Category: Fact Checking

On Jan. 28, 2026, rock musician Bruce Springsteen released a protest song titled “Streets of Minneapolis.” The song’s lyrics unflinchingly described what Springsteen called “state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis,” in the form of a massive presence of federal agents, who fatally shot two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, that month.

On social media, posts claimed the song had quickly rocketed to the top of the charts. According to images on Facebook, “Streets of Minneapolis” reached No. 1 on iTunes charts in 19 countries, mainly across North America and Europe. Snopes readers emailed us asking to confirm the song’s success.

ITunes charts change rapidly, meaning that the charts we investigated were almost certainly different from the charts when the posts making the claim initially appeared on Jan. 29. However, as of this publication, we found evidence confirming “Streets of Minneapolis” was the No. 1 downloaded song on iTunes in at least 21 countries for a brief period of time. 

An important caveat here is that iTunes charts do not include data from streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music. They count only the number of times a song has been purchased and downloaded through the iTunes platform. 

First, Snopes found news articles from Forbes (Jan. 29) and NBC (Jan. 30) documenting that “Streets of Minneapolis” had hit No. 1 on iTunes in the United States.

A listicle from USA Today published Jan. 29 also claimed the song was No. 1 on iTunes in 19 countries. Those countries were:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Canada
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Ireland
• Italy
• Luxembourg
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom
• United States

That list exactly aligned with the chart success suggested by the social media posts.

Snopes also reviewed charts from Jan. 29 and Jan. 30 through several different charting aggregate sites, including Kworb, Chartoo, iTunesCharts.net and iTopChart.com. Such aggregates collect their data directly from Apple using its online API. We checked as many sites as possible in the hopes that some of them had captured data at different times, in case songs changed position in the rankings throughout the day.

That proved worthwhile, because some sites showed “Streets of Minneapolis” dropping to No. 2 in Australia sometime on Jan. 30, while Kworb’s data also noted that the song had hit No. 1 in Czechia and Greece. 

In sum, between Jan. 28, when Springsteen released the song, and the time of publication, “Streets of Minneapolis” was at some point the most-downloaded song on iTunes in at least 21 different countries.

Sources

In January 2026, local opposition to a surge of federal immigration agents in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area intensified after two U.S. citizens — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — were fatally shot during separate encounters with federal officers.

On Jan. 18, demonstrators entered Cities Church in St. Paul during Sunday service to protest the pastor’s role as leader of the local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office. Federal authorities later made several arrests in connection with the protest.

More than a week later, independent journalist Jim Acosta shared (archived) what appeared to be a statement from Abbe Lowell, attorney for independent journalist and former CNN anchor Don Lemon, on X, reporting that federal agents had arrested Lemon in Los Angeles. Lemon had been reporting at the protest, and a federal judge previously rejected prosecutors’ initial bid to charge Lemon in connection with the incident.

Other accounts posted the same purported statement from Lowell about the arrest elsewhere (archived) on social media (archived). 

The statement read:

Don Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards. Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done. The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable. There is no more important time for people like Don to be doing this work. 

Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump Justice Department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case. This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand. Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.

Snopes readers searched the website to confirm whether Lemon’s arrest and the statement from his attorney were real.

The statement is authentic and was issued by Lemon’s attorney. It accurately reported that federal officials had arrested Lemon. Therefore, we’ve rated this claim true.

Lowell’s statement was posted directly to Lemon’s official social media accounts, including on Bluesky (archived), Threads (archived), Facebook (archived) and TikTok (archived). The formatting was similar to another statement from Lowell that Lemon posted to his social media accounts, such as Bluesky (archived) and Instagram (archived), when the Trump administration previously sought to arrest him over the protest.

The text of the most recent statement was also included in the description of a YouTube livestream about his arrest (archived) that aired on the account where Lemon hosts his show.

Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed the arrests of Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort, as well as activists Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy, in an X post on Jan. 30 (archived).

For further reading, Snopes has previously fact-checked many other stories regarding the surge of federal agents to Minnesota, as well as the killings of Good and Pretti.

In late January 2026, a rumor spread that a Craigslist advertisement offered $50 and free movie tickets to people willing to see the new documentary about U.S. first lady Melania Trump on its opening day, Jan. 30. 

The claim appeared on Reddit, Bluesky and X, with one X post claiming ticket sales for “Melania” were “disastrous” (archived):

In addition, a number of Snopes readers searched the website or emailed us, seeking to confirm whether the advertisement existed. 

The Craigslist post was real. As people who amplified the rumor said, the ad (archived) on Craigslist’s Boston website offered to pay people to watch the movie in question, clarifying they must remain in their seats from the beginning to the end to receive the money:

(Craigslist)

However, Snopes could not verify the ad’s legitimacy. For this reason we’ve left this claim unrated.

We replied to the ad seeking more information about the people behind it and the logistics and will update this post if we learn more. In addition, we invite Snopes readers who answered the ad and received a response to get in touch to tell us what happened.

