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Tag: Facebook Fact-checks

  • Claims about Kid Rock, Taylor Swift originated as satire

    Claims about Kid Rock, Taylor Swift originated as satire

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    Some social media posts are praising singer Kid Rock and chastising singer Taylor Swift for their responses to Hurricane Helene.

    “Kid Rock heads to North Carolina with Millions in supplies. Taylor Swift Nowhere to be Found,” an Oct. 8 Threads post said. 

    We found multiple social media posts using the same language.

    This Threads post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    A Google search of the Threads post’s exact words tells a different story. It led us to a satirical article on The Dunning-Kruger Times, part of the America’s Last Line of Defense network, a self-described network of “parody, satire and tomfoolery.”

    (Screenshot from Threads)

    The satire site has two other fabricated stories accusing Swift of not caring about hurricane victims. One said she refused to play a benefit concert (but Kid Rock is). Another said Swift was caught on a hot mic trashing hurricane victims.

    The Threads post and others shared the headline of the satirical article as real without disclaimers it was comedy.

    Swift has, according to legitimate news reports, donated $5 million to support victims of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The nonprofit organization Feeding America thanked Swift for her donation in an Oct. 9 Instagram post.

    We found no credible news articles in a search of Google and the Nexis news database that Kid Rock has donated “millions in supplies” to North Carolina storm victims. We found two reports that he donated to a GoFundMe campaign for Helene victims started by former President Donald Trump. Those reports gave conflicting amounts, either $20,000 or $50,000. A search of the GoFundMe page showed a user named Kid Rock donating $20,000. Rock also shared a link to the GoFundMe on Facebook and his X account.

    The claim that Kid Rock has donated millions in supplies in North Carolina while Taylor Swift was nowhere to be seen originated on a satirical website, but many users are sharing it as real. The claim is False.

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  • Overblown: No, Hurricane Nadine isn’t heading toward Florida

    Overblown: No, Hurricane Nadine isn’t heading toward Florida

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    As of Oct. 12, there were no hurricanes forecast to hit the U.S. in the coming days — welcome news, despite social media rumors warning about “Hurricane Nadine.”

    As many Floridians waited for information about their homes and loved ones following Hurricane Milton, social media users shared false information about another hurricane poised to imminently hit the state.

    A narrator in an Oct. 10 Instagram video said, “Breaking news: Nadine Hurricane expected to hit Florida right after Milton. This unexpected blow raises serious concerns for the safety and well-being of Florida residents. Communities still reeling from Milton’s impact now face another incoming threat. Experts warn that this upcoming hurricane could bring devastating consequences.”

    A Threads post, also shared Oct. 10, said, “Hurricane Nadine is building its way up to Florida! Back to back hurricanes!!!!”

    Other posts on Instagram and Facebook made similar claims about an impending Hurricane Nadine, causing understandable concern after Hurricane Helene hit the state Sept. 26 followed by Hurricane Milton on Oct. 9. These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    The next hurricane could be called Nadine as it’s the next name on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2024 list of Atlantic tropical cyclone names. But as of Oct. 12, the administration’s National Hurricane Center had not reported that a storm called Nadine was developing near the U.S.

    PolitiFact has fact-checked other false claims about a supposed Hurricane Nadine.

    The National Hurricane Center was monitoring Tropical Storm Leslie in the Atlantic Ocean, although it is not predicted to hit land in the U.S. There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

    The center was also tracking an area of low pressure over the Atlantic Ocean, a couple of hundred miles west of the Cabo Verde islands. This “disturbance” has a 40% chance of cyclone formation in 48 hours, the center said.

    “Environmental conditions are expected to become less conducive for further development later today. A short-lived tropical depression could still form at any time today while the system moves generally westward,” the center reported at 8 a.m. ET Oct. 12.

    In May, NOAA predicted 17 to 25 storms with winds of 39 miles per hour or higher would hit the U.S. during the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs June 1 to Nov. 30. Of those storms, eight to 13 were forecast to become hurricanes. There have been 13 named storms in the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season so far, USA Today reported.

    We rate the claim that a hurricane named Nadine was on a path Oct. 12 to hit Florida False.

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  • No, these patents don’t prove weather control

    No, these patents don’t prove weather control

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    “They” can control the weather, and the proof is in the patents, said Georgia Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. 

    On Oct. 7, Greene posted a viral meme showing a line drawing of an angry person saying, “They can’t control the weather!!!” Beneath that, a figure gestured to a list of what the meme described as “weather modification patents.”

    Not all the listed patents were legible, but the earliest dated back to 1891 and the most recent was from 2001. They included a 1914 patent for a balloon “rain maker” that expired in 1931; a 1917 patent on an idea to burn highly combustible fuel as a means of “protecting from poisonous gas in warfare”; and a 1968 patent for an “automatically adjustable airfoil spray system with pump” that could be used to spray herbicide from planes.

    (Screenshots from X)

    Greene’s weather control sentiment — which she has repeated multiple times since Oct. 3 — drew criticism as hurricanes have battered the southeast United States.

    (Screenshots from X)

    During Oct. 9 remarks about Hurricane Milton, President Joe Biden decried the onslaught of misinformation that has plagued disaster relief efforts as undermining confidence in the disaster response and harming people who need help. He twice condemned Greene’s weather control rhetoric, calling it “beyond ridiculous.”

    “It’s gotta stop,” Biden said.

    Meteorologists and atmospheric science experts told PolitiFact that they knew of no technology that allows anyone to control the weather or create a hurricane. The patents listed in Greene’s meme do not prove that anyone can control the weather, they said. 

    “These are silly, frivolous patents,” said James Fleming, an emeritus professor of science, technology and society at Colby College and author of “Fixing the Sky: The Checkered History of Weather and Climate Control.”  

    Furthermore, securing a patent does not prove an invention is practical, can be applied or will be effective. Our review of some of the patents found that not only do they not prove humans could control weather features such as hurricanes, but some appeared to have no direct connection to weather technology.

    PolitiFact contacted Greene and she did not respond.

    No one can control the weather or create hurricanes, experts say

    Researchers who have studied weather modification have found little success, experts said, and their work would not have enabled weather control. 

    Paul Ullrich, a professor of regional climate modeling at the University of California, Davis, said that if weather control were possible “somebody would have monetized it” and “made a fortune.” 

    “The weather is incredibly chaotic, hence why it’s almost impossible to predict the weather more than two weeks in advance,” he said, adding that a hurricane, for example, has a large “cone of uncertainty.” 

    “Any modifications that we made to the atmosphere would have similarly unpredictable outcomes, so definitely wouldn’t constitute any sort of control,” Ullrich said. 

    Experts said they knew of no technology that could create or control hurricanes.

    Ullrich said a typical mature hurricane generates “200 times as much power as the whole electrical generating capacity of the planet.” A hurricane’s track is controlled by global circulation, and “we’d need to significantly modify pressure and wind speeds over the whole Gulf of Mexico and Southern United States to have any impact on its trajectory.” 

    Experts said these claims also ignore how impossible the physics of a human-made hurricane would even be.  

    “The amount of energy required to generate a hurricane is so much greater than any energy that we could muster up,” said meteorologist Charles Konrad, the director of the Southeast Regional Climate Center in North Carolina.

    Ulrich agreed with Konrad: “I dare not do the math on that one, but that kind of energy release would basically wipe out life on the planet.”

    Kristen Corbosiero, a University at Albany atmospheric and environmental sciences professor, said that weather is a “natural phenomenon.” 

     “All weather in our atmosphere is due to unequal heating of the Earth and the atmosphere’s (and ocean’s) attempt to balance out that heating,” she said. 

    A house lies toppled off its stilts after the passage of Hurricane Milton, in Bradenton Beach on Anna Maria Island, Fla., Oct. 10, 2024. (AP)

    Greene’s statements drew pushback from Republicans, too. 

    In an Oct. 8 news release, U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., said he wished to “dispel the outrageous rumors that have been circulated online.”

    “Nobody can control the weather,” Edwards said. “Current geoengineering technology can serve as a large-scale intervention to mitigate the negative consequences of naturally occurring weather phenomena, but it cannot be used to create or manipulate hurricanes.”

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis weighed in.

    “If I could control the weather, I would do 78 (degrees) and sunny year-round,” he said Oct. 10 during a St. Lucie County, Florida, press briefing. “These are natural occurrences. We will deal with tropical weather for as long as we’re Floridians.”

