Fact Checking | ReportWire publishes the latest breaking U.S. and world news, trending topics and developing stories from around globe.
[ad_1]
Media Bias Fact Check selects and publishes fact checks from around the world. We only utilize fact-checkers that are either a signatory of the International…
The post MBFC’s Daily Vetted Fact Checks for 01/23/2026 appeared first on Media Bias/Fact Check.
[ad_2]
Media Bias Fact Check
Source link
[ad_1]
An image authentically shows convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and four boys posing for a photo on an island.
On Jan. 16, 2026, a Threads user posted (archived) an image allegedly showing the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and four boys posing for a photo on an island, with his hand on one boy’s shoulder.
The user’s post claimed the image was not created with artificial-intelligence tools and added a message urging the release of the Epstein case files.
(@sharonrenebest/Threads)
In short, the Epstein photo was fake and created with the generative-AI platform Midjourney. It was first posted (archived) in March 2023 by an Instagram user with “AI” in their handle.
Snopes sourced reporting for this article from Know Your Meme, Reuters and the fact-checkers with the Italian Open publication.
Instagram user @aiartistking posted (archived) the original image as part of a two-image slideshow on March 25, 2023. The user’s handle, reading as “AI Artist King,” provided the first hint the user generated their content with AI tools.
The post’s text caption featured the hashtags “#midjourney,” “#midjourneyai” and “#midjourneyv5,” identifying the user created the picture with Midjourney. That original, high-quality version of the image — when
(@aiartistking/Instagram)
The second AI-generated image in the slideshow showed Epstein posing with five boys. The image displayed the text “Epstein Island,” referencing Epstein’s Little St. James Island in the Caribbean Sea. When closely viewed directly on Instagram, Epstein’s mouth and some of the boys’ faces had deformities — another sign of AI.
(@aiartistking/Instagram)
The user @aiartistking hadn’t posted any new content since 2023, and their profile did not contain external contact information.
Social media users reposted the AI-generated image of Epstein and the four boys in the weeks and months following the initial March 2023 Instagram post.
Those posts featured the false claim that the image depicted the twin hip-hop duo the Island Boys — Alex Venegas, known as “Flyysoulja,” and Franky Venegas, who goes by “Kodiyakredd.”
TMZ and investigative X user @hoaxeye reported further details of the Island Boys aspect of the rumor in May 2023.
For further reading, we previously reported about whether Epstein truly owned a painting of former U.S. President Bill Clinton wearing a blue dress.
Emery, David, and Jessica Lee. “4 Tips for Spotting AI-Generated Pics.” Snopes, 16 Apr. 2023, https://www.snopes.com/articles/464595/artificial-intelligence-media-literacy/.
Groh, Matthew, et al. “5 Telltale Signs That a Photo Is AI-Generated.” Kellogg Insight, 9 Sept. 2024, https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/ai-photos-identification.
Hamilton, Phillip. “Island Boys Epstein Island Photo.” Know Your Meme, 30 May 2023, https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/island-boys-epstein-island-photo.
@hoaxeye. “On the Left: AI Generated Picture of Jeffrey Epstein…” X, 29 May 2023, https://x.com/hoaxeye/status/1663238245130305557.
Noto, Antonio Di. “No! Questa non è una fotografia di Epstein con le sue vittime. Creata con l’Intelligenza Artificiale.” Open, 14 Apr. 2023, https://www.open.online/2023/04/14/foto-epstein-vittime-ai-fc/.
Reuters Fact Check. “Fact Check: No Evidence Online Image Shows Jeffrey Epstein with Musical Duo Island Boys.” Reuters, 2 June 2023, https://www.reuters.com/article/fact-check/no-evidence-online-image-shows-jeffrey-epstein-with-musical-duo-island-boys-idUSL1N37U2A2/.
T. M. Z. Staff. “Island Boys Say They’ve Never Met Jeffrey Epstein, Kids In Viral Photo Aren’t Them.” TMZ, 31 May 2023, https://www.tmz.com/2023/05/31/island-boys-jeffrey-epstein-viral-photo-conspiracy-debunked/.
[ad_2]
Jordan Liles
Source link
[ad_1]
In January 2026, a claim spread online that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Minnesota used a 5-year-old child as “bait” to lure in people to arrest them.
Users spread the rumor on Reddit, Facebook and X, including Democratic politicians such as Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
School officials have, in fact, accused ICE of using 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos as “bait” to lure people out of the boy’s home. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has disputed the claim, instead alleging that Liam’s father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, fled from arrest, thus “abandoning his child.”
DHS said in a Jan. 22 statement that the father and his son were being held “at Dilley’s,” presumably Dilley Immigration Processing Center, also known as South Texas Family Residential Center, the country’s largest family detention center. Like many ICE facilities, it has come under fire over alleged poor treatment of the families held there.
At
We have not rated this claim because we do not have credible video or documentation of the incident that can definitively prove what happened. Here’s what we know as of this writing:
This allegation originated from a Jan. 21, 2026, news conference held at Valley View Elementary School by Columbia Heights Public Schools, a school district north of Minneapolis. Superintendent Zena Stenvik told journalists that four students had been detained by ICE, including the student Stenvik said was used as “bait.”
Here’s the relevant portion of the statement from a news release a district spokesperson, Kristen Stuenkel, shared via email (emphasis ours):
As of today, four of our students, our children, have been detained by ICE. Just yesterday, January 20th, 2026, two of our students were taken by ICE agents. On the way to school, a 17-year-old high school student, a minor, was taken by armed and masked agents, alone. No parents were present. The student was removed from their car and taken away.
Then, in the afternoon, Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old child, was apprehended with his father while in their driveway, just having arrived home from this Preschool classroom. Another adult living in the home was outside and begged the agents to let them take care of the small child, but was refused. Instead, the agent took the child out of the still-running vehicle, led him to the door, and directed him to knock on the door, asking to be let in, in order to see if anyone else was home- essentially using a 5-year-old as bait.
Twenty minutes after Liam and his father were taken, the middle school brother came home to a missing dad, a missing little brother, and a terrified mother. Columbia Academy Principal Leslee Sherk and Valley View Elementary Principal Jason Kuhlman were also at the house to provide support to the family.
This family is following US legal parameters and has an active asylum case with no order of deportation. I have viewed the legal paperwork with my own eyes. Why detain a 5-year-old? You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.
Stenvik also shared details about the two other children taken by ICE and said the agency’s officers have been “roaming our neighborhoods, circling our schools, following our buses, coming into our parking lots and taking our kids.”
It was not possible to obtain a recording of the full Jan. 21 news conference, although clips of it were available via a YouTube video posted by Minneapolis CBS affiliate WCCO. (CBS said via email that company policy prohibits it from sharing raw footage.)
The chair of the school board, Mary Grunland, said during the Jan. 22 news conference that she witnessed the child being taken by ICE. She also accused ICE of using Ramos as “bait” (see 5:19):
REPORTER: Are you accusing ICE of using children as bait?
GRUNLAND: Yes. That is very clear from the pictures, from the videos, from the first-hand accounts. I was there. This is what happened.
Grunland also said she heard an adult who lived in the home telling ICE officers, “I will take the child,” and other adults saying the school could take the child.
“There was ample opportunity to be able to safely hand that child off to adults,” she said.
The father, she said, told the mother not to open the door due to the ICE agents.
Here’s the full Jan. 22 news conference on the YouTube page of Telemundo English, a Spanish-language television network:
In a Jan. 22 statement sent via email, DHS acknowledged that the child interacted with ICE but shared a very different version of events. Here’s the full statement from DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, which was also similar to a statement the agency posted on X (emphasis theirs):
ICE did NOT target or arrest a child. On January 20, ICE conducted a targeted operation to arrest Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias an illegal alien from Ecuador who was RELEASED into the U.S. by the Biden administration. As agents approached, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias fled on foot—abandoning his child. For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias. Our officer’s made multiple attempts to get the alleged mother who was inside the house to take custody of her child. Officers even assured her she would NOT be taken her into custody. The alleged mother refused to accept custody of the child. The father told officers he wanted the child to remain with him.
