Sorry, Bluesky, But These Major Brands Are Not Fleeing X
Plus: George H.W. Bush’s Phantom Pardon; Pro-China Accounts Claim Google Maps Censors "Taiwan"; and Justin Trudeau’s Father Was Not Fidel Castro
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Today:
Liberals ditching X for Bluesky falsely claim that major brands are also leaving Musk’s platform
Unprecedented: Biden was the first president to pardon son, despite claims about Neil Bush
The name game: Pro-China sources claim Google Maps relabeled Taiwan to the name favored by Chinese government
Paternity fight: No, Justin Trudeau’s father is not Fidel Castro
And More …
Today’s newsletter was edited by Eric Effron and Sofia Rubinson.
1. Bluesky’s Liberal Users Falsely Claim Big Brands Are Fleeing X
What happened: Amid a post-election exodus of users from Elon Musk’s X, liberal accounts on social media platform Bluesky are sharing a list of companies, including Walmart, McDonald’s, and Mastercard, that they falsely claim have abandoned X as well.
A closer look: The list has gained momentum on Bluesky since mid-November, receiving tens of thousands of likes and reposts.
In a Nov. 18 post, self-described liberal account @PEIPolitical stated: “Visa stopped posting on X. Etsy stopped posting on X. Adobe stopped posting on X. Android stopped posting on X. Mastercard stopped posting on X. McDonald's stopped posting on X. CVS Pharmacy stopped posting on X. Walmart stopped posting on X. Did You?” The post garnered 41,500 likes and 4,000 reposts.
Posts containing this identical text were also shared by multiple Bluesky users, including the accounts @4wealthislove.bsky.social, @jerasikehorn, @kashif328.bsky.social, and @momcjl.bsky.social.
Actually: These companies keep an active profile on X, including recently.
NewsGuard found that Etsy, Android, Mastercard, McDonald’s, CVS, and Walmart have all posted on X at least three times within the last month, including posts before and after the list started circulating in mid-November. Visa most recently posted on X on Nov. 26, 2024.
Of all of the companies named, Adobe has been the least active on X in the past month, publishing only one post on Nov. 11. Adobe did not respond to two emails from NewsGuard inquiring about its presence on X.
Context: Liberal social media users have flocked to Bluesky, a platform created by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in 2019, amid criticism of X owner Musk’s outspoken support for President-elect Donald Trump.
Bluesky, which has been described by some experts as a liberal “refuge” from conservative rhetoric on X, has grown to 24 million users from approximately 14 million users since the 2024 election, according to the company.
NewsGuard sent an email to Bluesky asking about the false postings and its approach to misinformation about a competitor being allowed to remain on its platform, but did not receive a response.
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2. Defending Joe Biden’s Pardon of Hunter Biden, Liberals Falsely Claim George H.W. Bush Pardoned His Son, Too
By Sam Howard
What happened: Liberals are falsely claiming that George H.W. Bush pardoned his son Neil Bush, in an effort to defend President Joe Biden’s Dec. 1 decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden.
A closer look: The false claim about the Bushes spread among liberal social media users on X, Bluesky, and Threads, as well as on several news outlets after Indian news site TimesNowNews.com (NewsGuard Trust Score: 62/100) published an article making the claim.
The Dec. 1 TimesNowNews.com article stated: “In the final days of his presidency, Bush granted clemency to his son, Neil Bush, who was implicated in the Silverado Savings and Loan scandal. The decision was controversial and viewed by some as an example of presidential privilege shielding a family member.”
Esquire.com (Trust Score: 75/100) published an article on Dec. 3 titled “A President Shouldn’t Pardon His Son? Hello, Anybody Remember Neil Bush?” The article was retracted with an editor’s note the next day.
In a Dec. 2 X post, liberal commentator Grant Stern stated: “George H.W. Bush pardoned his son Neil Bush for his role in the S&L scandals of the 1980s. Nobody thinks those pardons defined either presidency.” The post received 772,000 views and 17,000 likes in two days. Stern also subsequently corrected his post, but the claim nevertheless continued to spread on multiple platforms.
Actually: Neil Bush, a son of former President George H.W. Bush and brother of former President George W. Bush, never received a pardon.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s website lists presidential pardons and commutations dating to the Nixon administration. None of the first President Bush’s pardons was for his son. (And the second President Bush did not pardon his brother.)
Newsweek (Trust Score: 100/100) compiled a list of U.S. presidents who have pardoned relatives, none of whom other than Biden pardoned their son.
Context: Neil Bush was involved in the so-called savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, during which numerous financial institutions collapsed.