Using the British spelling for “theater,” the original ad — posted Jan. 28 — read:

Attend MELANIA documentary at any Boston area theatre during opening weekend (this upcoming weekend)

Free tickets + $50 per seat occupied

Must remain in seats for entirety of film.

The ad later indicated it had been updated at 7:48 a.m. Jan. 30 to add:

***We are at capacity for this promotion. Those selected to attend the film will be contacted directly via email with relevant details today, Friday 1/30. We are working to finalize arrangements now***

In a later update Jan. 30, the post indicated that the promotion was not being offered on the advice of lawyers:

Thank you for your interest in

“Melania: Twenty Days to History.”

We had an incredible response to this offer and were excited to provide true American Patriots the opportunity to attend the best documentary ever created while providing some much-needed relief for Biden’s economy.

However, due to widespread coverage and backlash surrounding this offer in the fake news media, counsel has advised us that proceeding would run afoul of campaign finance laws. Considering the funding of the film by Amazon, we were shocked to hear this, but cannot take the risk.

Therefore, we are unable to move forward. As usual, this is the fault of the lunatic left and their corrupt election laws. They HATE America and will do anything to destroy this country.

On the bright side, this incredible film is now SOLD OUT everywhere, with box office success like no one has EVER seen.

“Melania,” a documentary following U.S. first lady Melania Trump during the 20 days leading up to the start of the second Trump Administration, premiered in cinemas worldwide in late January 2026. Ahead of the premiere, President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “MELANIA, the Movie, is a MUST WATCH. Get your tickets today — Selling out, FAST!”

Despite the president’s optimism, a claim (archived) circulated online that “Melania” sold only one ticket to its premiere in England despite a $35 million marketing budget. One X user wrote:

I’M LAUGHING SO LOUD I SCARED MY DOG AND I ALMOST P***ED MY PANTS. THEY SPENT OVER 35 MILLION DOLLARS ON MARKETING THE MELANIA TRUMP MOVIE IN ENGLAND AND IT RESULTED IN ONE TICKET SOLD. ONE F***ING TICKET

The claim also circulated on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), Bluesky (archived) and Reddit (archived). Snopes readers searched our site seeking more information about the claim.

The worldwide cinema premiere for “Melania” was Jan. 30, 2026. At the time of this writing, listings for Vue, Cineworld and Odeon cinemas in London, Birmingham and Manchester, the three most-populous cities in England, showed that Vue in Islington in London and Cineworld in Birmingham NEC had sold 24 and four tickets respectively to their “Melania” premieres. Odeon in Manchester had not sold tickets to its premiere at the time of this writing.

Although “Melania” had sold multiple tickets in England based on the listings we viewed at the time of this writing, the claim appeared to originate from users inaccurately sharing reputable news reporting about a single theater’s ticket sales several days earlier. Because of this, we’ve left this claim unrated.

We reached out to Amazon MGM to ask about its reported $35 million marketing budget for “Melania” and whether that covered just England or accounted for its entire marketing budget and await a reply.

Diving into ticket sales

The claim appeared to have come from reporting (archived) by the British newspaper The Guardian, which reported on Jan. 26, four days before the premiere, that the Vue in Islington, London, had sold one ticket for its 3:10 p.m. Jan. 30 premiere. 

Though that may have been true at the time of the Guardian’s reporting, that premiere had sold 24 of 25 seats by 2:05 p.m. local time on Jan. 30. 

(Vue International)

Both The Guardian and The Telegraph reported on Jan. 26 that Vue in Islington had sold two tickets to the 6 p.m. showing on Jan. 30. That showing had sold 23 out of 25 available seats by 4:30 p.m. Jan. 30.

(Vue International)

Speaking to The Telegraph, Tim Richards, the chief executive of Vue, reportedly said interest in “Melania” had been “weak” and described ticket sales as “soft.” The Telegraph reported: “Richards said the biggest impact so far had been in prompting emails from customers complaining about the decision to show the film.”

It was unclear at the time of this writing whether the British Film Institute, which releases box-office figures for the U.K., would include “Melania” in its weekly report that ordinarily contained the top 15 films released in the U.K., British releases and a selection of international films. An anonymous film industry analyst reportedly told The Guardian they did not expect the movie to be included in box office figures.

In the U.S., Boxoffice Pro, the official magazine of the National Association of Theatre Owners, reported “Melania” was “tracking for an opening weekend between $2 to $5 million.”

According to news reports, Amazon MGM Studios bought the rights to “Melania” for $40 million.

Sources

In January 2026, online users shared a rumor claiming NBA legend Michael Jordan said he couldn’t see why people would vote for a Democrat again, adding, “All they want to do is protest and riot. Maybe they should try doing their jobs instead.”

The purported quote circulated amid widespread demonstrations against U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement policies — particularly in Minneapolis after federal agents shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Users shared the quote on Facebook, Threads (archived) and X (archived). Some commenters and Snopes readers seemed to interpret the rumor as a factual recounting of real-life events.