During this situation, agitators swarmed the scene and began yelling and blowing horns, scaring the child.
Our officers primary concern during the entire operation was the safety and welfare of the child. Following the mother’s abandonment of the child, officers abided by the father’s wishes to keep the child with him and even got the child McDonald’s and played his favorite music. Father and son are together at Dilley.
Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates. This is consistent with past administration’s immigration enforcement. Parents can take control of their departure and receive a free flight and $2,600 with the CBP Home app. By using the CBP Home app illegal aliens reserve the chance to come back the right legal way.
Stenvik, the superintendent, said during the Jan. 22 news conference that she heard, contrary to DHS’ claim, that the father was “handcuffed in the driveway.” She suggested that ICE officers release any body camera footage they might have to clear up what actually happened.
Snopes has not found any video footage of the arrest taken by bystanders but will update this report if we learn more.
[ad_2]
Rae Deng
Source link
[ad_1]
Videos of confrontations between Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and Minneapolis residents have flooded social media, showing some of the 3,000 officers who are deployed in the city stopping, questioning and detaining residents.
In one case, immigration agents escorted a U.S. citizen who is a grandfather of Hmong ancestry out of his house in his underwear in freezing weather. In another case, a father of a 5-year-old girl was briefly detained and zip-tied after he said a federal agent falsely accused him of not being a U.S. citizen because of his accent. The agency is also under scrutiny for reportedly dispatching a 5-year-old boy to knock on the front door of his home to lure relatives outside before agents then took the child into custody.
The events have sparked protests and prompted confusion over what ICE is legally allowed to do in public and private locations. Are there limits on when and how ICE can approach or detain you? Does the law differentiate between encounters in public versus a private space, such as a home? And is the Supreme Court becoming more tolerant of aggressive ICE actions?
Legal experts weighed in on the public’s constitutional protections from immigration stops and detentions.
Federal law gives immigration agents the authority to arrest and detain people believed to have violated immigration law. But everyone — including immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. illegally — is protected against unreasonable searches and seizures under the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment.
“All law enforcement officers, including ICE, are bound by the Constitution,” said Alexandra Lopez, managing partner of a Chicago-based law firm specializing in immigration cases.
The Fourth Amendment doesn’t stop ICE from trying to deport people who have broken immigration law, but it has traditionally constrained the agency. The more extensive an enforcement action is, the higher the bar for immigration officers to justify their actions.
For example, officers can question someone in a public place, but more extensive interactions — such as a brief detention that’s not a formal arrest — require a “reasonable suspicion” that someone has committed a crime or is in the U.S. illegally, the Supreme Court has ruled.
Reasonable suspicion “has to be more than a guess or a presumption,” said Michele Goodwin, a Georgetown University law professor. To meet this standard, a reasonable person would need to suspect that a crime was being committed, had been committed or would be committed.
Agents must meet an even higher bar to arrest someone. They need “probable cause,” which generally requires enough evidence or information to suggest a person has committed a crime.
Historically, the Supreme Court has ruled that racial or ethnic profiling is unconstitutional. But a recent opinion by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh gave ICE increased discretion to use race as a factor for stopping and questioning people.
In the 2025 case Noem v. Perdomo, Kavanaugh was one of six justices who voted to stay a lower court ruling in favor of plaintiffs challenging federal immigration enforcement tactics in Los Angeles. Kavanaugh wrote that “apparent ethnicity” could be used as a “relevant factor” in determining reasonable suspicion, as long as it was combined with other factors and not used on its own.
Before Kavanaugh wrote this, courts had “often ruled that agents could not stop someone just because they ‘looked like an immigrant’ or were in a high-crime area,” Lopez said. But if immigration officers follow Kavanaugh’s guidance, “it gives ICE a lot more discretion and justification to profile.”
Critics of Kavanaugh’s opinion “argue that the ‘relevant factor’ language invites abuse, opening the door to ethnic profiling,” said Rodney Smolla, a Vermont Law and Graduate School professor.
But Kavanaugh’s opinion was not co-signed by other justices, and it came from a procedural ruling rather than a substantive one, so its legal impact might be limited. The Supreme Court “has not made a definitive ruling on ‘Kavanaugh stops’ and their permissibility,” said Ilya Somin, a George Mason University law professor.
Somin and other legal analysts have said Kavanaugh appeared to dial back his support for race or ethnicity as a factor when he wrote a different opinion several months later, in Trump v. Illinois, which stopped the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard in Illinois.
Chongly (Scott) Thao, a U.S. citizen, at his home on Jan. 19, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn., the day after federal agents broke open his door and detained him without a warrant. (AP)
The Supreme Court has generally ruled that, unless a resident grants consent, law enforcement cannot enter a private home without a warrant signed by a judge, which requires the government to provide evidence showing probable cause.
“This means a person inside the house generally need not open the door, need not converse with the agent, and may require the agent to slip the warrant under the door or hold it to a window,” Smolla said. There are some exceptions, such as if an officer encounters a violent crime in progress, or someone needing medical care.
Securing a judicial warrant is time consuming and is typically reserved for high-priority cases in which people are suspected of crimes beyond immigration violations, Lopez said. “It’s much easier for ICE to arrest individuals in public,” she said.
In the past, federal immigration officers typically would not forcibly enter homes if they only had an administrative warrant issued by ICE itself, without a judge’s approval. Some lower courts have ruled in the past that entering homes without a judicial warrant violates the Fourth Amendment.
Specific ICE officials have authority to issue administrative warrants. The warrants require “probable cause to believe” that the person named in the warrant is subject to removal. But they are not reviewed by anyone in the judicial branch.
A leaked ICE memo approved entering homes without consent using an administrative warrant alone, as long as a final order of removal has been issued, The Associated Press reported Jan. 22.
The AP, citing a whistleblower disclosure, said the memo has been used to train new ICE officers, and “those still in training are being told to follow the memo’s guidance instead of written training materials that actually contradict the memo.”
The May 12, 2025, memo, signed by ICE acting director Todd Lyons, said the Department of Homeland Security “has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence” but added that “the DHS Office of the General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose.”
If this policy were to be challenged in court, it’s unclear whether it would be ruled constitutional.
If you believe that your rights were violated, perhaps causing an injury or property loss, your options for suing for compensation are limited.
Unlike many state laws, federal law generally prohibits civil lawsuits against federal officials for violating people’s rights. A 1971 Supreme Court decision briefly loosened these prohibitions, before tightening them again.
Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California-Berkeley’s law school, and Burt Neuborne, a New York University emeritus law professor, wrote, “In one case, the Supreme Court held that people who had been illegally thrown off the Social Security disability rolls and were left without income could not sue, even though they had been given no due process. In another, the court declared that a man dying of cancer after the prison repeatedly denied him any medical care could not sue.”
David Rudovsky, a University of Pennsylvania law professor, said there might be an opportunity to sue under a different law, the Federal Tort Claims Act.
Still, he said, plaintiffs would face a steep challenge: “It’s not an easy path, and most people can’t afford to retain a lawyer.”
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
In January 2026, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denied U.S. President Donald Trump said “Iceland” when he meant “Greenland” during his speech at the World Economic Forum, even though video evidence showed he did confuse the two.
After U.S. President Donald Trump gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 21, 2026, a rumor spread online that White House
For example, the claim that Leavitt denied Trump’s mix-ups appeared on X and TikTok. One X user asked, “Why do they lie about obvious things?” (archived):
(X user @micah_erfan)
The claim also appeared in an article by the left-leaning media outlet The New Republic. Meanwhile, Snopes readers searched the website seeking to confirm Leavitt had denied Trump had confused Greenland’s and Iceland’s names in his speech.
The rumor was true, as we outline below. An emailed statement from a White House spokesperson did not address our questions about why Leavitt had said Trump had not confused the two places.
On Jan. 21, 2026, Trump gave a speech in Davos in which he referred to Greenland several times as a “piece of ice.” He discussed Greenland following the international reaction to his stated plan to acquire Denmark’s autonomous territory, as various NATO allies sent military personnel to Greenland to prepare for a possible takeover by the U.S. In the following
His
(After the speech, Trump said a new framework for negotiations on Greenland was in place, following a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.)
