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A contentious presidential election, two devastating hurricanes, the Baltimore bridge collapse: It was a busy news year, and where news goes, misinformation follows.  Sometimes it even precedes it, as you’ll see below. The year’s events prompted dozens of false claims that PolitiFact fact-checked. There were also false claims about what should have been more lighthearted […]

When better to fact-check politicians than in an election year? In 2024, PolitiFact’s web traffic showed readers sought answers to questions raised by and about the leading presidential candidates, former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.  Whose national debt pile was bigger? Whose inflation record was worse? Was Trump right […]

A recent avian influenza outbreak among California dairy cows and the first known severe human case of H5N1 bird flu in the U.S. have reignited concerns online about the disease. Some social media users pointed to the disease’s high fatality rate in humans and warned of an impending bird flu pandemic. Meanwhile, other social media […]

A bipartisan deal to avert a government shutdown over the holidays collapsed Dec. 18 after President-elect Donald Trump issued new demands, including that Congress raise the debt ceiling to extend funding. Trump’s push to torpedo the stopgap spending plan came as his billionaire ally Elon Musk, the co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency, an […]

Days after New Hampshire voters received a robocall with an artificially generated voice that resembled President Joe Biden’s, the Federal Communications Commission banned using AI-generated voices in robocalls. It was a flashpoint. The 2024 election would be the first to unfold amid wide public access to AI generators, which let people create images, audio and […]

With a busy 2024 heading toward a close, PolitiFact readers sent us thoughtful questions and plenty of election-year feedback through email and social media comments. Readers weighed in on the presidential race, President Joe Biden’s pardoning of his son, Hunter Biden, and more. Here’s some of that feedback, edited for clarity and style. Readers can […]

See Figure 5 on PolitiFact.com SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Underlying 2024’s most outrageous political lie was a truth — some might even argue a confession — voiced by an accomplice: To get media attention, then-vice presidential candidate JD Vance acknowledged, sometimes “I have to create stories.” And so, with a brazen disregard for facts, Donald Trump […]

It’s time to announce the winner of PolitiFact’s 2024 Readers’ Choice Lie of the Year. Although last year’s readers’ pick won by only a narrow margin, this year’s choice won by a landslide. And it’s proof that great minds think alike. The reader pick for the 2024 Lie of the Year is also PolitiFact’s official […]

In a campaign year loaded with political plot twists, PolitiFact heard many claims that prompted head smacks and double takes. We said, as you probably did: That can’t be right. Is that for real? Wait, what? When we check the facts, we label inaccurate claims with Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire ratings. We […]

When the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a Tennessee case challenging the constitutionality of the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, one justice homed in on two sparring figures: 1% and 85% Justice Sonia Sotomayor said both numbers claimed to represent how many children express “regret” after receiving treatment for gender […]

President Joe Biden on Dec. 12 announced a single-day record of 1,499 sentences commuted, along with 39 pardons of nonviolent offenders. Some critics later expressed outrage over what they said was the pardon of Chinese spies and a sex offender. “Evidently, the Biden Administration believes CHILD R#PE is non-violent,” a Dec. 12 Instagram post said. […]

Si estás enfermo y desesperado por una cura, acudir a suplementos promocionados en redes sociales puede ser una decisión esperanzada, pero arriesgada.  En PolitiFact una de las cosas que hacemos es verificar publicaciones engañosas en redes sociales. Este año en nuestro WhatsApp (813) 260-7595, nuestros seguidores nos enviaron más de 13 preguntas sobre publicaciones que […]