    So what about all these patents?

    Experts told PolitiFact they knew of no patented products or technology that enable weather control. 

    Patents don’t need to be for actual products, Corbosiero said. 

    A patent “can be for an idea that could have absolutely no basis in reality and no actual product may ever be made from a patented idea, let alone a product that actually does what the patent/idea was about,” she said.

    Ullrich said many of the patents listed related to cloud seeding, which he described as “the only form of weather modification I know of that is employed in practice.” 

    “Basically the idea is that you dump a lot of dust or aerosols into the atmosphere and they act as surfaces for the formation of clouds and rain,” he said. “It can have some impact on increasing the amount of rain or snow you get from a particular storm.” 

    However, he said he wouldn’t cast that as “controlling the weather,” because it works only if a storm already has a lot of moisture and affects only “the timing of the precipitation.”

    A water rescue team member walks through flood waters at an apartment complex in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Oct. 10, 2024, in Clearwater, Fla. (AP)

    Konrad said cloud-seeding research has been “very localized” and there is no way the technique could “substantively affect a big hurricane.” 

    The patents Greene’s meme pointed to spanned 1891 to 2001, and many on the list were too small to read. They included:

    • A 1891 patent for a “method for producing rain-fall” described as “elevating confined liquefied carbonic-acid gas into the upper regions of the atmosphere” and releasing it through an explosion, resulting in the gas’ rapid evaporation chilling the atmosphere and producing a cloud capable of rainfall — a potentially early form of what would later become known as cloud seeding. 

    • A 1969 patent for “titanium dioxide pigment coated with silica and alumina” described a process for applying pigment that yields “excellent smoothness and outstanding durability upon outdoor exposure.” We found no clear connection to weather control.

    • A patent requested in 2001 for a “hurricane & tornado control device” that described using “audio generators” to project sound waves toward the edges of a weather system in a manner that would “disrupt, enhance or direct” its formation. USA Today reported that this product was never created. Experts said the invention could have consequences, such as damaging the hearing of people who used it.

    Fleming told The Associated Press that as far back as Greek mythology, people have believed they could control the weather, but he described that as a “failed idea.” 

    Konrad said credible scientific research takes time, builds on scientific expertise and is conducted “out in the open” and significant technological developments — such as ones enabling weather control — would be in scientific literature. 

    “Gosh, if we had those technologies and they could really prevent any loss of life or anything we would be using them,” Konrad said. “We wouldn’t hide something like that.”

    Our ruling

    Greene said patents dating back to the 1800s show that people can control the weather.

    Experts told PolitiFact that they knew of no technology that allows anyone to control the weather or create a hurricane, and denied that the meme’s patents proved weather control is possible. These patents don’t show that they can. We rate this claim Pants on Fire! 

    RELATED: No, cloud seeding wasn’t used to create Hurricane Milton

    RELATED: Video doesn’t prove Hurricane Milton was geoengineered. It’s from 2021

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  • Hurricane Milton article came from fictional wiki site

    Hurricane Milton article came from fictional wiki site

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    Social media users are citing an April 2024 article from a fictional website as evidence that Hurricane Milton, which as of Oct. 8 was headed for landfall in southwest Florida, was planned.

    An Oct. 7 Instagram post shows a screenshot of an article describing the storm in past tense, saying it had caused “catastrophic damage in Mexico and then Florida.” The post’s caption said, “Tell me they control and plan these storms without telling me!”

    We found other social media posts citing the article and making similar claims about Milton, including an X post with nearly 3 million views showing that Alexa, Amazon’s personal assistant tool, cited the article.

    This Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed.  (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    The article in the social media posts is not evidence that an unknown power is somehow planning and controlling Hurricane Milton or any other storm. It originated on Hypothetical Hurricanes, a wiki page the gaming and pop culture site Fandom hosts. It lets site visitors collaborate, create and contribute content such as “hypothetical hurricane seasons” and provides templates for articles, info boxes and graphics.

    (Instagram screenshot)

    PolitiFact found False another claim that Hurricane Helene, which hit northwest Florida Sept. 26, was artificially created; for that fact-check, Monica Allen, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Research division spokesperson, told PolitiFact Oct. 8 that the “NOAA confirms that there are no weather modification activities that could have resulted in Hurricane Helene or Hurricane Milton. Hurricanes form on their own given the right conditions and that was the case with Helene and Milton.”  

    The Hypothetical Hurricanes homepage has several disclaimers. One says, “Important note: with the exception of a few pages from Wikipedia and other administrative pages, all of the pages on this website are hypothetical, i.e. not real or fictional.”

    A pop-up box on the homepage says, “Disclaimer: The content on this wiki is fictional and NOT a resource for real tropical cyclones. NONE of this wiki’s content should be taken as a real indication of inclement weather.”

    The site’s “About” page says the “wiki’s goal was to be a place where ‘hurricane enthusiasts could make articles for hurricanes that have come to their imagination.’” It added, “No articles in this wiki are real and are merely fictional.” The site also says: “Any coincidence or similarity to any real-life event is simply a coincidence, as articles here are made weeks, months, and years before such events occur.”

    The article in the Instagram post originated on this site. It’s unclear when, although an April story on the website for a faith-based humanitarian organization linked to it. The fictional Hypothetical Hurricanes article describes a powerful Category 5 storm that formed Oct. 15 as a tropical depression near Barbados and headed west, eventually redirecting at Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and heading toward Florida. The fake story said 31 people died.

    The real Hurricane Milton formed Oct. 5 as a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico before transforming into a dangerous storm that’s now headed straight for Florida’s Gulf Coast.

    A screenshot in another Instagram post is from an April 25, 2024, article on Convoy of Hope, the faith-based organization’s website. The article, titled “All About Hurricane Milton,” discussed why the name Milton was chosen in 2019 to replace Michael — a hurricane that hit Florida in 2018 — on the list of names for 2024 storms.

    The article, which has since been updated and partly replaced with new content, originally had said that “you won’t find any data for a previous Hurricane Milton. At least, not a real hurricane. The Hypothetical Hurricanes Wiki will tell you all about a Category 5 Hurricane Milton ‘that caused widespread damage across its path in October 2024.’ Let’s hope that scenario remains in the realm of fiction.”

    The Hypothetical Hurricanes article about Milton now says the original article was deleted Oct. 7 to prevent misinformation.

    The Convoy of Hope article also was updated Oct. 7 to note that the hypothetical article had been taken down now that a real storm named Hurricane Milton was expected to hit Florida. As of Oct. 8, the Convoy of Hope article was updated again to remove all references to the hypothetical article.

    The World Meteorological Organization chooses hurricane names well ahead of hurricane seasons. An article on that group’s website listing storm names for 2022 and beyond had Milton as one of the planned storm names in 2024.

    Our ruling

    An Instagram post claimed that an article about the effects of Hurricane Milton published before the storm hit the U.S. is evidence that storms are controlled and planned.

    But the article cited is from “Hypothetical Hurricanes,”a wiki page on which storm enthusiasts create fictional articles for a hurricane season based on their own imaginations. The storm name Milton was already planned by the World Meteorological Organization for 2024, and the wiki user created a fictional path for the storm.

    The website said it removed the page because of misinformation concerns. We rate the claim False. 

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  • FEMA, FAA not ‘blocking’ hurricane response, officials say

    FEMA, FAA not ‘blocking’ hurricane response, officials say

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    Neither the Federal Emergency Management Agency nor the Federal Aviation Administration are preventing flights from delivering supplies, including Starlink satellite internet receivers, to Hurricane Helene survivors.

    But if you’ve been on social media in recent days, you might have heard otherwise. 

    After entrepreneur Elon Musk claimed on X that FEMA was blocking relief efforts in North Carolina, social media posts multiplied, amplifying the claim and garnering thousands of views and shares.

    “Did you see Elon’s post?” a woman asked in one video shared Oct. 5 on Facebook. “One of his SpaceX engineers on the ground in North Carolina reported FEMA is interfering. More confirmation — this engineer reported that FEMA is blocking shipments of Starlink receivers which are essential for maintaining communication in disaster zones like the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. These shipments can’t be delivered without an escort from local first responders to get past FEMA’s enforcers.” 