As news outlets and social media users began to comment on Trump’s mix-up, Leavitt shared one such X post (archived) by NewsNation journalist Libbey Dean. Misspelling Dean’s first name, Leavitt claimed that the remark was incorrect (archived):
(X user @PressSec)
No he didn’t, Libby. His written remarks referred to Greenland as a “piece of ice” because that’s what it is. You’re the only one mixing anything up here.
Leavitt referred to Trump’s “written remarks,” not what he had said spoken. Asked why Leavitt would deny Trump had made this mistake, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers replied with a written statement that provided no more clarity on the matter:
President Trump delivered a historic speech in Davos laying out America’s compelling national security interests involving Greenland. Mere hours afterward, President Trump announced the framework for a future deal with respect to Greenland. President Trump continues to deliver results while the failing, liberal media melts down.
We replied, asking again what motivated Leavitt’s denial that Trump had said these words during his speech, which was recorded, widely broadcast and extensively reported on. We will update this report should Rogers respond.
For further reading, Snopes verified that Trump said “Sometimes you need a dictator” during a reception of business leaders in Davos.
[ad_2]
Anna Rascouët-Paz
Source link
[ad_1]
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “Jesus Christ would never have stormed a church in protest of the people who were running it.”
In January 2026, social media users shared a quote alleging U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “Jesus Christ would never have stormed a church in protest of the people who were running it.” Users reposted the remark in an apparent screenshot of a Fox News chyron or simply as text.
The Bondi quote rumor circulated in the days after a group of protesters disrupted a Sunday service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. News media outlets subsequently reported the activists’ reason for the protest as demonstrating against a local official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement who serves as
For example, on Jan. 20, a Facebook user posted (archived) an alleged Fox News TV screenshot displaying a chyron reading, “Bondi: ‘Jesus Christ would never have stormed a church in protest of the people who were running it.’” Many other social media users shared the same purported screenshot or the quote as text, with some
(Bren Tinman/Facebook)
In short, Bondi never said those words. Both the Fox News screenshot and quote were fake. The rumor originated as satire.
James Schlarmann, a comedian whose Facebook bio says he is a political
(James Schlarmann/Facebook)
We asked Schlarmann via Messenger if he wished to say more about the church incident or if he wanted his satire to stand on its own. He responded, “You can add that I remember just enough from my former Christian upbringing to know that the Christians I saw were the ones protesting.”
On Jan. 18, the day protesters disrupted the St. Paul church service, Bondi posted (archived) on X, in part, “I just spoke to the Pastor in Minnesota whose church was targeted. Attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law.”
Two days later, Fox News reported, as part of an interview with Bondi, that she said of the church incident, “That should not happen to any Christian, to any religion, to a synagogue, to a mosque, to any place of worship in our country.”
On Jan. 22, Bondi announced (archived) the arrest of one of the protesters and added, “Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP.”
Bondi subsequently announced two additional arrests in connection with the incident.
Some of the aforementioned posts drew comparisons between the fake Bondi quote and Bible verses describing Jesus driving people selling goods out of a temple. The story is depicted in Matthew 21:12-15, Mark 11:15-18, Luke 19:45-46 and John 2:13-17.
For example, John 2:13-17 in the Bible’s New International Version reads as follows:
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
For further reading, we previously reported about whether Bondi fired a Department of Justice employee after she found a copy of the U.S. Constitution on the employee’s desk.
Baehr, Jasmine, and David Spunt. “Bondi Vows Accountability after Church Attack, Says Minnesota ‘a Mess Right Now.’” Text.Article. Fox News, 20 Jan. 2026, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bondi-vows-accountability-after-church-attack-says-minnesota-a-mess-right-now.
Barr, Luke, and Jack Date. “DOJ Investigating after Protesters Disrupt Service at St. Paul Church Where ICE Field Director Is Pastor.” ABC News, 19 Jan. 2026, https://abcnews.go.com/US/doj-investigating-after-protesters-disrupt-service-minneapolis-church/story?id=129349242.
Dell’orto, Giovanna. “Christian Leaders Urge Protecting Worshippers’ Rights after Protesters Interrupt Service.” The Associated Press, 19 Jan. 2026, https://apnews.com/article/ice-protest-church-minneapolis-fcc97a29b9c4434c665d76d4811c5a3e.
PerryCook, Taija. “Did Fox News’ Jesse Watters Say, ‘If Trump Had Been President during the Civil War, We Would’ve Won It’?” Snopes, 30 Dec. 2025, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jesse-watters-trump-civil-war-claim/.
Richer, Alanna Durkin, and Giovanna Dell’orto. “3 People Involved in a Minnesota Church Protest Are Arrested, as Judge Refuses to Charge Don Lemon.” The Associated Press, 22 Jan. 2026, https://apnews.com/article/justice-department-minnesota-church-disruption-bondi-ed084f5005187f58eabe0cc627d1862b.
[ad_2]
Jordan Liles
Source link
[ad_1]
Prior to announcing on Jan. 21 that he has reached a “framework of a future deal” on Greenland with the secretary general of NATO, President Donald Trump had insisted that the United States needed to acquire Greenland for national security reasons — and at first, he wouldn’t rule out potentially taking the territory over by force.
In a Jan. 21 speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said, “I don’t want to use force; I won’t use force.”
Throughout his initial push to claim Greenland for the U.S., Trump made several claims about the island in the Arctic, which is home to about 56,000 people, including statements questioning Denmark’s documented ownership of Greenland and statements suggesting that the U.S. needs “ownership to defend” Greenland. Some of his claims are false.
In this story, we’ll present what the president has said and the facts.
Claim: “Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also.” — in a text message to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre
Facts: Trump’s claim that “no written documents” attest to Greenland being a territory owned by Denmark is false.
Denmark has had a claim to Greenland since Denmark and Norway were unified under the same monarchy until the early 19th Century. As part of the 1814 Treaty of Kiel, which ended a conflict between Denmark and Sweden, Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden but kept the Norwegian settlements of Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
In 1933, during a dispute between Denmark and Norway over territory in the eastern region of Greenland, the Permanent Court of International Justice, as it was formerly known, ruled that Denmark had proven that it “possessed a valid title to the sovereignty over all Greenland,” and cited the Treaty of Kiel as supporting evidence.
Greenland became a county of Denmark, rather than a colony, in 1953, and was granted representation in the Danish Parliament. In 1979, Greenland was granted home rule, a form of increased autonomy, and its own parliament was created. In 2009, through the Self Governance Act, the people of Greenland gained the right to declare independence from Denmark, which has not happened.
Throughout modern history, the U.S. has also recognized Greenland as a territory of Denmark.
For example, upon purchasing the Danish West Indies from Denmark in 1916, the U.S. issued a written declaration that said “the Government of the United States of America will not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland.”
Also, in a 1941 agreement to defend Denmark against Germany during World War II, the U.S. said that it “fully recognized” that Denmark had sovereignty over Greenland.
Ten years later, the U.S. and Denmark, both new members of the NATO alliance formed in 1949, signed an updated defense agreement, which set conditions for U.S. military operations in Greenland. That agreement said that the permissions were granted “[w]ithout prejudice to the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark.”
When that agreement was amended in 2004 during the George W. Bush administration, the U.S. again acknowledged that Greenland is “an equal part of the Kingdom of Denmark.”
Claim: “And all we’re asking for is to get Greenland, including right, title, and ownership, because you need the ownership to defend it. You can’t defend it on a lease. Number one, legally. It’s not defensible that way, totally. And number two, psychologically, who the hell wants to defend a license agreement or a lease.” — at the World Economic Forum on Jan. 21
Facts: The U.S. currently has an agreement with Denmark that grants broad access to Greenland for military purposes. Some experts have disputed the idea that the U.S. would need “ownership” of the island in order to “defend it.”
The Defense of Greenland agreement was first signed in 1951 and later updated in 2004.
During the Cold War, Greenland served as a foothold for the U.S. as it competed with the Soviet Union in the Arctic, but American presence there declined in the post-Cold War period, according to briefings by European and U.S. government groups.