U.S. Treasury investigators accused Neil Bush, while serving on the board of a Colorado savings and loan, of neglecting to disclose to fellow board members that they were considering transactions involving his business associates. After the bank failed in 1988, the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sued Bush and others, ultimately settling for $49.5 million. Bush was never criminally charged in the matter.
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. Pro-China Accounts Falsely Claim Google Maps Changed Taiwan’s Label to a Name Favored by China
What happened: Pro-China and Chinese state-linked social media accounts are falsely claiming that Google Maps updated its labeling of Taiwan to “Taiwan Province,” a term aligned with Beijing’s efforts to challenge the island’s sovereignty.
Context: Outlined in its “One China” policy, China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and uses the term “Taiwan Province” to challenge the island’s claims to independence.
A closer look: Accounts spreading this claim posted two maps of Taiwan, purportedly sourced from Google Maps, showing the island before and after a supposed recent update. The images show that the label changed from “Taiwan” to “Taiwan Province.”
“After the update of Google Maps, Taiwan was officially changed to Taiwan Province,” said a Nov. 25 X post from the pro-China account miren_41319 that generated 410,000 views.
Accounts with large followings, including Xue Jian, China's consul general in Osaka, Japan, as well as Zhang Zi, who identifies herself as the editor of the Chinese state-affiliated Tianjin Metropolis news outlet, posted the dual-map images. “The Google map label has changed to Taiwan Province,” Zi wrote in a Nov. 25 X post, adding that “this is the trend and a natural progression!”
Actually: Google Maps did not relabel Taiwan. It has always appeared as “Taiwan Province” in mainland China due to local regulations.
A Google spokesperson told NewsGuard in a December 2024 email, “We have not made any changes to how we depict Taiwan on Google Maps. People using Maps in Mainland China see ‘Taiwan Province’ as that name is required by local law - elsewhere, people see ‘Taiwan.’”
Indeed, a search of “Taiwan” on Google Maps performed by NewsGuard in the U.S. and the U.K. did not reveal any areas labeled “Taiwan Province.” As of December 2024, the country was labeled on Google Maps as “Taiwan.”
More context: In the past, Google Maps had indeed labeled the island as “Taiwan, Province of China,” a descriptor that was viewable by its global user base. However, in October 2005, following a request from Taiwan authorities, Google changed it to simply “Taiwan” for users outside of China, according to multiple news reports.
In April 2024, similar claims of mislabeling Taiwan targeted Apple Maps.
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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.
4. Inconceivable: False Claim that Fidel Castro Was Justin Trudeau’s Father Resurfaces After Mar-a-Lago Meeting
By Nicole Dirks
What happened: Conservatives are falsely claiming that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is the son of former Cuban President Fidel Castro, a result of an alleged affair between Castro and Trudeau’s mother, Margaret Trudeau.
A closer look: This conspiracy theory has been circulating since Castro’s death in 2016, but it reemerged on the 2024 U.S. campaign trail when Donald Trump made the claim several times. And it resurfaced again after Trudeau met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in late November 2024.
Conservative X user @CitizenFreePress said in a Nov. 29 post, “JUSTIN TRUDEAU, SON OF FIDEL CASTRO, ARRIVES IN MAR LAGO [sic].” The post received 1 million views and 3,500 likes.
In an August 2024 YouTube video with conservative internet personality Adin Ross, Trump said Trudeau “could be” the son of the Cuban leader. And he has made this claim before.
In his book “Save America,” Trump stated that Trudeau’s mother “somehow associated” with Castro, that “people say that [Trudeau] is [Castro’s] son,” and that “[Trudeau] says that he isn’t, but how the hell would he know! Castro had good hair, the ‘father’ didn’t, Justin has good hair.”
Actually: By all credible accounts, Trudeau’s father was Pierre Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984.
Justin Trudeau’s mother did travel to Cuba and meet with Castro while Pierre Trudeau was establishing diplomatic ties to the Caribbean nation. However, her first known trip to Cuba was more than four years after Justin Trudeau was born, in 1971.
In a review of news coverage, Snopes (Trust Score: 100/100) found, and NewsGuard confirmed, there is no evidence of Castro leaving Cuba or Margaret Trudeau visiting Cuba during the time when Justin Trudeau was conceived.
The Associated Press (Trust Score: 95/100) reported in 2018 that the Canadian government has denied multiple times that Castro is Justin Trudeau’s father.
Context: While married to Pierre Trudeau between 1971 and 1984, Margaret Trudeau had affairs with public figures including actors Jack Nicholson and Ryan O’Neal, according to news reports and her memoirs. Describing her reputation at the time, a March 2016 Harper’s Bazaar (Trust Score: 87.5/100) profile on her said, “She raised eyebrows and won hearts by refusing to conform to the traditional notions of what a political wife should be.”
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