(@Hoopss/X)

In short, Jordan never said those words.

The fabricated quote originated with a Jan. 24 Facebook post (archived) from America’s Last Line of Defense (ALLOD), a network of Facebook pages and websites that has historically labeled its content as parody and satire.

(America’s Last Line of Defense/Facebook)

A watermark in the post displayed a small ALLOD logo with a very small “S” label standing for satire, as well as the words, “Nothing on this page is real.” The “Intro” section of the ALLOD Facebook page also read, “The flagship of the ALLOD network of trollery and propaganda for cash. Nothing on this page is real.”

The ALLOD post with the fake quote read, in full:

Michael Jordan says he can’t see why people would ever vote for a Democrat again.

“All they want to do is protest and riot,” said the former NBA star, “Maybe they should try doing their jobs instead.”

Jordan’s sentiment follows national polling that has the Democrat approval rating at just over 22 percent.

So much for their big win in the midterms.

The post’s reference to the midterm elections suggests that ALLOD may have recycled the fake quote from an earlier post. Other past ALLOD posts featured other fake quotes attributing disparaging comments about the Democratic Party to Jordan. 

For further reading, we previously reported about other fabricated Jordan quotes, including, for example, “If these kids can afford $8 cups of coffee, they can afford to pay their own student loans.”

For background, here’s why we alert readers to rumors created by sources labeling their content as humorous or satirical.

Sources

On Jan. 27, 2026, a man attacked Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar at a Minneapolis town hall, spraying her with liquid before being tackled and arrested. Soon after news of the assault spread online, an image circulated claiming to show Omar posing next to the suspect while he held cash and a bottle of Fiji water. 

Many users shared the image on X and Facebook, claiming it was evidence that Omar staged the attack to supposedly gain sympathy. One post said: “Leaked Ilhan Omar image with alleged man who sprayed water on her is going viral.” 

(Facebook user “Likeformore”)

The above image is not authentic and was created or altered using artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The man’s jacket features gibberish lettering, a common sign of AI-generated images. 

A reverse image search found no credible sources sharing the image. Instead, the earliest version appeared on an X account labeled as parody with the username @DumbFckFinder. That account says in its bio that it shares “high-quality AI videos and memes.” As such, the claim originated as satire.

(We fact-checked a similar image supposedly showing Omar and Kazmierczak that stemmed from the account, as well.)

Many copies of the image shared online included “DFF” logos in the bottom-right corner, linking them to the account, which posted other versions of the same image with different backgrounds. While some versions of the fake image circulated without the “DFF” logo, the earliest version we identified came from that account. We contacted the account to confirm that it created the image and will update this report if we receive a response 

We also analyzed the image using AI-detection tools. Hive Moderation determined it was likely AI-generated. (Research shows AI-detection software is imperfect and readers should consider the tools’ results with skepticism.)

Google Gemini’s SynthID check, a tool that scans for embedded watermarks by AI software, also detected a Synth ID watermark and concluded “most or all of [the image] was generated or edited using Google’s AI tools.”

(Google Gemini)

Police identified Omar’s suspected attacker as 55-year-old Anthony Kazmierczak, who faces a federal assault charge. Kazmierczak reportedly sprayed Omar with apple cider vinegar and water, though more tests are being conducted on the liquid. Omar was not injured.

At the time of the attack, Omar was speaking at a town hall in Minneapolis, where she had called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to resign. Since the start of 2026, President Donald Trump’s administration has launched a massive DHS enforcement operation in Minneapolis.

Trump has targeted Omar, who is Muslim and Somali, for years, referring to her as “garbage” and calling her hijab a “little turban.” The Jan. 27, 2026, attack occurred on the same day he mentioned Omar in a speech at a rally. After the attack, Trump also promoted the unsubstantiated claim that Omar staged it. 

During an appearance on CNN, Omar responded to Trump’s remarks about the attack, saying, “The difference between the president and I is that I was raised to be a decent human being, and my faith teaches me to have compassion. He lacks both of those things.”

We have covered numerous other rumors about Omar. 

For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources calling their output humorous or satirical.

Sources

In late January 2026, social media users shared a screenshot of a purported post from U.S. President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account about a recent call he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which they discussed Ukrainian strikes on Russia. The post spread after a Russian drone strike killed five passengers on a train in Ukraine.

The screenshot spread on X and Facebook. Former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who shared the screenshot, wrote: “Putin just attacked and murdered civilians on a train. Yet Trump is mad Ukraine hit military planes.”

(X user @AdamKinzinger)

The screenshot did show an authentic Truth Social post by Trump (which he deleted and reposted) — but the post was from June 2025. The above post was not published in 2026 after the Russian drone struck a passenger train in Ukraine. As such, we rate this claim as miscaptioned.