But, as a July report from the Congressional Research Service explained, “Over the past 10 to 15 years, the emergence of great power competition and a significant increase in Russian military presence and operations in the Arctic has introduced renewed elements of military tension and competition into the Arctic.”
The U.S. now maintains one base in Greenland, the former Thule Air Base that was renamed Pituffik Space Base in 2023. It conducts space surveillance and provides missile warning and defense. Pituffik is the U.S. Department of Defense’s northernmost outpost and is manned by about 130 active-duty servicemembers, as of September.
As Trump’s rhetoric about acquiring Greenland ratcheted up over the last month, Danish officials and foreign policy analysts have pointed to the existing agreement.
“The U.S. has already a wide military access to Greenland,” Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen said, following a Jan. 14 meeting between U.S., Danish and Greenlandic officials. “Under the 1951 defense agreement, the U.S. can always ask for increasing its presence in Greenland, and therefore, we wish to hear if the U.S. had any further requests to make in this aspect. We would examine any such request constructively.”
Similarly, the day before, Stine Bosse, a Danish member of the European Parliament, said during a question and answer session with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, “we have already an agreement. It’s from 1951 — you know that as well — between Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmark and the U.S., allowing the U.S. to deploy all the military forces they want.”
Mikkel Runge Olesen, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies in Copenhagen, told the New York Times, “The U.S. has such a free hand in Greenland that it can pretty much do what it wants.”
We asked the White House if Trump’s “framework of a future deal” concerning Greenland was an extension of the existing agreement, but we didn’t get a response. Instead, we were provided a statement that said, “If this deal goes through, and President Trump is very hopeful it will, the United States will be achieving all of its strategic goals with respect to Greenland, at very little cost, forever. President Trump is proving once again he’s the Dealmaker in Chief. As details are finalized by all parties involved, they will be released accordingly.” (The New York Times reported on Jan. 22, citing anonymous officials, that one point of negotiation is giving the U.S. sovereignty over its military bases in Greenland.)
As for the president’s claim that “you need the ownership to defend” Greenland, some experts have disagreed.
John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser in his first term, called that claim “crazy talk.”
Bolton said in a Jan. 21 CNN appearance, “If he really believes that — that you have to own something to defend it — they better take notice in Japan, South Korea, where we have defense facilities — and, by the way, a large number of European countries where we have defense facilities, apparently, under the Trump view, we need to own them, too.”
The U.S. has at least 128 military bases in 51 countries, according to a 2024 Congressional Research Service report. Among the reasons for maintaining these facilities, the report says, is “[a]ssuring allied and partner nations of U.S. security commitments.”
“Merely suggesting that the U.S. can only be secure if it owns Greenland raises fundamental questions about its willingness to defend countries that it doesn’t own,” Ivo Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama, told the Wall Street Journal this month.
Claim: “So, we’re building a Golden Dome and having Greenland makes it a much more effective Golden Dome.” — in a Jan. 20 interview on NewsNation
Facts: The Golden Dome refers to a defense system that Trump says he wants to build to protect the U.S. from potential missile attacks. Trump got the idea from Israel’s air defense systems, collectively known as the Iron Dome, which can detect and intercept short-range threats, such as rockets, artillery and mortars.
Stephen Biddle, adjunct senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, previously told us that the Iron Dome “is not a useful system” for intercepting long-range ballistic missiles that could be fired from U.S. adversaries like China, North Korea or Russia.
But Todd Harrison, a senior fellow who focuses on defense strategy and space policy at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said that existing operations in Greenland could at least help track certain missiles.
“Greenland is already used by the United States as a key radar tracking site for homeland missile defense,” he told us in an email. “So yes, it would help Golden Dome by continuing to do what we already do there — track missiles with trajectories going through the arctic region.”
However, Harrison said it’s wrong for Trump to suggest that the U.S. couldn’t already do this in Greenland.
“Where the president is way off base is the idea that we don’t already have access to Greenland for missile defense (because we do) and that we need to own Greenland to use it for missile defense (we don’t). His claims about Greenland are detached from reality,” Harrison told us.
Claim: “We paid for, in my opinion, 100% of NATO because they weren’t paying their bills.” — at the World Economic Forum on Jan. 21
Facts: This is false. The U.S. was not paying for 100% of NATO.
Trump for years has wrongly described what the U.S. willingly spends on its defense budget as funding for NATO. The alliance classifies the amount of money that its 32 member nations independently decide to spend on their own military as indirect spending.
As NATO explained in a December update on its funding: “The volume of US defence expenditure represents approximately two thirds of the defence spending of the Alliance as a whole. However, this is not the amount that the United States contributes to the operational running of NATO, which is shared with all Allies according to the principle of common funding.”
In terms of direct costs, the U.S., since January, pays about 15% of NATO’s “common-funded budgets,” including its civil budget, for its headquarters; its military budget for the NATO Command Structure; and its budget for the NATO Security Investment Programme, which funds certain military capabilities and infrastructure. That percentage is calculated based on a cost-sharing formula that factors in the gross national income of each country.
During Trump’s first term, the U.S. was paying as much as 22% of NATO’s common budgets.
In terms of indirect spending, the alliance in 2025 agreed that countries should spend 5% of their gross domestic product on their individual defense budgets by 2035, up from a prior commitment of 2%. Trump has long complained that several countries have fallen short of the previous spending target.
The president made this claim about NATO funding in saying that the U.S. had gotten “nothing” out of the alliance and “all we’re asking for is to get Greenland.” But the U.S. has received military support from NATO allies. Troops from member countries served in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page. If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, P.O. Box 58100, Philadelphia, PA 19102.
[ad_2]
D’Angelo Gore
Source link
[ad_1]
A video (archived) that claimed to authentically show Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents attacking a Black church choir circulated online in January 2026. For example, Snopes readers sent us a video from the Facebook page Branson Area Breaking News that claimed to show the incident.
The video appeared to show ICE agents confronting a Black choir in a street, pulling several singers to the ground.
The caption of the Branson Area Breaking News post read:
An elderly African-American church choir blocked a downtown street while singing civil rights hymns, including “We Shall Not Be Moved.” to prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from advancing during an apparent immigration enforcement operation.
Some readers seemed to interpret the rumor as a factual recounting of real-life events. However, there was no evidence that ICE agents actually attacked a Black church choir.
Rather, the claim originated with Branson Area Breaking News — a Facebook page that describes its output as being satirical in nature. Its About page states, “We are a world renowned satirical news organization & have received many awards for our breaking news stories!”
The fictional story spread amid reports that anti-ICE protesters disrupted a service at a church where a local ICE official apparently served as pastor. Searches on Google, Yahoo, Bing and DuckDuckGo for “ICE agents attack Black church choir” revealed only news reports about this reported incident and no reports about ICE agents attacking a choir, which would have likely been widely reported, if true (archived, archived, archived, archived).
Branson Area Breaking News has a history of making up stories for shares and comments, sometimes relying on artificial-intelligence (AI) software to do its storytelling.
In the case of the video of ICE agents allegedly attacking a Black church choir, the video showed a blurred field that moved around the screen during the clip. This blurred field matched the movement pattern of a watermark for Sora, an AI model that adds visible and invisible watermarks to the content it creates.
(Facebook user Branson Area Breaking News)
We reached out to Branson Area Breaking News to confirm whether it used Sora to create the video and obscured the model’s watermark and await a reply.
Snopes has addressed similar satirical claims from the Facebook page in the past, including the assertion that a water tower crashed into a busy road and a rumor that red rain fell on the city.
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.
[ad_2]
Laerke Christensen
Source link
[ad_1]
On Jan. 14, 2026, the Granite Post, a New Hampshire news website,
The claim spread on social media, and Snopes readers searched our website looking for more information about Noble’s supposed messages.
We reached out to Noble’s team to verify
The Granite Post also published Noble’s purported messages, but the article offered no definitive proof she was referring to schools segregated by race or political beliefs.