    Starlink, a satellite internet provider, is a subsidiary of Musk’s commercial spaceflight company, SpaceX. Starlink has distributed user terminal devices to help people connect to the internet in hurricane-hit areas.

    The woman continued: “FEMA is playing gatekeeper. And when an agency blocks critical aid, they’re no longer helping. They’ve become part of the problem.”

    Text on an Oct. 4 Instagram video that showed aerial footage of an unknown area read, in all-caps: “Breaking: FEMA is blocking all assistance to NC including Starlink.” 

    Other people simply shared screenshots of Musk’s posts. 

    The posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    FEMA, the FAA and North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety and Emergency Management have rebutted these inaccurate claims. 

    What sparked these claims? 

    On Oct. 4, Musk shared on X — the social media platform he owns, where he has amassed more than 200 million followers — anecdotes and screenshots promoting this falsehood. 

    At about 1 p.m. ET Oct. 4, Musk posted that a SpaceX engineer in North Carolina told him FEMA was “actively blocking citizens who try to help” Hurricane Helene survivors. 

    “‘Hey Elon, update here on site of Asheville, NC,’” Musk quoted the unnamed engineer as saying. “‘The big issue is FEMA is actively blocking shipments and seizing goods and services locally and locking them away to state they are their own.’”

    At 1:15 p.m. ET, Musk shared a screenshot of direct messages saying “they are now about to shut down the Air space to ‘regulate’ the private choppers we are riding in to deliver Starlink and supplies,” asked Musk to “get the word out about FEMA.”

    (Screenshots from X)

    The unidentified sender said that “Starlinks” were successfully distributed Oct. 3, “but FEMA then showed up and started blocking us.” The messages described the FAA “requiring to/from information” and described that as “cumbersome to the ops.”

    Musk wrote, “Just received this text 20 mins ago. The level of belligerent government incompetence is staggering!!”

    Since then, Musk’s initial posts have collectively been viewed nearly 70 million times — garnering so much attention that U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Buttigieg responded on X.

    “No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights,” Buttigieg wrote at 2:32 p.m. ET. “If you’re encountering a problem give me a call.”

    Musk continued posting. At 3:25 p.m. he wrote: “SpaceX engineers are trying to deliver Starlink terminals & supplies to devastated areas in North Carolina right now and @FEMA is both failing to help AND won’t let others help.”

    (Screenshot from X)

    After Musk expressed initial difficulty contacting Buttigieg, they appeared to have resolved the issue.

    (Screenshot from X)

    At about 7:30 p.m. ET, Musk replied: “Thanks for helping simplify the FAA (Notice to Airmen). Support flights are now underway. Much appreciated.” As of Oct. 8, that post had been viewed 970,000 times, a fraction of the readership his original post received.

    We contacted Musk and received no response. 

    Federal and North Carolina emergency response officials rebut these claims

    North Carolina Emergency Management told PolitiFact in a statement that the State Emergency Response Team knew of no delayed disaster relief flights. The statement also said the FAA was coordinating with state and local officials to ensure safe flights in congested airspace. 

    On its “Rumor Response” page, FEMA disputed that the FAA was “restricting access for recovery operations,” and clarified that the administration was “coordinating closely” with local officials to prioritize safety. 

    The Federal Aviation Administration said in an Oct. 4 statement that recovery efforts in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee have “high levels of aviation activity, including small airplanes, helicopters and drones.”

    “The FAA’s goal at all times is to ensure safety and help facilitate this critical work,” the FAA site said, adding that the FAA can issue temporary flight restrictions at the request of local authorities “to ensure safety for aircraft conducting Hurricane Helene rescue and recovery activities.” 

    “TFRs do not ban aircraft, including drones, from providing disaster relief and recovery assistance,” the site said. “Relief operations, including civilian and volunteer operations, may access the restricted airspace if they are coordinated with emergency responders.”

    North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety created a “Hurricane Helene: Fact vs. Rumor” webpage, on which it addressed what it described as a “rumors,” including that 1) the FAA was “restricting access to the airspace for Helene rescue and recovery operations” and 2) FEMA was “operating and controlling airports in western North Carolina.”

    The page said both claims are inaccurate.

    “FEMA is not controlling any airports in western North Carolina,” the site read. “Airport Managers and Airport Sponsors are the legal entities in charge of operating airports, even in Helene response. FEMA staff may be present at airports as they deploy supplies and stage for Helene response.”

    At around 9:30 a.m. Oct. 4, North Carolina’s Division of Aviation said on X that the increased air traffic meant pilots needed to get permission to use runways and airports.

    Federal and state officials have also denied that FEMA is “confiscating” emergency supplies and donations. 

    Our ruling 

    Social media posts claimed FEMA and the FAA are “blocking” delivery of Starlink devices and supplies to hurricane-affected areas.

    The claims are inaccurate. The FAA can temporarily restrict flights to help keep airspace safe during hurricane response. North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety rebutted inaccurate claims about the FAA and FEMA. 

    We rate it False.

    RELATED: FEMA gives $750 to help hurricane victims with supplies. The claim it’s a loan is Pants on Fire!

    RELATED: No, FEMA, other emergency responders are not ‘confiscating’ emergency supplies, donations

    RELATED: Private drones can fly over areas hit by Hurricane Helene to offer aid; no ban’s in place

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  • North Carolina counties got aid from Biden administration

    North Carolina counties got aid from Biden administration

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    Relief and rescue efforts continue in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene, but one person claimed President Joe Biden has not helped the majority of the affected counties because he didn’t win them in 2020.

    Isabella Maria DeLuca, a social media influencer who was charged with storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, posted Oct. 6 on Instagram and X saying, “Out of the 28 North Carolina counties destroyed by Hurricane Helene, 26 of them supported President Trump in the 2020 election— with 527,000 votes for Trump and 113,000 votes for Biden. If you’re wondering why the government hasn’t helped these people, now you know why.”

    The Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

    The claim disregards that federal aid was granted to the affected North Carolina counties and omits context about how the government directs aid to disaster-affected areas.

    Major disaster declarations are made through a  declaration process outlined in the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. A natural catastrophe is designated a major disaster if the president determines that the damage is beyond what the state and local governments are equipped to handle. States take steps toward making these determinations by preliminarily assessing damage — surveying the disaster’s extent and submitting a request to the president.

    During severe events, the governor may make the request before the preliminary damage assessment.  

    Section 401 of the Stafford Act says that, “All requests for a declaration by the President that a major disaster exists shall be made by the Governor of the affected State.”

    North Carolina’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, requested a federal major disaster declaration Sept. 27; Biden approved it the next day. The initial declaration granted federal aid to the federally recognized tribe the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the following 25 counties:

    Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey.

    The declaration granted assistance to people and households and for the rebuilding of disaster-damaged facilities. Also, all North Carolina areas qualified for the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which covers spending for measures to mitigate future losses.

    The post said 26 out of 28 counties supported Trump in the 2020 election. We checked the 28 disaster designated areas — 25 counties and tribal areas in three counties — and found that Trump won all but two counties. All 25 counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians were included in the initial disaster aid declaration.

    The declaration said “additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.”

    As of Oct. 6, FEMA said the Biden administration had already provided $137 million in aid to Hurricane Helene survivors. FEMA said it has provided 14.9 million meals, 3.6 million gallons of water, 157 generators and more than 505,000 tarps to storm-affected regions in the Southeast. Nearly 7,000 federal employees have been deployed.

    In North Carolina, FEMA provided more than $26 million to more than 25,000 households, covering housing and other types of aid as of Oct. 5. Other resources provided include:

    • 700 FEMA staff on the ground.

    • 1,200 urban search and rescue personnel.

    • 1,000 National Guard Bureau troops.

    • Sheltering assistance to more than 800 people.

    • 8,000 crews helping with power restoration efforts.

    Biden also increased federal funding for emergency work in North Carolina on Oct. 2.

    Biden didn’t withhold aid to North Carolina counties based on whom their residents supported in the 2020 election. We rate that claim False.

    RELATED: Fact-checking 5 misleading claims about Helene relief efforts in North Carolina

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  • Kansas City Chiefs refusing to host Pride Night is satire

    Kansas City Chiefs refusing to host Pride Night is satire

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    If you believe what you read on social media, you might think the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs have taken a stance against LGBTQ+ Pride. But that’s just the internet fumbling the truth.