As Snopes reported in June 2025, Trump made the following statement on Truth Social and subsequently deleted it. Around an hour after deleting the post, he posted it again:

I just finished speaking, by telephone, with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia. The call lasted approximately one hour and 15 minutes. We discussed the attack on Russia’s docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides. It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace. President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields. We also discussed Iran, and the fact that time is running out on Iran’s decision pertaining to nuclear weapons, which must be made quickly! I stated to President Putin that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and, on this, I believe that we were in agreement. President Putin suggested that he will participate in the discussions with Iran and that he could, perhaps, be helpful in getting this brought to a rapid conclusion. It is my opinion that Iran has been slowwalking their decision on this very important matter, and we will need a definitive answer in a very short period of time!

We found evidence of the deleted post on Trump’s Truth and Roll Call, which have dedicated archives of Trump’s Truth Social account. We found archived links to his now-deleted post, which he shared on June 4, 2025, at 12:40 p.m. EDT. Around an hour after deleting the original post, Trump reposted (archived) the same statement.

The 2025 post about Trump and Putin’s call occurred after Ukraine carried out a drone attack on Russian airfields and destroyed warplanes on June 1.

Screenshots of the old Truth Social post reemerged on Jan. 28, 2026, after a Russian drone strike hit a Ukrainian passenger train, killing five people. On Jan. 29, Trump said he spoke to Putin, who agreed to halt Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities for one week because of the cold winter. (Russian strikes have left many Ukrainians without power in their homes amid freezing temperatures.) The Kremlin confirmed that Trump had asked Putin to halt strikes until Feb. 1, but did not share Putin’s response.

Trump said during a Jan. 29 Cabinet meeting: “Because of the cold, extreme cold […] I personally asked President Putin not to fire into Kyiv and the various towns for a week and he agreed to do that, and I have to tell you it was very nice.” 

The old post circulating in January 2026 also mentioned Iran and nuclear weapons. On Jan. 28, Trump did post on Truth Social about a U.S. “armada” with an aircraft carrier heading toward Iran, claiming that if Iran did not “come to the table” the U.S. would attack. Trump also referenced “Operation Midnight Hammer” from late June 2025 when the U.S. struck Iranian nuclear facilities:

A massive Armada is heading to Iran. It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela. Like with Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary. Hopefully Iran will quickly “Come to the Table” and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was “Operation Midnight Hammer,” a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again. 

Trump’s social media accounts and statements have been the frequent subject of misinformation during the Russia-Ukraine war. We have previously reported on the false claim that Trump called on Ukraine to compensate Russia for destroying its aircraft. 

Sources

On Jan. 27, 2026, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar was accosted and sprayed with liquid from a syringe while speaking at an event in Minneapolis. Authorities immediately arrested the alleged attacker, and, shortly afterwards, a baseless conspiracy theory formed online about the whole ordeal supposedly being staged.

Among those posts were claims that an image supposedly shows Omar posing with the alleged attacker, whom authorities identified as Anthony Kazmierczak. “IT WAS ALL A LIE! Staged for money and deflection from the fraud,” one Threads user (archived) captioned the image, while an X user wrote with the image, “Staged.”

(X user @NoPrivacy16)

The image spread on multiple social media platforms, including X, Facebook and Threads, as authorities investigated the incident. Citing court records, The Associated Press reported on Jan. 29 that Kazmierczak faces a charge of forcibly assaulting, opposing, impeding and intimidating Omar, and that the substance he allegedly sprayed was apple cider vinegar. 

However, the in-question image was not a genuine photograph of Omar with Kazmierczak. Rather, it was a digitally created image, in part, based on a photo from Kazmierczak’s Facebook profile. That photo showed him with a different person, not Omar. 

Furthermore, the digitally created image originated from a parody social media account. (We fact-checked a similar image supposedly showing Omar and Kazmierczak that stemmed from the account, as well.)

Investigating the image’s origins

We ran the image through Google Gemini’s SynthID check, a tool that scans for embedded watermarks by artificial intelligence (AI) software. That scan detected a SynthID watermark and concluded the image was “edited or generated with Google AI.”

(Google Gemini)

In other words, when someone creates visual media using certain Google AI tools, the content has a SynthID watermark that is invisible to the naked eye. A scan of the in-question image for that type of watermark concluded its creator used Google AI models to make it.

A clue for determining the image’s source was across Omar’s hijab: the letters “DFF” as a digitally added watermark.

That evidence suggested the image originated with the X account @DumbFckFinder (DFF), which the social media platform categorizes as a parody account. The account shared the image on Jan. 27, 2026.

The X account’s bio reads (edited for profanities): “Helping free America from DumbF***ery one DumbF*** at a time, Left, Right, we find em all and expose via high quality AI videos and memes.”

The account also reshared other posts circulating the image and acknowledged that some viewers misinterpreted the image as real, writing.

We contacted @DumbFckFinder on X to ask if it created the photo or obtained it from another source. The account replied, “No clue.” (We asked for clarification on what that response means and will update this report if we hear back.)

Kazmierczak posted the photo that was used for the digital creation on Facebook on March 2022:

The identify of the other person in that image, with Kazmierczak, was unknown.