According to the Granite Post’s story, Republican state representatives
The messages were shared in a screen recording, which the Granite Post made public. Below, Snopes transcribed all the messages as they appeared in the video. We have bolded the message Noble purportedly sent in favor of school segregation and included notes in parentheses when messages included reactions.
We also cross-referenced the names with Ballotpedia, a nonpartisan online encyclopedia of politics. All four users who reportedly sent messages in the chat had the same names as Republican members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives.
The full purported text exchange was as follows:
KATY PETERNEL: I’m sending him a message now
KRISTIN NOBLE: all extra requirements aren’t helpful right now. Stopping woke mind virus stuff is good.
PETERNEL: Are any of you supportive of the hunting bill?
NOBLE: i support it. it’s just not a priority.
MELISSA LITCHFIELD: No, not the way schools are run right now. I do not want to risk kids being taught that guns are bad. (This message received a thumbs-up reaction and a “100” reaction)
PETERNEL: If it wasn’t already allowed and Prospect Mountain wasn’t already teaching hunters safety, I might consider supporting it. Roy has his Eddie Eagle bill.
NOBLE: when we have segregated schools we can add all the fun stuff lol (this message received a laughing reaction, shown in the video to be from Peternel)
NOBLE: imagine the scores though if we had schools for them and some for us
MARGARET DRYE: I think the only bill I have in our committee is about the definition of part-time teachers.
LITCHFIELD (responding to Drye’s message): It would be faster if we just ask Glenn how many bills I submitted!
In a Jan. 14 post on X, Noble shared a statement implying the texts were authentic and suggesting she was referring to schools segregated by political beliefs, along with a link to a campaign donation site:
It’s funny to watch the Democrats feign outrage when I thought they’d be supportive of managing their own schools, with libraries full of porn, biological males in girls sports and bathrooms, and as much DEl curriculum as their hearts desire. Schools like that will have terrible test scores because they focus on social justice rather than academics.
Republicans have been self-segregating out of the leftist indoctrination centers for decades. If democrats had their own schools, and we had our own, families wouldn’t need to avail themselves of the wildly successful education freedom account program. It’s a win / win proposition.
Three days later, Noble shared another donation link on X, calling the Granite Post a “Democrat fake news blog” that was “desperately try to cling to the rubble of their collapsed narrative.”
The news outlet does have documented connections to Democrats. The publication is affiliated with Courier Newsroom, according to the Boston Globe and its own website. Previous reporting from The New York Times and Axios showed Courier had received millions of dollars in funding from p
Barrett, Marissa. “State Representatives Trade Shots over ‘segregated Schools’ Comments in Leaked Signal Chat.” WMUR, 16 Jan. 2026, https://www.wmur.com/article/state-representatives-comments-leaked-signal-chat/70015937.
Booth, Colin. “Leaked Signal Chat Shows NH House Education Chair Advocating Whites-Only Schools.” Granite Post, 14 Jan. 2026, https://granitepostnews.com/2026/01/14/leaked-signal-chat-shows-nh-house-education-chair-advocating-whites-only-schools/.
Fischer, Sara. “Exclusive: Billionaires Back New Media Firm to Combat Disinformation.” Axios, 26 Oct. 2021, https://www.axios.com/2021/10/26/soros-hoffman-disinformation-tara-mcgowan.
“Following Leaked Messages, House Republican Education Chair Says She Favors Politically Segregated Schools.” New Hampshire Public Radio, 16 Jan. 2026, https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2026-01-16/nh-house-gop-education-chair-favors-politically-segregated-schools.
Jones, Ja’han. “Opinion | New Hampshire Republican Is Defiant after Reportedly Hyping ‘Segregated Schools.’” MS NOW, 15 Jan. 2026, https://www.ms.now/opinion/segregated-schools-new-hampshire-republican-kristin-noble-signal.
“Katy Peternel.” Ballotpedia, https://ballotpedia.org/Katy_Peternel. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
“Kristin Noble.” Ballotpedia, https://ballotpedia.org/Kristin_Noble. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
“Margaret Drye.” Ballotpedia, https://ballotpedia.org/Margaret_Drye. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
Mehta, Dhrumil, et al. “Courier Newsroom Spent Big on a Meta Ad Blitz in October.” Columbia Journalism Review, https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/courier-newsroom-spent-big-on-a-meta-ad-blitz-in-october.php. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
“Melissa Litchfield.” Ballotpedia, https://ballotpedia.org/Melissa_Litchfield. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
Porter, Stephen. “‘Segregated Schools’ Comment Sparks Uproar; N.H. Lawmaker Says Leaked Message Referred to Politics, Not Race – The Boston Globe.” BostonGlobe.Com, https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/15/metro/segregated-schools-nh-lawmaker-leak/. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
Vogel, Kenneth P., and Shane Goldmacher. “Democrats Decried Dark Money. Then They Won With It in 2020.” The New York Times, 29 Jan. 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/29/us/politics/democrats-dark-money-donors.html.
[ad_2]
Jack Izzo
Source link
[ad_1]
This page hosts daily news stories about the media, social media, and the journalism industry. Get the latest Hirings and Firings, Media Transactions, Controversies, Censorship…
The post Media News Daily: Top Stories for 01/22/2026 appeared first on Media Bias/Fact Check.
[ad_2]
Media Bias Fact Check
Source link
[ad_1]
Media Bias Fact Check selects and publishes fact checks from around the world. We only utilize fact-checkers that are either a signatory of the International…
The post MBFC’s Daily Vetted Fact Checks for 01/22/2026 appeared first on Media Bias/Fact Check.
[ad_2]
Media Bias Fact Check
Source link
[ad_1]
In January 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump said, “Sometimes you need a dictator.”
Trump genuinely made the remark immediately after referencing how some of his critics labeled him as a dictator.
In January 2026, social media users shared a quote attributed to U.S. President Donald Trump in which he said, “Sometimes you need a dictator.”
Social media users and publishers widely shared a live-broadcast video from the speech.
In short, Trump genuinely said, “Sometimes you need a dictator.” He made the remark during a reception with business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 21, 2026. Those words came immediately after Trump referenced his critics referring to him as a dictator.
Snopes emailed the White House to ask for an explanation of Trump’s comment and when the president believes a dictator is needed. We will update this article if we receive further information.
During the speech, Trump addressed the evening gathering following an introduction by WEF co-chair Larry Fink. Near the end of his remarks he referenced a speech he delivered earlier in the day, then made the comment about needing a dictator (emphasis ours):
So, it’s been, it’s been really amazing. And you are the people that made it happen. Really, largely it’s you. It’s you and a group of others. Not a lot more. I mean, the people here, I guess because of Larry, the people that came to this event, it’s really incredible. I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out. We had somebody, as you know, that ran it for many, many years, and I’m not sure what happened there, but I figured, well, that’s all right. They had a hell of a run in Davos. Then, I heard Larry was taking it over, more or less, and he called me. He said, “Would you do me a favor? Would you be there?” And we’ve had some great business dealings together and being here. He’s a great, he’s one of, he’s one of you. He’s one of the greats. And it was an honor.
We had a, we had a good speech. We got great reviews. I can’t believe it. We got good reviews in that speech. Usually they say, “He’s a horrible dictator-type person. I’m a dictator.” But sometimes you need a dictator. But they didn’t say that in this case. And no, it’s common sense. It’s all based on common sense. You know, it’s not conservative or liberal or anything else. It’s mostly, I’d say, 95% common sense, and that’s what we have.
So, I just want to thank everybody for being here. It’s such an honor. And, if we can ever help, you’re going to let me know. And I have a pretty direct line. Marco Rubio’s here, too. He’s done a fantastic job as secretary of state. He’ll go down as maybe the best secretary of state if he keeps going like he’s going. That’s a big question. I don’t know that he will, but for the first year, he’s right, he’s headed to the top. And I just want to thank everybody very much for being here. Thank you very much. Take care of yourselves. Thank you.
The YouTube channels for LiveNOW from Fox and the White House hosted two different camera angles of Trump’s speech in its entirety. His remark about dictators occurred near the end of his time behind the microphone.
