falsely claim that Harvard announced that it is blacklisting all Trump supporters.
The users cited a post from Sidechat, an anonymous social media app with school-specific forums that are only accessible to users with verified school email addresses. The post stated: “Until Trump backs down (if he does), I think we blacklist Trump supporters on campus. Don’t let them into clubs, don’t be friends with them, certainly don’t date them. Bring back real social consequences for politically affiliating with a fascist.”
Conservative X user @MilaLovesJoe shared a screenshot of the Sidechat post and added: “BREAKING NEWS: Harvard plans on blacklisting Trump supporters. FAFO [F--- Around, Find Out], Harvard.” The post garnered 415,900 views and 8,300 likes before it was deleted.
Pro-Trump X user @BrilynHollyhand posted the Sidechat screenshot and stated: “BREAKING: Harvard plans to ‘BLACKLIST Trump supporters on campus,’ per leaked screenshots of their private chat site, given to me by a student. … So much for the tolerant Left! How childish!” The post received 197,500 views and 5,900 likes.
Actually: The post cited as evidence for this claim is not from an official communication channel used by university administrators.
As stated above, Sidechat, where the message originated, is an anonymous messaging board used by students. The post appears to be calling for social blacklisting of Trump supporters, not a university policy.
There is no credible reporting that Harvard announced such a plan. The school did not respond to a NewsGuard email inquiring about the Sidechat post and the claim that the school plans to “blacklist” Trump supporters.
Charlene Lin contributed reporting.
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2. Shooting of Israeli Embassy Staff Labeled as a ‘False Flag’
By Nicole Dirks
What happened: Anti-Israel social media users are falsely claiming that the May 21 fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., was orchestrated by either Israel or the U.S. as part of a “false flag” operation to create sympathy for Israel.
Context: On May 21, Elias Rodriguez, a 31-year-old man from Chicago, allegedly shot and killed two Israeli embassy staffers, Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington.
After the shooting, Rodriguez said, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” according to an affidavit released by the FBI. Several videos of Rodriguez being led away in handcuffs posted by news outlets show him shouting, “Free, free Palestine.”
A closer look: Nevertheless, anti-Israel social media users subsequently said the shooting was a U.S. or Israeli “false flag,” perpetrated by one of the two governments.
Shortly after the shooting, far-right commentator Nick Fuentes posted on X: “False flag, right on schedule. There goes free speech and diplomacy.” The post garnered 2.4 million views and 48,000 likes.
One day later, far-right X user Ryan Matta posted, “You are watching an Israel false flag play out in real time.” The post received 370,200 views and 14,000 likes.
Actually: There is no evidence that Israel or the U.S. orchestrated the shooting or that Rodriguez carried out his alleged actions on the orders of either country.
Although police have not announced a motive in the attack, Rodriguez has expressed pro-Palestinian views in the past and has a history of speaking out against both the U.S. and Israel.
A neighbor of Rodriguez’s told The Wall Street Journal (Trust Score: 100/100) that Rodriguez had a photo in his apartment window of 6-year-old Palestinian American Wadea Al-Fayoume, who was stabbed to death by his landlord in a Chicago suburb in 2023.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that in 2017, Rodriguez issued a post on social media accusing Democrats of “lying” for not working to end the war in Iraq, stating, “It’s up to the people to protect themselves.”
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3. Anti-Vaxxers Resurface Myth that COVID-19 Vaccines Cause Miscarriages
What happened: With a boost from a U.S. Senate hearing, anti-vaxxers, including X users with significant reach and websites that NewsGuard has flagged as major misinformation spreaders, are reigniting the myth that COVID-19 vaccines cause miscarriages — one of many long-debunked falsehoods about the safety of the vaccines during pregnancy.