Below is a side-by-side comparison of the authentic photo (left) from Facebook and the doctored image (right):

(X user @NoPrivacy16, Facebook user Andy Kazmierczak)

Omar is often the target of political misinformation. We’ve fact-checked a range of rumors about her — including unsubstantiated claims that she married her brother and her net worth is more than $30 million.

For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources calling their output humorous or satirical.

Sources

After federal agents shot and killed 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, 2026, a claim spread on social media that NBA all-star Anthony Edwards, who plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves, had donated a game check worth $514,000 to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

The posts attributed the following quote to Edwards: “Joe Biden let in 20 million illegals. ICE is helping keep America safe and deserves full funding.” At least one post featured the quote in a lower-third chyron that made it appear as though Fox News had reported the story.

Snopes readers wrote in asking us to verify the claim. However, it was false.

Searches of Google, Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo found no record of Edwards making such a statement. Given extensive coverage from credible news outlets of other athletes‘ and coaches‘ comments on Pretti’s death, any public comment from Edwards would likely have been widely reported.

Furthermore, Edwards had not posted such an announcement on his social media accounts.

We reached out to the Minnesota Timberwolves organization for comment on the rumor, but had not heard back at the time of publication.

The claim originated with a Jan. 27, 2026, post on X from the user @dsonoiki, whose account appears to belong to Damilare Sonoiki, a former staff writer on the sitcom “Black-ish” and “The Simpsons,” according to IMDb.

The Timberwolves were scheduled to play the Golden State Warriors at home on the day Pretti was shot. The NBA postponed the game to the following day at the Timberwolves’ request, according to The Athletic. The Timberwolves lost, 85-111. 

According to a separate article from The Athletic recapping the postponed game, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr “approached one Wolves veteran and said he was sorry the game was even being played” sometime during the third quarter. 

“Honestly, what I felt is their group was suffering,” Kerr said.

After the postponed game, Timberwolves reporter Andrew Dukowitz asked Edwards in the locker room if he had a message for the community (archived). Dane Moore, a Timberwolves podcaster, also filmed the interaction.

In response, Edwards said:

Man, I just love Minnesota, all the love and support that they show me. So I’m behind whatever they with. I don’t really have social media, so I’m not in tune with everything. But I’ve heard about the stuff that’s going on. Me and my family definitely praying for everybody.

Sources

As public criticism of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s tactics intensified in January 2026 during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis that led to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents, some social media users spread warnings about ICE potentially accessing Ring doorbell cameras — to use them as surveillance tools — via the security technology company Flock. 

For example, one Reddit thread (archived) read: “Ring has partnered with Flock. ICE has access to Flock. If you still have a Ring camera – get rid of it.” The thread included an image of a poster of a Ring camera that said, “ICE thanks YOU for YOUR cooperation.”

Users shared (archived) similar claims on TikTok (archived), Bluesky (archived), LinkedIn (archived), Threads (archived) and Reddit (archived).

According to the two companies, the partnership referenced on social media does not allow ICE agents to access Ring users’ footage via Flock. A Flock news release described the partnership as a way for law enforcement officers using Flock to ask a community to voluntarily send Ring footage to help with investigations. A spokesperson for Amazon, Ring’s parent company, confirmed that the integration between Ring and Flock was not live as of late January 2026, meaning that Flock did not yet have access to customers’ Ring footage.

“Ring has no partnership with ICE, does not give ICE videos, feeds, or back-end access, and does not share video with them,” Sam McGee, the Amazon spokesperson, told Snopes in an email. McGee added that the company is working on ensuring that its integration with Flock is built for the use of local public safety agencies only.

Tech companies often have checkered histories with the management of user data. Because we cannot definitively rule out that ICE doesn’t have and will never have some way to access the doorbell footage of Ring customers, Snopes is not giving this claim a rating.

The Ring-Flock partnership

In October 2025, Ring and Flock announced a partnership to integrate the community requests feature of Ring’s Neighbors app with Flock’s systems used by law enforcement for investigations.

Ring’s smart doorbells allow people to see and talk to people at their front door through their phones. Its Neighbors app — which is separate from its standard doorbell app and is available to both Ring customers and non-customers — allows users to send and receive safety alerts about where they live. The app has a voluntary “community requests” feature that allows local law enforcement to send users in a certain area a request for Ring video footage from a specific time for an investigation.

Law enforcement doesn’t know who declines or ignores a request, Ring said in its announcement.

Flock Safety is known for its automated license plate recognition and video surveillance products primarily built for use by law enforcement. Flock also offers software, such as Flock Nova and FlockOS, that allows agencies to search and organize data for investigations. Through Flock’s software platforms, law enforcement officers can compile data such as license plates, photos and last known location of a suspect, and can make requests to other law enforcement agencies for whatever information they may have.

The partnership, according to the companies’ announcements, allows law enforcement officers to use Flock’s systems to send community requests through the Neighbors app. If someone responds, the agency making the request will receive the footage directly through Flock’s system. When the companies announced the partnership, they said the rollout of the integration would happen “in the coming months.”