    “Breaking: Kansas City Chiefs refuse to host a Pride Night, ‘It’s woke ageпda,’” read a viral Oct. 4 Facebook post. 

    The post, which had more than 50,000 likes as of Oct. 7, directed readers to an article claiming the Kansas City Chiefs issued a “formal declaration” that it would “not be hosting a Pride Night event at Arrowhead Stadium, citing concerns over what they refer to as the ‘woke agenda.’”

    (Screenshot of Facebook post)

    The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    That’s because it’s baseless: This claim — and the story the post linked to — originated as satire. 

    In early September, the claim was shared by SpaceX Fanclub, a Facebook account that shares satire. Its bio declares, “We post SATIRE nothing on this page is real.” 

    The account’s Sept. 5 post featured the same headline and linked in the comments to the satire website Esspots.com. The article linked in the recent Facebook post is an exact copy-paste of this satirical Esspots article. 

    The original SpaceX Fanclub post included a watermark indicating it is “Rated Satire,” but a disclaimer did not appear on the recent Facebook post. Some commenters appeared to believe the claim was authentic. “It’s about time someone stood up!” one wrote. “Good for them!” wrote another.

    PolitiFact found no legitimate news or press releases from the Chiefs declaring the team “refused” to host a pride event. In June, we rated a similar claim False. 

    Harrison Butker, the team’s kicker, made headlines earlier this year after delivering a Catholic college commencement speech during which he referred to Pride as a “deadly sin” with “an entire month dedicated to it.”

    But there is no evidence this reflects the team’s position. In fact, the team’s official pro-shop sells Pride-themed Chiefs merchandise.

    We have fact-checked several claims that originated on SpaceX Fanclub or Esspots and spread without any disclaimers, including others related to football and LGBTQ+ topics. 

    We rate the claim that the Kansas City Chiefs refused to host a Pride Night False.

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  • No, FEMA isn’t ‘confiscating’ emergency supplies, donations

    No, FEMA isn’t ‘confiscating’ emergency supplies, donations

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    As the Federal Emergency Management Agency responds to Hurricane Helene’s deadly impacts and braces for Hurricane Milton to hit Florida, some social media users amplified baseless falsehoods about FEMA stealing disaster supplies. 

    In a video shared Oct. 2 on Facebook, Jeremy Herrell, the host of Live From America TV, a conservative media website said: “FEMA, that now has jurisdiction in a lot of these areas, is literally confiscating donations and relief materials,” listing items like first aid kits, food and water. 

    (Screenshot from Facebook)

    On Threads, a user claimed that a friend in a disaster-stricken community in Tennessee told them that FEMA and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency were “out here confiscating supplies from community donation centers.” 

    “I’m trying to share it bc this is what is *actually* happening and it will never ever be reported so it must be spread!” the poster wrote Oct. 4, using an abbreviation for “because.” 

    (Screenshot from Threads)

    These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed.  (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    FEMA is not “confiscating” emergency supplies or donations meant for Hurricane Helene survivors. Officials from FEMA and local leaders in states like Tennessee and North Carolina have denied these claims, warning that they impede disaster relief.

    FEMA officials deny claims, warn they hinder disaster response

    FEMA Press Secretary Daniel Llargues told PolitiFact that claims about FEMA confiscating emergency supplies are false. 

    “We bring commodities to the state,” Llargues said. “We hand them over to the state,” and the state distributes them. 

    In North Carolina, for example, Llargues said FEMA delivered supplies to Raleigh, North Carolina, and then groups including the North Carolina Air National Guard moved them to the state’s western end. 

    “But FEMA taking, confiscating the supplies — that’s another rumor” without any factual basis, he said. 

    On Oct. 6, ABC News’ “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos said the falsehoods about FEMA have prompted online attacks on the agency, such as one social media post that said “a militia should go against FEMA.”

    FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told Stephanopoulos such attacks have been harmful and demoralizing to FEMA staff, but also to first responders and local staff and volunteers.

    “It has a tremendous impact on the comfort level of our own employees to be able to go out there,” she said. “When you have this dangerous rhetoric like you’re hearing, it creates fear in our own employees, and we need to make sure we’re getting help to the people who need it.” 

    FEMA also addressed this falsehood on its “Rumor Response” page. 

    “FEMA does not take donations and/or food from survivors or voluntary organizations,” the agency wrote. “Donations of food, water, or other goods are handled by voluntary agencies who specialize in storing, sorting, cleaning, and distributing donated items.” 

    Workers helping with clean up efforts stop for lunch under the shade of a tree as a building destroyed by Hurricane Helene is seen in the background Oct. 5, 2024, in Newport, Tennessee. (AP)

    Local leaders say supplies are not being ‘confiscated’

    During an Oct. 3 media briefing, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, was asked about rumors that FEMA, the Red Cross, or the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency funds were turned away.  

    “That’s totally inaccurate,” Lee said. “There’s a lot of misinformation — in fact, there’s some belief and understanding that it may be coming from foreign sources just to confuse on the ground what’s happening here. There’s no confiscation of supplies or of products coming in by FEMA or TEMA.” 

    In X posts, Knox County, Tennessee, Mayor Glenn Jacobs, another Republican, acknowledged frustration with FEMA and also encouraged people to “pitch in to help” without spreading misinformation about the emergency. 

    “To my knowledge, FEMA, TEMA, nor anyone else is confiscating supplies,” Jacobs wrote in an Oct. 4 X post. “Please quit spreading those rumors as they are counterproductive to response efforts.”

    North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety also created a “Hurricane Helene: Fact vs. Rumor” webpage, where it addressed the “rumor” that the state was “discouraging donations in the wake of Hurricane Helene” and “physical donations are being confiscated by state and federal officials.” 

    The page said North Carolina encourages financial donations and is “working with these organizations to stand up logistical operations to coordinate the collection and distribution of countless physical donations from across the state and country.” 

    “Donations are not being confiscated by state and federal officials,” it said.

    In a video on that page, Justin Granny, a North Carolina Emergency Management spokesperson, said misinformation can spread quickly on social media.  

    “If you see something alarming, pause and verify it through a trusted source of information before you share it,” he said. “The last thing we want to do is spread confusion during an already stressful time.”

    This falsehood also circulated during previous disasters, including after Hawaii’s destructive and deadly 2023 Maui wildfires.

    Our ruling

    Facebook posts claimed FEMA “is confiscating supplies and donations” meant for Hurricane Helene survivors.

    FEMA officials and local and state leaders in Tennessee and North Carolina said these statements are baseless. FEMA delivers supplies and donations to states; the states and state-designated groups deliver the supplies.

    We rate these claims False. 

    RELATED: FEMA gives $750 to help hurricane victims with supplies. The claim it’s a loan is Pants on Fire!

    RELATED: Claims about FEMA, Red Cross ‘confiscating’ donations to Hawaii victims are False

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  • FEMA gives $750 to help hurricane victims with supplies. The claim it’s a loan is Pants on Fire!

    FEMA gives $750 to help hurricane victims with supplies. The claim it’s a loan is Pants on Fire!

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    Besides responding to the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene, emergency workers are battling online misinformation that could dissuade survivors from accepting disaster relief. 

    Some false claims have focused on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s $750 payments for essential supplies. 

    “BREAKING: Hurricane victims are now realizing that the $750 from FEMA that Kamala Harris is offering them is actually a loan, not real relief,” Philip Anderson wrote on X Oct. 4. “And that if they don’t pay it back the feds can seize their property. These people don’t even have property anymore because of the hurricane.”

    Anderson, of Smith County, Texas, pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol. His X handle is @VoteHarrisOut.

    (Screenshot from X)

    This narrative also spread on TikTok. In one video that drew almost 400,000 views as of Oct. 6, an unidentified man described as a “FEMA inspector” issued what he described as a “dire warning.”

    “There is a contract, at the beginning when the inspector gets there before he starts inspecting,” he said. “In that contract, if you do not pay the money back — it is a loan. A loan. And even if it’s just a dollar or $750, if you don’t pay it back, they have the right to seize all of your property.”

    On Oct. 5, someone shared that TikTok on X, writing: “Shocking… a scam, $750 is a trap.” It had received more than 79,000 views as of Oct. 6.