For further reading, we previously reported about the time Trump shared a post advocating his reelection on Truth Social that linked to a Washington Post article headlined, “A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.”
[ad_2]
Jordan Liles
Source link
[ad_1]
In January 2026, online users shared a set of audio recordings alleging child sex trafficking, physical assault and child pornography, as well as the murder of children, in the 1970s and 1980s by future American leaders.
The claims involved a boy
The unsubstantiated allegations claimed some of the men sexually assaulted the boy (for the purpose of this article, we’ll refer to that person as “Barros”), that the boy once injured Trump and that Trump himself actually led the efforts behind Epstein’s sex crimes with Epstein simply presented as the public face of the operation.
Snopes listened to all four-plus hours of the audio interviews in which Barros detailed the alleged crimes at the hands of American politicians. In the months and years before those recordings published, Barros,
If the allegations had merit, there would be at least some evidence of the purported crimes other than Barros’ testimony, such as witness testimonies, court records, police reports or newspaper articles. We have yet to locate any such records.
The allegations gained widespread internet attention in early 2026 when a blogger posted the audio recordings on her Substack titled “Outlaws of Chivalry.” That writer, Lisa Voldeng, emailed the following statement in response to our request for more information to independently verify the claims:
The truth speaks for itself. I stand with survivors. Justice will not wait.
I published my Outlaws of Chivalry briefing with unredacted audio of my interviews with Sascha, so individuals longing for justice, could read and listen unfettered, and discern the truth so long concealed, themselves.
We attempted to reach Barros via Facebook Messenger. Voldeng told us by email she would put us
This report does not not attempt to fact-check whether Barros experienced sexual assault and/or trafficking during their life, but instead attempts to discern the credibility of Barros’ stories involving prominent people, such as Trump and Epstein, specifically.
We also emailed the White House to respond to the allegations against Trump, as well as the Supreme Court since the claims included Thomas. We reached out to the offices of Biggs, Jordan and Graham for the same reason. We will update this article if we receive responses.
Some social media users noted that a person named William or Bill Riley appears in several (Page 28) documents (Page 19) released by federal authorities related to Epstein’s crimes. That is accurate, though we did not uncover any evidence to confirm Barros’ allegations against a person by that name.
In the audio clips, Barros identified themself as an Army veteran. We requested from Barros (via Voldeng) a form they referenced in the audio recordings to confirm their military service and will update this article if we receive a copy of the document.
Among the many allegations, Barros
By email, Balis confirmed to Snopes that a soldier was found in possession of child pornography around that time. He also confirmed there was a conversation about a sexually explicit video of a boy resembling Barros. According to Balis, the commanding officer asked some of the questions Barros mentioned.
As of this writing, Voldeng nor Barros provided definitive evidence regarding the allegations against prominent men, such as Trump, Epstein and Thomas.
Barros said in the first recording, “I know that me speaking up is one thing, but the verification process is important, too.” In the fifth recording, Voldeng said she was looking to establish a “starting point in terms of an investigation.”
In the recordings, Voldeng and Barros discussed tracking down old police reports and archives from a closed or renamed Charter Woods Hospital in Dothan, Alabama, as well as contacting former Army service members to corroborate the claims.
By phone, Voldeng, who said she resides in Canada, told Snopes she was working on a follow-up to her original article featuring the Barros’ recordings, and that that second post would map “selected incidents to supporting evidence.”
“There’s been a lot of vetting,
She said Barros attempted and failed to obtain a 1989 record from Charter Woods Hospital purportedly containing Barros’ documented words about the allegations against Trump. “Apparently, when the hospital was closed, there [were] records somewhere. There likely could be a box of records sitting somewhere in a basement, but we’ve experienced difficulties obtaining those. That would require some sort of boots-on-ground research in those towns.” Voldeng said.
“I’m not a journalist. I’ve never worked as a journalist,” said Voldeng, who lists work history on LinkedIn. “
Voldeng told us she asked
In short, Snopes reviewed Barros’ allegations against Epstein, Trump and other prominent Republican figures and did not uncover any evidence to confirm the claims.
[ad_2]
Jordan Liles
Source link
[ad_1]
The European Union will suspend visa-free travel for U.S. citizens on Feb. 1, 2026.
In January 2026, a claim (archived) circulated online that the European Union would end visa-free travel for U.S. citizens beginning Feb. 1, 2026.
As of this writing, Americans do not need a visa to enter 29 countries in Europe, known as the Schengen area. They are able to stay there and move around the Schengen area visa-free for up to 90 days within a 180-day period.
One Facebook user who shared the rumor wrote: “EU BOMBSHELL: Full Suspension of Visa-Free Travel for ALL U.S. Citizens & Federal Officials Announced — Effective February 1, in Direct Retaliation to Trump’s Tariff Threats Over Greenland Opposition!”
The bloc’s alleged announcement, according to the rumor, was a response to U.S. President Donald Trump saying (archived) he would impose tariffs upon several EU member states, as well as the U.K., on Feb. 1 because they sent troops to protect Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, which the Trump administration repeatedly said it wished to acquire for U.S. security purposes.
Examples of the claim also appeared on Threads (archived) and X (archived), and Snopes readers wrote in to ask whether it was true.
There was no evidence in official statements from the European Commission — whose Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs manages the EU’s border policy — that the bloc would end visa-free travel for U.S. citizens on Feb. 1, 2026. Online searches uncovered no articles from reputable sources reporting this claim as factual (archived, archived, archived, archived), which would have been the case if it were true.
The rumor spread alongside an image generated in whole, or partly, by artificial intelligence tools. At least one popular social media post featuring the claim linked to an advertisement-filled report that actually countered the claim. Given all of the above, we rated this claim false.
Snopes contacted the European Commission for comment on the rumor. We await a reply.
In addition to a lack of reputable reports, the claim itself showed signs of being AI-generated. The image that circulated alongside the rumor featured a news presenter with misshapen hands — a common clue of AI usage — and, despite being styled to look like a news report, it carried no logo for the channel or outlet supposedly reporting the claim.
According to ZeroGPT.com, an online AI detector for text, the copy in two purported news reports featuring the claim showed signs of being AI-generated.
One such report included quotes from officials such as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who allegedly called the change “a proportionate, legal, and reversible measure.” A Google News search uncovered no examples (archived) of reputable news media outlets reporting on von der Leyen producing that quote.
Though the claim about the EU suspending visa-free travel for U.S. citizens was false, the Delegation of the European Union to the United States of America said on its website that travelers should be aware of two new EU border initiatives: the Entry/Exit System and the European Travel Information and Authorisation System.
The Entry/Exit System launched in October 2025. The IT system registers travelers entering the 29 Schengen countries by taking their pictures and fingerprints. Non-EU nationals who travel into the EU without a visa, such as U.S. citizens, must be registered in the EES.
The European Travel Information and Authorisation System was due to launch in the last quarter of 2026. According to the Delegation of the European Union to the United States of America, ETIAS would not be a visa, but rather an entry requirement for visa-exempt nationals. Border officials would use information from a traveler’s ETIAS application to decide whether to grant them access to 30 European countries (ETIAS would include Cyprus, whereas EES does not, as of this writing). The authorization, which travelers would need to apply for before arriving at a relevant border, would cost 20 euros (around $23) and last for three years or until a passport expires.
Though both initiatives would change the way U.S. citizens enter the EU, neither would impose a visa requirement on short-stay travelers who did not previously need a visa.
Snopes previously investigated a claim that the EU and other global leaders announced sanctions against Trump, and a rumor that the bloc was attempting to read people’s private messages.
AI Detector – Trusted AI Checker for ChatGPT, GPT5 & Gemini. https://www.zerogpt.com/. Accessed 21 Jan. 2026.
‘Donald J. Trump: “RT @realDonaldTrumpWe Have Subsidized Denmark, and All of the Countries of t…’ Trump’s Truth, https://trumpstruth.org/statuses/34590. Accessed 21 Jan. 2026.
‘Donald J. Trump: “The United States Needs Greenland for the Purpose of National Security. It i…’ Trump’s Truth, https://trumpstruth.org/statuses/34556. Accessed 21 Jan. 2026.