Flock is not the first company of its kind to partner with Ring for community requests. In April 2025, Ring announced it planned on introducing community requests in partnership with Axon, which offers law enforcement data collection and evidence management systems similar to Flock’s. 

The Amazon spokesperson told Snopes that Ring has required local public safety agencies to include in their requests a specific location and timeframe of the incident, a unique investigation code and details about what is being investigated since the program’s September 2025 launch. All of an agency’s community requests are visible on its Neighbors app profile. People using the app can turn off community requests notifications and personal feed visibility if they wish, according to Ring.

Flock’s history with ICE

Neither Flock nor Ring has an on-the-record partnership with ICE. Flock said in a blog post in January 2026 that it “does not have a contract with with ICE or any sub-agency of the Department of Homeland Security” and it “does not share customer data with any entity, federal or otherwise, without their permission, and does not grant access to customer data without a customer’s explicit choice and control.”

At the same time, Flock says the data in its systems is owned by its customers, who can do with that data whatever they’d like. Some of Flock’s customers have reportedly shared this data with ICE.

“Any access to Flock by a federal agency, if it occurs at all, must be explicitly granted by a local customer and must comply with applicable law,” Flock wrote in its blog post. “Flock’s role is not to encourage or discourage collaboration with any federal entity.”

Flock allows customers to opt-in to a national data-sharing network between local police departments. Since its inception, any agency that has wanted to use the nationwide data search has also had to agree to share its own data to the network. According to Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, Flock informed his office in August 2025 that 75% of its law enforcement customers have this network enabled.

In May 2025, 404Media, a technology-focused news site, reported that ICE was searching Flock’s network through agreements and favors with local police departments, with those departments making searches on behalf of ICE or giving ICE agents access to accounts they could use to make the searches.

Later in 2025, local media outlets and other organizations reported that Flock audit logs showed that data from local police departments was included in immigration-related searches by other police departments on Flock. These searches included data from police departments that hadn’t agreed to share their data with ICE.

This prompted some communities to cancel or suspend their contracts with Flock, turn off Flock’s cameras or stop their participation in the national data-sharing network. For its part, Flock has introduced keyword filters meant to block searches in communities where local laws prohibit law enforcement agencies from sharing information for specific types of investigations, such as those involving abortion or immigration.

Ring’s policies and history

McGee, the Amazon spokesperson, told Snopes over email that ICE can’t make requests for videos through the community requests feature: “This feature is designed for local public safety agencies only. No videos are shared with local public safety agencies through Community Requests unless a customer explicitly chooses to do so.”

According to Ring’s law enforcement guidelines page, Ring “may produce” video from customers’ devices for law enforcement “in response to valid and binding search warrants.” Ring notifies users when it shares their footage with law enforcement unless it is prohibited from doing so, according to the company’s privacy page.

That privacy page noted that “on rare occasions Ring will provide information to law enforcement on an emergency basis when there is an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury.” These emergency requests could be a means for Ring to send law enforcement user video without first requiring a warrant.

Ring’s law enforcement guidelines page noted that Ring has access only to videos belonging to users with an active subscription at the time of the recorded incident. Ring said subscribers are able to set how long the recordings on their device are saved and that Ring retains those recordings for however long the customer sets. Ring does not record or store a customer’s video without a subscription, according to its privacy policy.

That means that so long as Ring follows its company policy, ICE would not have access to doorbell video recordings from a Ring customer without a subscription simply because those recordings would not exist.

Ring doesn’t have a spotless history with customer data. In 2024, it settled with the Federal Trade Commission “over charges the company allowed employees and contractors to access consumers’ private videos” and failed to secure customer data to prevent hackers from accessing them.

In late January 2026, social media users shared a rumor claiming that the U.S. Congress had passed a law giving the government the power to use a “kill switch” to “remotely shut down your vehicle.” 

The claim spread on Instagram, Facebook and X, including via prominent Republican lawmakers. 

For example, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote on X: “The idea that the federal government would require auto manufacturers to equip cars with a ‘kill switch’ that can be controlled by the government is something you’d expect in Orwell’s 1984, and yet…” 

This claim needs context. Republican lawmakers were referencing a failed 2026 effort to stop a bipartisan law passed in 2021 from going into effect. That law, passed under former President Joe Biden, requires automakers to install technology in new cars that can identify a drunken driver and “prevent or limit motor vehicle operation” upon detection. 

In other words, Congress did approve requiring automakers to install technology that could remotely shut down a vehicle built after the rule goes into effect. However, the legislation does not give the government control over any remote “kill switches,” nor does it require that automakers give the government remote access to anyone’s car. Furthermore, the original bill passed years before 2026, as implied by many of the posts. 

Because the primary elements of the claim were inaccurate, we have rated it mostly false. 

Congress gave the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration until Nov. 15, 2024, to publish draft rules to implement the mandate and two to three additional years before automakers have to comply (see Page 404 of the legislation). 