    These claims are baseless: FEMA’s assistance payment for essential supplies is not a loan, and FEMA does not seize property.

    “Our number one goal is for survivors to get the assistance that they deserve, that they need so they can recover,” FEMA Press Secretary Daniel Llargues told PolitiFact. “All of this noise and misinformation may prevent some people from coming to us for assistance.”

    FEMA’s $750 “Serious Needs Assistance” payment is not a loan that must be repaid

    FEMA’s “Serious Needs Assistance” offers a one-time $750-per-household payment to disaster survivors who apply during the first 30 days after a disaster declaration. It is meant to help cover “essential items” and emergency supplies, including, “water, food, first aid, breast-feeding supplies, infant formula, diapers, personal hygiene items, or fuel for transportation.”

    On Oct. 5, Jaclyn Rothenberg, FEMA’s public affairs and planning director, responded directly to claims that this assistance is a loan that must be repaid.

    “This is not true,” she wrote in response to the Oct. 4 X post. “We do not ask for this money back.” 

    FEMA also addressed these falsehoods on a “Myth vs. Fact: Disaster Assistance” website.

    “Myth: FEMA grant money is a loan that I will need to pay back,” it read. “Fact: FEMA disaster assistance are grants which do not need to be repaid.”

    Serious Needs Assistance is available to disaster survivors who are U.S. citizens and qualified noncitizens. For people to qualify, their primary home must be in the disaster-stricken area. These people also must apply for the assistance while it is available. And FEMA must be able to confirm the applicants’ identities and review supporting documents to confirm damage to the applicants’ homes. 

    Serious Needs Assistance is “an initial payment people may receive” while they wait for the other forms of assistance they might qualify for, according to FEMA’s website. 

    “As people’s applications continue to be reviewed, they may still receive additional forms of assistance for other needs such as support for temporary housing, personal property and home repair costs,” the site said.

    In most cases, FEMA says its grants do not have to be paid back. 

    There are exceptions. For example, if someone has insurance that covers temporary housing costs but asks FEMA to advance money to help with those costs while the insurance money is delayed, then “you will need to pay that money back to FEMA after you receive your insurance settlement,” FEMA said. 

    People can apply for assistance online by visiting disasterassistance.gov, by calling 800-621-3362 or by downloading FEMA’s app. 

    FEMA does not seize personal property

    On its “Rumor Response” page, FEMA rebutted claims that people who apply for FEMA assistance risk having their property seized or confiscated. 

    “FEMA cannot seize your property or land,” the agency wrote. “Applying for disaster assistance does not grant FEMA or the federal government authority or ownership of your property or land.” 

    Applying for disaster assistance means a FEMA inspector might be sent to verify and assess damage to a residence, which is one factor reviewed to determine eligibility for different types of disaster relief, the website said. 

    The page concluded: “If the results of the inspection deem your home uninhabitable, that information is only used to determine the amount of FEMA assistance you may receive to make your home safe, sanitary and functional.”

    This falsehood has circulated during previous disasters, including after the destructive and deadly 2023 wildfires in Maui, Hawaii.

    Llargues of FEMA described the process someone might experience when applying for disaster relief. 

    “You apply for assistance, and you tell me that you have five feet of water in your house,” he said. “We’re going to be sending an inspector out there.” That inspector might be a FEMA employee or a contractor. Either way, the inspector will not charge for anything and there’s “no contract,” Llargues said. 

    “They will come out to your house, they’ll take photos, do the inspections, look at the house from the outside, inside, and document everything,” and report it back to FEMA, he said. “Based on what (the inspector) saw and their findings, we’ll give you some kind of eligibility.” 

    Although it is possible you could be found ineligible for assistance — a decision you can appeal — “there’s no FEMA taking over land, or property or houses,” Llargues said. “That’s false.”

    FEMA encouraged people to do their part to stop spreading false information by finding “trusted sources of information” and sharing information from those sources and discouraging “others from sharing information from unverified sources.”

    Our ruling

    An X post said “The $750 from FEMA that Kamala Harris is offering them is actually a loan, not real relief. And that if they don’t pay it back the feds can seize their property.”

    FEMA’s $750 one-time assistance payments for essential supplies are not loans that need to be repaid, according to the agency and its spokespeople. The agency also does not seize people’s property. 

    Emergency officials warn these baseless claims serve only to confuse the delivery of aid to disaster-affected people. We rate these claims Pants on Fire!

    RELATED: Kamala Harris didn’t say only $750 was available to Hurricane Helene victims. Video omits other aid

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  • How Israel-Gaza misinformation has evolved, one year later

    How Israel-Gaza misinformation has evolved, one year later

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    One year ago, on Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages. The attack triggered the Israel-Hamas war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, and a year of misinformation.

    Images and videos that have been altered or taken out of context flooded social media platforms, distorting reality. Some social media users tried to downplay the casualties, claiming “crisis actors” were being employed. Other posts mischaracterized the U.S.’ involvement in the conflict.

    Experts said in times of crisis, especially at the onset, there is often an information vacuum that misinformation fills.

    “Everybody wants to know the truth, but there’s limited information that’s out there, and that creates an opportunity for others to exploit this,” said Todd Helmus, a senior behavioral scientist specializing in disinformation and violent extremism at Rand Corp., a nonpartisan think tank.

    This war’s highly polarized nature has also fanned the flames of misinformation, Helmus said.

    “People feel strongly about this, and whenever people feel strongly about something, they are very eager to find information that validates their views,” Helmus said. “So, it’s not surprising that in the immediate aftermath, you would see a lot of false information, a lot of out-of-context information.”

    PolitiFact has fact-checked numerous claims about Israel, Gaza and the war in the Middle East. Here’s how the misleading and false narratives have evolved over the past year.

    Early on, altered and out-of-context photos and videos flooded the internet

    Soon after the attack, misleading photos and videos spread widely online, twisting the facts around the conflict.

    Several videos that predated the war, including footage of airstrikes and missile attacks, were taken out of context and shared as if they portrayed recent events. Other social media posts tried to pass off video game footage as real life depictions of fighting.

    Some videos were altered to make false claims, including that CNN staged an attack near the Israel-Gaza border and the Las Vegas Sphere displayed the Israeli flag.

    Valerie Wirtschafter, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, a think tank, said a lack of credible information leads people to seek out “any content they can find,” and often they “stumble across rumors or misleading or downright made-up content.”

    “Sometimes that early content can be shared unintentionally, but on certain online platforms clicks and views can equate to financial benefit and so there is an incentive to fill the void with false but sensationalist content, especially early on,” Wirtschafter said.

    Claims of “crisis actors” downplayed war casualties

    At the war’s start, we also saw claims on social media and from a conservative broadcaster, saying images of Gaza casualties and injuries were faked by crisis actors. Some posts claimed to show crisis actors with budgets for different costumes and makeup artists that created realistic injuries. 

    For example, an October 2023 Instagram video claimed to show Palestinian crisis actors “working overtime to fool the world” during the Israel-Hamas war. But that footage was from a film project that predated the war.

    In November 2023, Rob Schmitt, a Newsmax broadcaster, cast doubt on a clip of Palestinian social media influencer Saleh Aljafarawi shared on an MSNBC segment. Schmitt said Aljafarawi was a crisis actor who had “fake blood in his hands.” Images Schmitt shared also claimed to show Aljafarawi as a “freedom fighter,” “blood donor” and in other roles. However, several photos aren’t of Aljafarawi or were taken out of context from his social media accounts.

    A viral video also claimed that the violence in Israel and Gaza was “fake.” The video said, “A dead boy suddenly comes alive hearing an air raid siren.” But the video was not recent; it had circulated online since at least 2020.

    Israel wrongly blamed for the Baltimore bridge collapse and other catastrophes

    During the war, other catastrophes have unfolded, and some misinformers misleadingly linked Israel to those incidents.

    The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed March 26, 2024, after a container ship struck a support column. Soon after, X posts claimed the collapse had been orchestrated by Israel. However, federal and Maryland state officials said the incident was neither intentional nor linked to terrorism. A Wikipedia entry that supposedly showed proof of Israel’s involvement didn’t link Israel to the incident as the posts claimed. Anyone can edit Wikipedia pages, so an edited page does not prove that Israel caused the collapse.