European Union – EES / ETIAS. https://travel-europe.europa.eu/ees/what-is-the-ees. Accessed 21 Jan. 2026.
European Union – EES / ETIAS. https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias/about-etias/what-is-etias. Accessed 21 Jan. 2026.
Holbert, Melinda. ‘European Union Announces Full Suspension of Visa-Free Travel for All U.S. Citizens and Federal Officials, to Take Effect February 1, Immediately Following Donald Trump’s Tariff Declarations Against European Nations Opposing U.S. Plans to Seize Control of Greenland’. Usamidia, 19 Jan. 2026, https://archive.ph/TgTxS.
‘Joint Statement on Greenland.’ Elysee.Fr, 6 Jan. 2026, https://www.elysee.fr/en/emmanuel-macron/2026/01/06/joint-statement-on-greenland.
Lee, David Emery, Jessica. ‘4 Tips for Spotting AI-Generated Pics’. Snopes, 16 Apr. 2023, https://www.snopes.com//articles/464595/artificial-intelligence-media-literacy/.
Migration and Home Affairs. 16 Jan. 2026, https://commission.europa.eu/about/departments-and-executive-agencies/migration-and-home-affairs_en.
News – European Commission. 21 Jan. 2026, https://commission.europa.eu/news-and-media/news_en.
Schengen Area – Migration and Home Affairs – European Commission. https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/schengen/schengen-area_en. Accessed 21 Jan. 2026.
thaoo. ‘Europe Draws a Red Line as Trump’s Greenland Threats Trigger a Transatlantic Crisis-Thaoo’. North Wave News, 19 Jan. 2026, https://archive.ph/RKxmz.
Travelling to Europe (ETIAS) | EEAS. https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/united-states-america/travelling-europe-etias_en?s=253. Accessed 21 Jan. 2026.
Trump, Donald. ‘We Have Subsidized Denmark, and All of the Countries of the European Union, and Others, for Many Years by Not Charging Them Tariffs, or Any Other Forms of Remuneration…’ Truth Social, 17 Jan. 2026, https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115911344443637897.
U.S. Travelers in Europe | Travel.State.Gov. https://travel.state.gov/en/international-travel/planning/guidance/europe.html#:~:text=Tourism%20or%20business%20visits%3A%20With%20a%20valid%20U.S.%20passport%2C%20you%20can%20stay%20up%20to%2090%20days%20during%20any%20180%2Dday%20period.%20You%20must%20wait%20an%20extra%2090%20days%20before%20applying%20to%20re%2Dentering%20the%20Schengen%20area.%C2%A0. Accessed 21 Jan. 2026.
‘White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (R) on Greenland’. C-SPAN, 7 Jan. 2026, https://www.c-span.org/clip/white-house-event/white-house-press-secretary-karoline-leavitt-r-on-greenland/5187849.
[ad_2]
Laerke Christensen
Source link
[ad_1]
Conservative commentator Benny Johnson recently said he had evidence of California voter fraud.
Addressing a camera as he stood in a parking lot with portable toilets, Johnson held up a pile of papers.
“Twenty-six registered voters at this exact location, 100 Sunset Avenue in Venice,” he said, citing “the registrar at the secretary of state.”
“Straight-up voter fraud out in the open,” Johnson said in a Jan. 16 X post: “This (is) just a glimpse of what’s happening under Gavin Newsom,” referring to the state’s Democratic governor.
The video had been viewed 1.3 million times as of Jan. 21.
PolitiFact asked Johnson about the video but received no response.
But the parking lot at the address in Johnson’s video used to be a temporary housing facility. Known as the Bridge Home, the facility opened in February 2020 to provide emergency shelter, hygiene services, storage, food services and case management to homeless people, local records show. Before it closed at the end of 2024, the shelter was part of a program that provided a “bridge” between street homelessness and long-term or permanent housing.
Mike Sanchez, a Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder spokesperson, told PolitiFact that the address was associated with a shelter or transitional housing site. CityWatch reported the shelter officially closed on Dec. 31, 2024.
“Under California law, eligible voters experiencing homelessness may register using a shelter as their physical location for voting,” Sanchez wrote in an email. As of Jan. 20, he said, there were 23 active voter records associated with the address.
“This is not evidence of voter fraud,” he said.
Sanchez said that if a facility address is used as a mailing address and voting materials are returned undeliverable, election officials follow standard list-maintenance protocols. That can include inactivating someone’s voter registration until the voter updates or confirms the address.
“Any ballots cast by voters associated with these records are subject to the same verification and security as all ballots, including signature verification and the statutory notice-and-cure process,” Sanchez wrote.
People can register to vote as long as they have a location where they can receive mail and be properly assigned to a voting precinct. People cannot use a P.O. box or business address to register to vote, but it can be used as a mailing address.
The Secretary of State’s website says that in cases in which voters have no home address they can use to register, they must describe the location where they live, so county elections officials can find their voting precinct. People can use cross streets or parks as their addresses.
All eligible voters have the right to vote, including people experiencing homelessness. The 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count says there are 72,308 homeless people in Los Angeles County.
We rate this claim False.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
President Donald Trump made his pitch to acquire Greenland to international leaders in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 21, saying for the first time he did not plan for the U.S. to take the land by force.
Trump, who talked up his tariff-based negotiation strategy, cited Greenland’s strategic position between the U.S., Russia and China as the main reason he wants to acquire the territory.
Retelling United States’ history with Greenland and Denmark, Trump said that during World War II, “We saved Greenland and successfully prevented our enemies from gaining a foothold in our hemisphere.”
This much is accurate: After Germany invaded Denmark, the U.S. assumed responsibility for Greenland’s defense and established a military presence on the island that remains today, albeit in diminished scope.
But Trump overstepped when he said that after World War II, “We gave Greenland back to Denmark.”
“All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland, where we already had it as a trustee, but respectfully returned it back to Denmark not long ago,” Trump said.
Although the U.S. defended Greenland during World War II, it never possessed the nation — and could not have given it back. Experts have told PolitiFact that Greenland’s status as part of Denmark is not in question, and hasn’t been for more than a century.
Denmark’s colonization of Greenland dates to the 1720s. In 1933, an international court settled a territorial dispute between Denmark and Norway, ruling that as of July 1931, Denmark “possessed a valid title to the sovereignty over all Greenland.”
After the 1945 approval of the United Nations charter — the organization’s founding document and the foundation of much of international law — Denmark incorporated Greenland through a constitutional amendment and gave it representation in the Danish Parliament in 1953. Denmark told the United Nations that any colonial-type status had ended; the United Nations General Assembly accepted this change in November 1954. The United States was among the nations that voted to accept Greenland’s new status.
Since then, Greenland has, incrementally but consistently, moved toward greater autonomy.
Greenlandic political activists successfully pushed for and achieved home rule in 1979, which established its parliament. Today, Greenland is a district within the sovereign state of Denmark, with two elected representatives in Denmark’s parliament.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
A video circulating online in January 2026 authentically showed an older woman on a red mobility scooter fleeing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota.
A rumor that circulated online in January 2026 claimed a video showed helicopter-shot TV news footage of an older woman riding a red mobility scooter fleeing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota.
A network of social media pages named either Strange AI or @RealStrangeAI first posted the clip on Jan. 18, nearly two weeks after ICE officer Jonathan Ross fatally shot 37-year-old Minneapolis resident Renee Good on Jan. 7.
The manager of the accounts shared the alleged footage on Facebook (archived), Instagram and YouTube, with the Facebook and Instagram posts each receiving tens of millions of views. The video featured overlaid text reading, “ICE chases old lady in Minnesota.” A man who sounded as if he was flying the helicopter says, “Live chopper footage over downtown where, yes, that is a protester on a mobility scooter leaving federal agents in the dust. She’s topping out near 20 miles an hour.”
In the following days, numerous (archived) social media users (archived) also shared (archived) the clip.
In short, the clip was fake. The Strange AI (or @RealStrangeAI) user noted across its account handles and display names — including with a special label on YouTube (archived) — that they generated the content with artificial-intelligence software. Additionally, a manager of the network told Snopes via email that they use OpenAI’s Sora 2 AI tool to create the accounts’ inauthentic videos.