Technically, that means the legislation could have theoretically gone into effect in 2026, but NHTSA missed its deadline. In a 2024 report, the agency said it was “working diligently” on issuing a rule but did not provide a concrete timeline. 

Another 2024 NHTSA document described various drunken-driving prevention technology systems it had been researching, such as touch sensors integrated into an ignition switch or steering wheel that can detect blood alcohol concentration. 

Congress passes law requiring anti-drunken-driving tech 

Lawmakers included the requirement for drunken-driving detection and prevention technology in Biden’s Infrastructure and Jobs Act of 2021. The policy, known as the “HALT Drunk Driving Act,” was championed by driver safety advocacy groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving. 

Here’s the actual mandate in the bill, starting on Page 404 in Section 24220, “ADVANCED IMPAIRED DRIVING TECHNOLOGY” (emphasis ours): 

(c) ADVANCED DRUNK AND IMPAIRED DRIVING PREVENTION TECHNOLOGY SAFETY STANDARD.—Subject to subsection (e) and not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue a final rule prescribing a Federal motor vehicle safety standard under section 30111 of title 49, United States Code, that requires passenger motor vehicles manufactured after the effective date of that standard to be equipped with advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology.

On Page 403, the bill defines “advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology” as a system that can monitor, identify and detect impaired driving — and then “prevent or limit motor vehicle operation” if the person is either impaired or has a higher blood alcohol concentration than the legal limit (emphasis ours): 

(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

(1) ADVANCED DRUNK AND IMPAIRED DRIVING PREVENTION TECHNOLOGY.—The term ”advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology” means a system that— 

(A) can— 

    (i) passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired; and 

    (ii) prevent or limit motor vehicle operation if an impairment is detected; 

(B) can— 

    (i) passively and accurately detect whether the blood alcohol concentration of a driver of a motor vehicle is equal to or greater than the blood alcohol concentration described in section 163(a) of title 23, United States Code; and 

    (ii) prevent or limit motor vehicle operation if a blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit is detected; or 

(C) is a combination of systems described in subparagraphs (A) and (B).

Effort to prevent law from going into effect

The claim that Congress passed a bill allowing the government access to a “kill switch” for your car began circulating after Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., introduced an amendment to a budget bill in January 2026 that would have effectively prevented the drunken-driving detection technology mandate from going into effect. 

The amendment would have blocked any federal spending on implementation and enforcement of Section 24220 of the infrastructure act, “including any requirements enabling or supporting vehicle ‘kill switch’ technology.” Massie framed the provisions as an “Orwellian automobile kill switch” that “threatens civil liberties.” 

“When your car shuts down because it doesn’t approve of your driving, how will you appeal your roadside conviction?” he wrote in a Jan. 21 X post. 

A total of 268 House members — 57 Republicans and 211 Democrats — voted against Massie’s amendment, defeating it. 

Sources

A rumor users shared online in January 2026 claimed that cable news network MS NOW, formerly MSNBC, broadcast an artificial intelligence-enhanced photo of slain Minneapolis intensive care nurse Alex Pretti. According to users’ social media posts, the image presented a more attractive version of Pretti, who cared for critically ill veterans for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

(@TRHLofficial/X)

Federal immigration agents fatally shot Pretti, 37, on a Minneapolis street on Jan. 24 — a killing captured on video by multiple witnesses, igniting a wave of renewed protests of the immigration enforcement tactics authorized by President Donald Trump’s administration.

Readers emailed us to ask about MS NOW featuring an AI-enhanced image and searched Snopes’ website for more information. In short, it was true that the network aired an inauthentic image of Pretti.

On Jan. 26, the MS NOW TV show “Deadline: White House,” featuring host Nicole Wallace, published an AI-enhanced photo of Pretti, broadcasting the manipulated picture on the TV cable news network as well as featuring it in a video and thumbnail image on the network’s YouTube channel and website. A syndicated version of the video also appeared on MSN.com. As of this writing on Jan. 29, only the YouTube version featured a correction.

A spokesperson for Versant Media Group, the parent company of MS NOW, told Snopes by phone the network obtained the image from the internet without the knowledge someone had altered it, and said the network itself didn’t enhance the photo — as some users sharing the rumor had claimed. We also emailed the VA to ask for a copy of Pretti’s official photo and will update this article if we receive further information.

Genuine and AI-enhanced Pretti images

As of Jan. 29, the Wikimedia Commons media-hosting website contained (archived) several authentic and inauthentic images of Pretti. Two of the authentic images showed an original, undoctored photo (archived) of Pretti, including one picture (archived) of his photo displayed on a wall. Both images had upload dates of Jan. 24, the day of his fatal shooting.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Aside from the genuine images, two inauthentic images showing alterations in Pretti’s face and body were on Wikimedia Commons, with upload dates of Jan. 25 and Jan. 26. The images’ file names included the words “AI upscaled.” Both image-hosting pages contained notices indicating one or more people sought to delete the manipulated images.