    Other claims related to events that predated the Israel-Hamas war also surfaced online. In November 2023, an Instagram post claimed that “Jews” were responsible for 9/11. This is a longtime and unfounded claim; Al-Qaida terrorists were responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, not “Jews” or Israel.

    Signs are displayed outside a tent encampment April 26, 2024, at Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois. Students want the university to divest from funds connected to Israel or that profit from its war in Gaza. (AP)

    Campus protests become fodder for false claims

    Pro-Palestinian protests started on university campuses in late 2023 and continued through May 2024, with student protestors calling for divestment from Israel. The protests spurred false claims about the American flag being replaced by the Palestinian flag at Harvard University and Jewish students being blocked from entering Columbia University. 

    We also fact-checked claims that billionaire George Soros paid campus protesters by providing grants to organizations linked to the protests. But his grant-making organization, Open Society Foundation, and specific campus protesters had several degrees of separation.

    The claim that “outside agitators” were behind the campus protests gained traction in April. 

    Police, city and university officials nationwide blamed “outside agitators” for campus protests but provided little evidence for their claims. Law enforcement experts told PolitiFact that police often consider “outside agitators” to be people who move from city to city and are paid to be agitators. Historians say government and law officials commonly use the “outside agitator” narrative to delegitimize protesters and their demands.

    Misleading claims about U.S. funding to Israel

    One misinformation trend focused on U.S. involvement in the Israel-Hamas war. Hours after news of the Hamas attack on Israel, former President Donald Trump released a statement criticizing the Biden administration and falsely claiming that “American taxpayer dollars helped fund these attacks.”

    Trump appeared to be referring to $6 billion in Iranian money that was unfrozen as part of a hostage deal the Biden administration had struck with Iran. But no U.S. taxpayer dollars were included in that $6 billion.

    Some social media users also mischaracterized the amount of aid the Biden administration has approved for Israel and Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. From October 2023 to May 2024, Congress approved at least $12.5 billion in military aid to Israel, the Council on Foreign Relations reported. And as of Sept. 30, the U.S. had announced $1 billion in humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank over the last year, the U.S. Agency for International Development said.

    In May, months into the Israel-Hamas war, Trump made a different claim about U.S. involvement, saying, “Biden wants to immediately stop all aid to Israel.”

    That’s False. Biden said during a May CNN interview that he would not supply certain weapons if Israel launched a full-scale assault on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza. Biden did not say he was cutting Israel off from all U.S. aid.

    The conflict, and misinformation, spreads to Lebanon

    In recent weeks, the conflict has expanded to Lebanon, and with it, the misinformation.

    Thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah was using exploded in Lebanon, killing dozens of people and injuring thousands more. U.S. officials said Israel was behind the attacks.

    Following these attacks, social media users falsely claimed that iPhones were also exploding in Lebanon. But a viral photo of a broken iPhone circulating online predates the war, and there are no credible reports that iPhones were targeted devices.

    On Sept. 28, Hezbollah confirmed that its leader was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon. A viral video compilation falsely claimed to show this deadly airstrike, but the footage didn’t match up with known details about the attack.

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  • VP Harris didn’t offer only $750 to Hurricane Helene victims

    VP Harris didn’t offer only $750 to Hurricane Helene victims

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    A week after Hurricane Helene wrought destruction to multiple southeastern U.S. states, people are confronting the immense costs of rebuilding their homes and recovering their losses. 

    On social media, some are criticizing the federal government for what they consider a meager sum to hurricane victims. Social media users shared a clip of Vice President Harris saying, “And the federal relief and assistance that we have been providing has included FEMA providing $750 for folks who need immediate needs being met.”

    “Oh hell no! These people are sick!” said the caption of one Oct. 2 Instagram post sharing the video. An Oct. 3 Instagram post read, “Kamala is on the ground in Georgia two days after President Trump’s visit to offer those who’ve lost everything $750. Don’t spend it all at once.”

    (Screenshot from Instagram)

    These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

    The clips are from Harris’ Oct. 2 remarks in Augusta, Georgia. They show her citing one type of federal aid available to hurricane victims, and omit her remarks on other aid that the Biden administration is providing. PolitiFact reached out to Harris’ office and did not receive an on-the-record response.

    Jayce Genco, deputy press secretary for FEMA, told PolitiFact the $750 was under the Serious Needs Assistance program, which is designed for immediate needs after a disaster. 

    FEMA addressed the claim Oct. 3 in its “Hurricane Helene: Rumor Response” page, saying the rumor that “FEMA will only provide $750 to disaster survivors to support their recovery” is false. The agency said the $750 under Serious Needs Assistance is often approved quickly to help people pay for needs such as “food, water, baby formula, breastfeeding supplies, medication and other emergency supplies.” 

    People could be eligible for more assistance, Genco said. The FEMA site said this includes funding for home repair costs and temporary housing and is available to victims regardless of whether they have received FEMA funds from previous disasters. 

    In the same speech, Harris said, “FEMA is also providing tens of thousands more dollars for folks to help them be able to deal with home repair, to be able to cover a deductible when and if they have insurance, and also hotel costs.”

    Harris also announced that President Joe Biden approved Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s request for 100% federal reimbursement of local costs. That includes debris removal, emergency services, food, water and shelter, she said.

    As of Oct. 4, FEMA said the Biden administration provided more than $45 million “in flexible, upfront funding” to Hurricane Helene survivors. The agency said it has provided more than 11.5 million meals, 12.6 million liters of water, 150 generators and 400,000 tarps to the affected region.

    The White House said in an Oct. 2 fact sheet that through the Serious Needs Assistance program, FEMA had paid out more than $1 million to more than 1,400 North Carolina households within 24 hours. It outlined other actions that the Biden administration has taken to support affected communities, including:

    • Deploying 1,000 active duty soldiers for delivery of food, water and other commodities.

    • Declaring public health emergencies for South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina to better accommodate Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries’ emergency health needs.

    • Providing 50 Starlink satellite systems and 65 satellite phones to help with communications.

    • Starting a 14-day period of emergency regulatory relief, allowing vehicles more maximum driving time for supply delivery.

    • Imposing a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures of certain mortgages.

    • Approving major disaster declarations for Georgia and Virginia — in addition to Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina — allowing residents in 41 Georgia counties and six Virginia counties to apply for FEMA assistance.

    We rate the claim that Harris said the Biden administration is providing only $750 to Hurricane Helene victims False.

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  • No, these clip don’t show Hurricane Helene in Florida

    No, these clip don’t show Hurricane Helene in Florida

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    Set to the wail of sirens, a viral video on social media claims to show scenes of Hurricane Helene and its aftermath. Text on a Sept. 27 Facebook video said simply, “Florida Hurricane Helene.” 

    Plenty of legitimate footage exists of the hurricane, which made landfall near Perry, Florida, as a Category 4 storm and caused extensive wind and flood damage across the Southeast. But this video is not authentic. Some of its clips are from previous storms in different states and different years. Some were altered with artificial intelligence or existed online before Hurricane Helene formed.

    The Facebook video was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Threads and Instagram.)

    We used reverse-image search to find where some of these clips started online. We found other clips circulating online several months before Helene made landfall.

    • The Facebook video’s opening clip is false on two different points, The scene shows closed shops at a Florida mall as Hurricane Matthew tore through in 2016. And the twister at the back of the mall is computer-generated. Fact-checkers at the European Broadcasting Union debunked the video after social media users passed it off as a hurricane in Tanzania.

    • We couldn’t find the location of the second clip showing debris flying as cars passed, but we found another version posted in October 2023.

    • The third clip featuring a car being tossed by strong winds is from a 2015 typhoon in Taiwan.

    • The fourth clip is from a July 2023 tornado that ripped through Dortches, North Carolina, and that AccuWeather shared then.

    • We found a record of the fifth clip showing debris flying across an apartment complex being shared online before Helene.

    • We saw the sixth clip in a November 2022 Instagram post.

    • We found the seventh video on TikTok, posted 10 days before Helene crashed into Florida.

    • The eighth clip featuring palm trees as they struggle against powerful winds was shared online in November 2023 and featured in a fact-check by The Quint, a digital news platform.

    • We found the ninth clip, showing debris from trees quickly filling a street, shared online on Sept.18, a week before Hurricane Helene. 

    We rate the claim that this video shows scenes of Hurricane Helene False.

