Your weekly fact-checks
#Conflicts
USA Today
False: UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter identified as 'Samuel H. Ide'.
No credible news or police reports have identified the healthcare executive's shooter as "Samuel H. Ide." The photo in the post shows comedian Sam Hyde, who has been repeatedly and falsely linked to high-profile attacks for years.
Snopes
False: Luigi Nicholas Mangione, a suspect in the Dec. 4, 2024, shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, used a fake ID to buy food at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, shortly before local police acted on a tip from one of the restaurant's employees and took him into custody.
There has been no evidence to confirm the rumor that the McDonald's employee called police after Mangione presented a fake ID to purchase food. The matter possibly originated with a claim made in a New York Post article. Later on the same day, a Pennsylvania official clarified a McDonald's customer alerted the restaurant's employee, who then called 911.
StopFake
False: Ukraine Lacks Funding for Producing Fakes according to BBC/Bellingcat.
In November, Ukraine began to produce significantly fewer "fakes" than before — such "news" was published by a number of pro-Russian sources with reference to the BBC. They are claiming that Western partners allegedly stopped allocating money to Ukraine for waging information warfare, and therefore the number of fakes in the Ukrainian information space has decreased. This video is not available on the website or social networks of the British public broadcaster BBC — it was edited from stock footage by the propagandists themselves.
USA Today
False: Image shows UnitedHealthcare job listing for new CEO.
The image is fabricated. No such job posting appears on UnitedHealthcare’s LinkedIn page or website. The listed salary range is also far below what the CEO compensation would be.
#Politics
PolitiFact
False: Former presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter issued pardons to a son and brother, respectively.
Neil Bush was never charged with a crime for his role in the 1980s financial industry savings and loan scandals. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. settled a lawsuit against him and other corporate officers of the Silverado Banking, Savings and Loan Association. Billy Carter was never charged with a crime for taking $220,000 from the Libyan government without first registering as a foreign agent. A Senate investigation found no evidence he broke the law. PolitiFact found no evidence that former presidents George H.W. Bush or Jimmy Carter interfered with their family members’ proceedings or took action afterward to change the consequences.
PolitiFact
False: President-elect Donald Trump’s “plan to end birthright citizenship would mean (four) of his children wouldn't be considered US citizens.”
Because President-elect Donald Trump was a U.S. citizen when his four children were born, they’re U.S. citizens, no matter their mothers’ immigration status.
#Healthcare
USA Today
False: Studies show COVID-19 vaccine recipients are 500% more likely to die from a heart attack.
A Threads post makes a claim about the COVID-19 vaccine and its effect on the heart. There are no studies that show COVID-19 vaccine recipients have a 500% greater chance of having a heart attack. Some studies show the opposite − that the shot is associated with a lower risk of heart attack.
PolitiFact
False: Fox News commentator Dr. Kelly Powers died from “turbo cancer” caused by COVID-19 vaccines.
Fox News commentator, Kelly Powers, who was a podiatric surgeon, died Dec. 1 at age 45 after a years-long battle with brain cancer.The first COVID-19 vaccines were not publicly available in the U.S. until December 2020, months after Powers’ cancer diagnosis. This claim originated on a site known for spreading misinformation.
Africa Check
False: South African epidemiologist's house was not bombed by Big Pharma.
A video circulating on social media appears to show a prominent South African health expert being interviewed about an explosion at his home, and then advertising a vein-cleansing miracle cure for chronic diseases. But the video uses artificial intelligence tools to impersonate the doctor, lure viewers in with a sensational news story and advertise a fake product.
#Economy
PolitiFact
False: A “no-strings-attached $1,000 stimulus” check has been approved for “every U.S. resident” ahead of Donald Trump’s presidency.”
In 2020, Congress approved two stimulus check payments as the COVID-19 pandemic caused job losses and higher prices. The current Congress has not approved a $1,000 stimulus card.
#Nordics
Faktisk
Falsk: Metaninhibitorer, som brukes for å få kyr til å fise mindre, inneholder 3-NOP, som er knyttet til redusert sædkvalitet hos mennesker.
Redusert sædkvalitet er kun funnet i tester på rotter som har fått doser av 3-NOP som er over 150 ganger høyere enn det som er anbefalt for melkekyr. Mennesker får ikke i seg stoffet gjennom melk, ettersom det brytes ned i vommen hos kyrne.
#WTF?! What The Fact of the week
Snopes
True: Earth's magnetic north pole is moving toward Russia.
The magnetic North Pole is indeed moving toward Russia, a fact confirmed by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and tracked using the World Magnetic Model, a joint effort by U.S. and U.K. scientific agencies. Unlike the geographic poles, which are fixed points the Earth rotates around, magnetic poles shift due to the movement of molten metal in Earth's outer core, a process explained by dynamo theory. Since the 1860s, the magnetic North Pole has been drifting from northern Canada toward Siberia at a rate of about 55 km per year. This movement is monitored and predicted using a model updated every five years, with the next update expected in December 2024.
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