The file name for this image on Wikimedia Commons featured the words “AI upscaled.” Pretti’s scrubs featured illegible letters, indicating the use of AI. (Wikimedia Commons)

The lettering on Pretti’s scrubs in the “AI upscaled” versions of the image was illegible, indicating someone enhanced the genuine photo with AI as opposed to other digital-editing tools.

AI-altered image appeared on MS NOW

The Internet Archive’s TV News Archive hosted the entire “Deadline: White House” episode from Jan. 26, including showing at least one moment Wallace’s show broadcast the AI-enhanced image.

The MS NOW YouTube channel featured the AI-enhanced photo in a thumbnail image for a Jan. 26 video (archived) lasting 10 minutes and 21 seconds, titled, “‘Shameful period in American history’: Outrage grows in Minneapolis over Alex Pretti’s killing.” MS NOW has since replaced the video’s thumbnail image and updated the text description with an editor’s note about the swap, clarifying that the previous thumbnail featured “an AI-enhanced image of Alex Pretti.” That editor’s note appeared as early as Jan. 27, according to an article (archived) documenting MS NOW’s use of the misleading image on journalist Megyn Kelly’s website.

Someone managing the MS NOW YouTube channel also potentially used YouTube’s “editor” tool to trim out the first 40 seconds of the video. As of Jan. 29, the inauthentic, AI-enhanced photo still appeared in the same clip on the MS NOW website (archived) and MSN.com syndicated version (archived), both in the video — lasting 11 minutes and 1 second — and thumbnail image.

We did not yet locate footage from Wallace’s Jan. 26, 27 or 28 broadcasts where she issued an on-air correction for using the inauthentic image. No such notices appeared on the MS NOW public relations X account, either.

A reverse-image search found the same AI-manipulated image on social media accounts — including that of a Texas state representative (archived) — on nursing websites and in publications including the Daily Mail and International Business Times.

For further reading, we previously reported about AI-enhanced images of Pretti’s shooting.

Sources

In late January 2026, a rumor spread online claiming that the long-running Hollywood trade magazine Variety had published a scathing review of “Melania,” a new documentary about first lady Melania Trump, days before the film’s official release. 

Users on social media platforms like Facebook (archived), X (archived) and Threads (archived) shared the following quote from the alleged review: “If they showed this film on a plane, people would still walk out.”

Best review ever. 

On the Amazons Melania “documentary”:

“If they showed this film on a plane, people would still walk out.” – Variety 💀 pic.twitter.com/FWamDuCnK2

— The Left Bible (@theleftbible) January 28, 2026

However, the purported review of “Melania” was incorrectly attributed to Variety. 

The film was set to premiere in theaters on Jan. 30, 2026, and at the time of this writing, reviews by professional movie critics had not been published. Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes (archived) showed no reviews listed for the film as of Jan. 29.

Studios often impose embargoes on movie reviews. Reviews for “Melania” may have been subject to one until its release on Jan. 30, but Snopes could not independently confirm this.

A Variety spokesperson confirmed to Snopes via email Jan. 29 that it had not published a review of “Melania” that included the quote.

A search of Variety’s website (archived) returned no results for a review of “Melania.” Instead, it turned up Variety’s previous reporting on the film, including that it had been pulled from theaters in South Africa.

The outlet reported the move was made “amid rising tensions between Donald Trump and the South African government after the U.S president criticized the country, making widely discredited claims that a genocide is being committed against its white population.”

A nearly identical version of the quote incorrectly attributed to Variety circulated before 2026 and was used to criticize other movies, most prominently Disney’s 2025 live-action “Snow White.”

A January 2025 YouTube video with nearly 10 million views as of this writing set purported negative online comments about “Snow White” to song lyrics. The song’s first line is, “If I saw this movie on a plane, I would still walk out,” referencing one user’s supposed comment about the film.

A March 2025 Facebook post claimed the line came from a review featured on Rotten Tomatoes. However, like Variety’s purported review of “Melania,” no review of “Snow White” including this line appeared on the website.

Though the Variety review in question was not authentic, “Melania” was met with criticism and grim box office forecasts. Some critics focused on the film’s director, Brett Ratner, who was accused of sexual harassment in 2017 and had not made a film since. Others focused on the movie’s hefty price tag, which eclipsed the budgets of similar documentaries. 

The New York Times wrote about Amazon’s investment in the fillm, noting that the company is distributing the movie and put $35 million into its marketing — reportedly “10 times what some other high-profile documentaries have received” — and that Hollywood insiders are wondering if “Amazon’s push is anything more than the company’s attempt to ingratiate itself with President Trump.”

On top of its hefty marketing budget, the Times reported Amazon paid “Ms. Trump’s production company $40 million for the rights” to the documentary, including an additional docuseries scheduled for later in the year, which was “about $26 million more than the next closest bidder, Disney.”

The report specified that the actual production budget for “Melania” was not made public, but similar documentaries usually cost less than $5 million to produce. 

Sources