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  • Weather modification did not make Hurricane Helene

    Weather modification did not make Hurricane Helene

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    Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26, killing at least 40 people and leaving a four-state swath of destruction.

    Before the hurricane’s impact, a social media user said in a Sept. 25 post that it was human-made. “So, today we’re going to hit on this hurricane that’s going up into Florida and maybe figure out who’s causing it,” the narrator said as an image of the storm’s projected path appeared behind him.

    He cited a 1947 hurricane named “King” and said it had the “exact same path” as Helene. Hurricane King was the subject of an experiment conducted by the U.S. Air Force and General Electric Co. called “Project Cirrus.” 

    “Hurricane Helene? Weather modification?” the caption read.

    This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

    There’s no proof that Hurricane Helene was formed through weather modification. Bart Geerts, professor at the University of Wyoming Department of Atmospheric Science, told PolitiFact that’s “false.”

    “NOAA confirms that there are no weather modification activities that could have resulted in Hurricane Helene. Hurricanes form on their own given the right conditions and that was the case with Helene,” Monica Allen, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s public affairs director, told PolitiFact. 

    Allen cited Project Stormfury, a NOAA project in the 1960s that “involved seeding existing hurricanes.” Attempted on four hurricanes, the project studied how seeding clouds with silver iodide could lead to a decrease in the hurricane’s strongest winds.

    “This project ended in 1983 because it had, at best, mixed results, and there were concerns about unintended consequences,” Allen said. “Since then, NOAA has done no weather modification.”

    Hugh Willoughby, who was involved in Project Stormfury, told PolitiFact, “As far as I know, nobody in the U.S. is undertaking hurricane modification, or even has the capability.” Willoughby is a distinguished research professor at the Florida International University Department of Earth and Environment and formerly directed NOAA’s hurricane research division.

    According to the Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory, Project Cirrus — the project the video cited — was an agreement between General Electric Research Laboratory, the Naval Research Laboratory and U.S. Army Signal Corps to “seed” clouds and fog by dumping dry ice on them and finding out what would happen.

    The project focused on a hurricane that struck Florida on Oct. 12, 1947. Miami’s Air Force Hurricane Office designated the storm “King,” a moniker derived from the  military’s phonetic alphabet during a period before hurricanes were named as they are now.

    The day after the hurricane exited the state and was projected to continue out to sea without affecting any more people, aircraft flew out and dumped dry ice into the hurricane’s clouds. The hurricane soon swerved west and gained strength. It made landfall in Georgia on Oct. 15, 1947, causing one death and millions in damage to Georgia and South Carolina.

    The head of General Electric Research Laboratory believed the storm changed course because of the experiment, but the weather bureau chief at the time, Dr. Francis Reichelderfer, disagreed. Willoughby said the Project Stormfury investigators were “very cautious” after what happened with Project Cirrus, “even though it is unlikely that seeding had anything to do with the change in track.”

    After Project Cirrus came Project Stormfury,  the findings from which showed that “cloud seeding had little prospect of success” and that it was difficult to determine whether the changes happened because of the experiment or because of the hurricanes’ natural behavior.

    Willoughby said the project was abandoned because “its scientific basis was discredited.”

    We rate the claim that Hurricane Helene was a product of weather modification Pants on Fire!

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  • Storm video compilation not from Hurricane Helene

    Storm video compilation not from Hurricane Helene

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    A viral compilation of stormy video clips featuring a large inflatable duck taking flight has been spreading online as if the footage was filmed during Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 storm that hit Florida’s western Gulf coast Sept. 26.

    But these video clips, shared Sept. 25 on Instagram, were not taken during Hurricane Helene — they all predate the storm.

    (Screenshot of Instagram post) 

    This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.) The post was removed from Instagram before this story was published.

    We tracked the origins of the 10 separate clips included in the compilation: 

    • The first clip featuring a white building and red pickup truck was taken in Nash County, North Carolina, during a July 2023 hurricane, according to WTVD-TV. 

    • The second clip was taken in Urbandale, Iowa, during a July 2024 tornado, according to local news reports. 

    • The third clip of a flying trampoline in a backyard was taken in July 2021 in Rock Hill, South Carolina, according to a video posted on The Weather Channel website.

    • And the giant inflatable duck, whose name is Thrifty, blew across a road in Birch Run, Michigan, earlier this year during a heavy windstorm. Before it took flight, the duck belonged to a local antique shop owner who said it cost $3,000. 

    For the remaining clips, PolitiFact couldn’t verify exactly when and where they were taken, but in all instances we found versions of the clips that were circulating online before Helene made landfall.

    Don’t let your timeline get flooded with misinformation; these storm clips are not from Hurricane Helene. We rate this claim False.

    PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

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  • Oprah not escorted by U.S. marshals

    Oprah not escorted by U.S. marshals

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    Oprah Winfrey is a perennial character in misinformation stemming from the QAnon conspiracy theory — so much so that in 2020, the media magnate addressed baseless rumors that she had been arrested for participating in a sex trafficking ring.   

    Such claims continue to spread on social media.

    “Oprah is a sex trafficker,” a Sept. 20 Threads post said, misspelling “marshals.” “She’s been caught and now has to be escorted around by the U.S. Marshall’s.”. 

    This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    A U.S. Marshals Service spokesperson told PolitiFact the claim is false. 

    We found no evidence, such as credible reporting, criminal cases, photos or video footage, to corroborate the post. 

    The accusation comes after Winfrey interviewed Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, on Sept. 19 during a televised forum. 

    We rate the claim that Winfrey is a sex trafficker who must be escorted around by U.S. marshals Pants on Fire!

     

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  • Fetterman supports Harris, not Trump

    Fetterman supports Harris, not Trump

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    A day after President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., announced his support for Vice President Kamala Harris, the new Democratic presidential nominee. 

    “Proud to support and be all in for the next president, @KamalaHarris,” Fetterman said in a July 22 X post. 

    But a recent interview Fetterman gave is being taken out of context to bolster the idea that he’s backing another candidate: former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee. 

    “Did Fetterman just say he’s voting for Trump,” a Sept. 23 Threads post said. “Dude was voted in as a lobotomized Dem and came out a based Republican.”

    This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    The post includes a clip from Fetterman’s Sept. 19 appearance at The Atlantic Festival in Washington, D.C. 

    During an interview with the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, Fetterman imagined the perspective of a Pennsylvania Trump supporter. 

    Goldberg asked Fetterman how the presidential contest could be “so close” in Pennsylvania. 

    “What people you live with, people who will vote for you, your friends, people you grow up with, what do they see in Donald Trump that makes them want to vote for him?”

    Fetterman said, “I know some people that are like, I personally think he’s a terrible person or are appalled by some of these things, but I fundamentally think that I’ll still vote for him and I think a lot of Republicans already agree with that.”

    Fetterman didn’t say he was voting for Trump; he was talking about other Pennsylvanians who will vote for the former president. 

    During the same interview, Fetterman also said Harris “will prevail — I do believe that.” 

    He’s publicly supported Harris and derided Trump and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio. 

    A Sept. 5 X post pinned on Fetterman’s account shows a photo of him giving a thumbs-up next to Harris. 

    “Wheels down in Pixburgh with our NEXT PRESIDENT,” he wrote. 

    More recently, Fettermandescribed Vance in a Sept. 24 post as “untethered to any dignity, veracity, or integrity.”

    Fetterman posted another photo Sept. 21 giving a thumbs-up in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. 

    “This is where the battle for Pennsylvania is at: I’m here tonight for our next President @KamalaHarris, and Trump will be here on Monday,” he said. “Pennsylvania picks the president and winning means fighting for every vote in every county.” 

    We rate claims Fetterman said he’s voting for Trump False.

     

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  • Video of Harris “hammered” was altered

    Video of Harris “hammered” was altered

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    Social media users are presenting a video clip of Vice President Kamala Harris delivering a Sept. 20 speech at an Atlanta campaign rally as evidence that she was “damn near blackout drunk.” 

    “She is hammered,” a Sept. 23 Instagram post said of Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

    It was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    This video was altered. 

    The clip starts in the middle of Harris’ remarks about Amber Thurman, a woman who died after she couldn’t access abortion care in Georgia. 

    She then pivots to former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio.

    “They’ll talk about … ‘I do believe in the exception to save the mother’s life,’” Harris said. “Let’s break that down, shall we? Let’s break that down. Let’s break that down.” 