The fake video displayed several signs of AI generation.
At the three-second mark, parking spaces displayed illegible letters and words. Additionally, the AI-generated parking lot did not provide room for cars to navigate its many spaces, including depicting three consecutive rows of spaces that would block some drivers from leaving the lot.
Searches across Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo also showed that no credible news outlets reported on what would have been a viral moment.
Across the Strange AI (or @RealStrangeAI) network’s social media accounts, a manager of the pages repeatedly noted through bios and account names that their content was AI-generated or digitally created. For example, the account’s Facebook bio read, in part: “My content is all AI generated and edited by me.” The accounts also featured many other AI-generated scenarios, such as firefighters chasing a man racing away in a hospital bed and ICE agents running after a day care owner riding on a specialized vehicle.
For further reading, we previously reported on a similar video supposedly showing a man wearing a Viking costume using a bathtub on wheels to flee ICE agents in Minneapolis.
[ad_2]
Jordan Liles
Source link
[ad_1]
This page hosts daily news stories about the media, social media, and the journalism industry. Get the latest Hirings and Firings, Media Transactions, Controversies, Censorship…
The post Media News Daily: Top Stories for 01/21/2026 appeared first on Media Bias/Fact Check.
[ad_2]
Media Bias Fact Check
Source link
[ad_1]
President Donald Trump will address the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 21. His address to world, policy and economic leaders follows Trump’s jockeying to own Greenland, tensions with NATO allies and the U.S. military capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
PolitiFact will fact-check Trump live:
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
One week after a federal immigration agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, CBS News reported (archived) that the agent suffered “internal bleeding to the torso following the incident,” citing two unnamed U.S. officials who were “briefed on his medical condition.” A CBS News X post (archived) with the report received upwards of 100 million views, as of this writing.
Many people critical of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) online (archived, archived) claimed “internal bleeding” was merely a medical term for a bruise. Dozens of Snopes readers also raised questions about what “internal bleeding” meant in this case.
A bruise is a form of internal bleeding — but not all internal bleeding results in a bruise. Internal bleeding varies in severity. On the minor end, a bruise may be localized and superficial. Extreme cases of internal bleeding can be life-threatening.
At the time of this writing, little was publicly known about the severity of the agent’s alleged injuries. In an email to Snopes, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official confirmed CBS News’ reporting that the agent, identified as Jonathan Ross, suffered internal bleeding without elaborating on what that meant.
Because we were unable to find any corroborating evidence (such as a statement from the agent’s physician, medical documents, scans or other images) to independently verify the reports about the agent’s injuries, we did not put a rating on this article. We break down our findings below.
The CBS report said the internal bleeding was “to the torso,” but did not specify whether it resulted in only superficial discoloration (a bruise), moderate internal bleeding or more severe, life-threatening internal bleeding.
According to The Guardian (archived), several unnamed staff members at CBS News expressed concerns leading up to the report’s publication about the fact that it relied on anonymous sources.
One CBS News staffer reportedly told The Guardian there was “huge internal concern,” and CBS News Senior Vice President David Reiter allegedly said in an internal email, “I’m no doctor, but internal bleeding is a very broad term and can range in severity.” (Snopes has not independently verified this reporting by The Guardian.
The DHS claimed (archived) the agent shot Good in defense, “fearing for his life,” after Good supposedly “weaponized her vehicle.” Activists, journalists and politicians have scrutinized that account, pointing to credible footage that appears to show Good’s car turned away from the agent when he shot her.
It remained unclear, as of this writing, whether Good’s car made contact with the agent, as DHS maintained. Neither the New York Times nor the Minnesota Star Tribune ruled out that possibility in their analyses of footage.
A DHS official told Snopes via email that Ross suffered internal bleeding but did not provide any additional information regarding the type or severity of the bleeding.
The department also pointed to comments by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem at a news conference on Jan. 7, the day of the shooting. She said: “The officer was hit by the vehicle. [Good] hit him. He went to the hospital. A doctor did treat him. He has been released.”
Noem made this comment at approximately 5:21 p.m. CT, according to a timestamp on Fox News’ live broadcast of the news conference. According to this timeline, the agent went to the hospital to receive medical treatment and was released within about eight hours.
In videos taken shortly after the agent
However, that footage was not definitive proof Ross did not suffer internal bleeding. According to guidance by the Red Cross on treating internal bleeding injuries, symptoms are not always obvious right away:
Will internal bleeding be obvious right away?
Not all the time. While you may see the signs and symptoms quickly after the injury, it may not be immediately obvious. Seemingly minor trauma can cause internal bleeding, and signs and symptoms may not be seen until hours or days after the initial injury.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, “internal bleeding” is a broad term identifying injuries in which broken blood vessels cause blood to pool under the surface of the skin (hemorrhaging).
Hemorrhaging can range in severity. In one of its milder forms, internal bleeding can result in superficial, visible markings on the surface of the skin (bruises).
Depending on the location of the hemorrhage, severe internal bleeding can cause difficulty breathing, organ failure and even death.
The most common cause of internal bleeding is blunt force trauma, “like from a vehicle accident or other blunt force or penetrating trauma,” according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Barr, Jeremy. ‘CBS News Report on ICE Officer’s Injuries Drew “Huge Internal Concern”‘. The Guardian, 16 Jan. 2026. Media. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jan/15/cbs-news-ice-officer-injuries.
‘Bleeding (Life-Threatening Internal)’. Red Cross, https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/resources/learn-first-aid/bleeding-life-threatening-internal. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
‘DHS Claims That ICE Agent Who Shot Renee Good Suffered “Internal Bleeding”‘. The Independent, 14 Jan. 2026, https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/ice-agent-internal-bleeding-minneapolis-shooting-dhs-b2900601.html.
Hernández, Diane. ‘ICE Agent Who Shot Woman in Minneapolis Suffers Internal Bleeding, Sources Say’. VOZ News, 15 Jan. 2026, https://voz.us/en/society/260115/32561/ice-agent-who-shot-woman-in-minneapolis-suffers-internal-bleeding-sources-say.html.
‘ICE Officer Kills a Minneapolis Driver in a Deadly Start to Trump’s Latest Immigration Operation’. AP News, 7 Jan. 2026, https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-immigration-enforcement-shooting-crackdown-surge-173e00fa7388054e98c3b5b9417c1e5a.
‘ICE Officer Who Fatally Shot Renee Good Suffered Internal Bleeding; Extent of Injuries Unclear’. Text.Article. FOX 9, 14 Jan. 2026, https://www.fox9.com/news/jonathan-ross-injuries-renee-good-jan-14-2026.
‘Internal Bleeding’. Cleveland Clinic, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/internal-bleeding. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
Internal Bleeding in Adults – Symptoms, Causes and First Aid. https://en.medicina.ru/for-patients/diseases/internal-bleeding/. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
Lum, Devon, et al. ‘Video: Videos Contradict Trump Administration Account of ICE Shooting in Minneapolis’. The New York Times, 8 Jan. 2026. U.S. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000010631041/minneapolis-ice-shooting-video.html.
Michel, Jean-Baptiste, et al. ‘Internal Bleeding’. JACC: Basic to Translational Science, vol. 3, no. 4, Aug. 2018, pp. 481–84. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacbts.2018.04.002.
News, A. B. C. ‘Minneapolis ICE Shooting: A Minute-by-Minute Timeline of How Renee Nicole Good Died’. ABC News, https://abcnews.go.com/US/minneapolis-ice-shooting-minute-minute-timeline-renee-nicole/story?id=129021809. Accessed 19 Jan. 2026.
Security, Nicole Sganga Homeland, et al. ICE Agent Who Shot Renee Good Suffered Internal Bleeding, Officials Say – CBS News. 14 Jan. 2026, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-officer-who-shot-renee-good-internal-injuries-sources-say/.
– YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqGaWx6MHDs&t=16s. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
– YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObHxDOSCz-w. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
[ad_2]
Taija PerryCook
Source link