    The video clip in the Instagram post is about 5 seconds longer than the length of Harris’ actual remarks. Original footage of her speech, posted by multiple news outlets, reflects that. 

    Time it for yourself, starting around the 10:20 mark of this video. 

    We rate claims this video shows Harris hammered Pants on Fire!

     

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  • Kamala Harris spokesperson didn’t say she doesn’t own gun

    Kamala Harris spokesperson didn’t say she doesn’t own gun

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    A video clip featuring a spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has been distorted and spread on social media as evidence the Democratic nominee doesn’t own a gun. 

    “A staffer reveals that Kamala Harris doesn’t actually own a gun,” reads text above footage from an interview on “CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta.” 

    In the Sept. 20 interview, Acosta asks Harris spokesperson Adrienne Elrod about the vice president’s recent comments on gun ownership. The exchange in the video was significantly sped up and captions appearing Elrod as she speaks reads: “She doesn’t own a firearm.”

    A Sept. 21 Instagram post sharing the video was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    The original footage of this exchange makes clear that Elrod doesn’t say “she doesn’t own a firearm.” She says: “She does own a firearm.”

    This is also reflected in CNN’s transcript of the show. 

    On X, Elrod reposted a statement from Harris spokesperson Ian Sams, who called the distorted video “the definition of disinformation.”

    “Video intentionally manipulated (artificially sped up to make the audio unclear) to mislead the viewer,” the X post said. 

    It’s not news that Harris is a gun owner, though it’s getting fresh attention as the 2024 presidential election looms. In 2019, during Harris’ unsuccessful previous bid for the presidency, she said she was a gun owner and an aide then told reporters that she owns a handgun that was purchased years ago, CNN reported.

    She owns the same gun today and keeps it at her Los Angeles home, CNN reported. 

    We rate claims a staffer said Harris doesn’t own a gun Pants on Fire!

     

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  • First lady joined Cabinet meeting. She’s not running the US

    First lady joined Cabinet meeting. She’s not running the US

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    As part of a narrative that President Joe Biden isn’t fulfilling his duties as commander in chief, some conservative commentators and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump claimed first lady Jill Biden stepped in to run a Cabinet meeting for her husband. Some pointed to a presidential folder as more evidence of her takeover.

    “JUST IN: Jill is taking over for Joe Biden at the first White House cabinet meeting in 11 months,” conservative commentator Benny Johnson posted Sept. 20 on X. A screenshot of an MSNBC video shows Jill Biden sitting at the end of a table with Cabinet members with a chyron that said, “First lady joins Pres. Biden in Cabinet meeting.

    Six minutes later, Johnson shared a photo of what he called White House stationery bearing the presidential seal and signatures from both Bidens. “Stationary at the White House now has the Presidential Seal flanked by ‘President’ Jill Biden’s signature,” Johnson wrote.

    During a Sept. 21 rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, Trump repeated the claim: “I don’t know, Is he still the president? Is he the president? Because yesterday his wife took over the Cabinet meeting, right? He hasn’t had a meeting in like two years and yesterday they finally had it and he said, ‘I’m going to let Jill handle it.’” 

    U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., reshared a tweet from The Blaze, a conservative outlet, about the Cabinet meeting, writing, “Is this real? Is this who’s running the country?”

    Instagram users reshared Johnson’s photo, and it was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

    Jill Biden didn’t lead the meeting or sit in the president’s usual spot; she was providing a scheduled update on her initiative for women’s health research. Joe Biden led the meeting. The binder is ceremonial.

    Some conservative media outlets criticized her presence at the meeting, partly because it was the first one the president had held in 11 months, and might be his last before his presidency ends in January. 

    But Jill Biden is not the first first lady to join Cabinet meetings to talk about their priorities; others include Pat Nixon, Rosalynn Carter and Hillary Clinton.

    The White House told PolitiFact that Johnson’s photo depicts a binder with Joe and Jill Biden’s signatures that is given as a keepsake to attendees of White House events. It is not used by staff for official purposes.

    The White House said first lady Jill Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council would lead its Initiative on Women’s Health Research in November 2023. It aims to address how the U.S. approaches and funds women’s health research, which has been historically understudied. 

    On March 18, President Biden signed an executive order to prioritize investments in women’s health research and integrate it with U.S. federal research programs. It also called for new research on women’s midlife health and assessing unmet needs to support women’s health studies.

    Jill Biden has given speeches and hosted meetings since the initiative launched. 

    In an email announcing her Sept. 20 schedule, the White House said, “At 11:30 AM, First Lady Jill Biden will join at the top of President Biden’s Cabinet meeting to provide an update on the progress of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research.”

    It was Jill Biden’s first Cabinet appearance since Joe Biden took office. Cabinet attendees included Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

    President Biden started the meeting by saying Congress should pass a continuing resolution to fund the government and avoid a shutdown.

    Then he introduced his wife, who was seated at one end of the oval table. (Biden appears to be sitting in the president’s regular place in the Cabinet Room, in the middle of a long side of the table with his back to the windows.)

    “We’re grateful that Jill is here today,” Biden said. “And here, across previous administrations, first ladies have attended these meetings and on — for specific reasons. It’s the first time Jill has joined us. And it goes to show how important the issue is, what she’s about to speak to, to both of us. Today, at the top of our meeting, Jill is going to give an update on the White House initiative to fundamentally change the approach and fund, on how we approach and fund women’s health services.”

    Jill then began her remarks.

    “In February, (Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health), the agency Joe created to pursue breakthrough health research, at lightning speed, launched its first-ever Sprint for Women’s Health. The $100-million investment will fund innovations that will be life-changing for women,” Jill Biden said. “Then, a month later, NIH (the National Institutes of Health)  committed another $200 million to fund interdisciplinary women’s health research, for example, looking at how menopause affects heart health, brain health, and bone health.”

    She also spoke about a new joint effort by the Defense Department and Veterans Affairs to improve research for women in the military and for women veterans, and new funding from the Health and Human Services Department to address women’s mental health and substance use treatment.

    The first lady spoke for about 4 ½ minutes.

    After she spoke, reporters asked President Biden whether it was realistic to get a cease-fire deal with Israel. Then aides ushered the press out of the room. 

    Our ruling

    Social media posts claimed that Jill Biden was running President Biden’s Cabinet meeting and that her signature now appears on official presidential correspondence.

    The claims about her presence are overblown.

    The first lady joined Biden’s Sept. 20 Cabinet meeting to discuss updates on the Women’s Health Initiative, a White House endeavor she has headed since its creation in 2023. First ladies have joined Cabinet meetings in the past. 

    The White House told PolitiFact that the binder that shows the first lady’s signature along with Biden’s is a keepsake typically given to White House event attendees and is not used by staff for official purposes.

    We rate this claim False.

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  • This video doesn’t show Trump and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs talking

    This video doesn’t show Trump and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs talking

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    Viral social media posts quickly tried to link rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs to major politicians shortly after the musician was arrested Sept. 16 and charged with racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking in New York.

    First, we debunked a viral image that claimed to show a photo of Combs and Vice President Kamala Harris. Now, a viral video claims to show Combs in a one-on-one interview with former President Donald Trump.  

    “Can you believe this never (seen) before video of #Trump and #Diddy,” the caption of a Sept. 19 TikTok video said. The video also includes the cover image of “Orange Is The New Black,” a popular Netflix series about life in a women’s prison.

    TikTok identified the claim in the video as part of its efforts to counter inauthentic, misleading or false content. (Read more about PolitiFact’s partnership with TikTok.)

    One commenter wondered if the video was artificially generated. Although video clips are real and not computer-generated, they are misleading because they are from two different interviews — conducted seven years apart.

    This video does not depict a real conversation between Trump and Combs. It combines two different interviews of Trump and Combs with journalist Charlie Rose and aired on PBS. The scenes with Trump are edited from a November 1992 interview with Rose; those with Combs are edited from an August 1999 interview with Rose. Words and phrases from different parts of each interview are also stitched together to create coherent sentences.

    This viral video originated from a YouTuber named “Jonas Hollerup Helle”. The video was posted Aug. 27, a few weeks before Combs was arrested. Its description read: “Conversations that never took place between people who never met. Created using existing interviews.”

    We rate the claim that this video shows Trump and Combs in conversation Pants on Fire!

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