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Debunking TikTok’s ‘lucky girl syndrome’

'Lucky girl syndrome' has its detractors.

On Mar 16, 2023 by Tricia Crimmins

palm reading tiktok

No, a TikTok palm reading filter can’t tell you if you’re sick

All of this just leads to videos about serious subjects, like someone’s health, based on arbitrary evidence, like a TikTok filter.

On Mar 8, 2023 by Tricia Crimmins

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A TikTok about a ‘giant’ on a mountaintop is fueling unfounded rumors of a CIA assassination 

It's a bizarre rumor that persists.

On Jan 9, 2023 by Claire Goforth

woman speaking in front of white walls caption 'if you pay attention to anything i ever say pls pay attention to this this is smth i care a lot about and don't talk a lot ab on here but i've been working on this for years and i've had the privilege of actually getting to understand people's stories' (l) woman speaking on white bed caption 'yes this and the 'emails' that track ur location? it's like why would a random trafficker gaf what ur address is if they dk u' (c) woman speaking in front of white walls caption 'if you pay attention to anything i ever say pls pay attention to this this is smth i care a lot about and don't talk a lot ab on here but i've been working on this for years and i've had the privilege of actually getting to understand people's stories' (r)

‘This is not how human trafficking works’: Woman debunks TikTok’s latest trafficking hoax about finding money on your car windshields

'There is an obsession with middle class white women being trafficked and it completely overshadows the reality.'

On Oct 7, 2022 by Audra Schroeder

shark swimming in flooded street (l) shark swimming in flooded street up close (c) shark swimming in flooded street (r)

Hurricane Ian shark goes viral—after years of fake claims (updated)

Guess they really jumped the shark.

On Sep 28, 2022 by Jacob Seitz

woman speaking (l) Zoom call with woman dressed as her father (c) woman speaking (r)

Woman says she was fired after awkward Zoom work call with boss. Another TikToker is calling her out for allegedly staging the whole thing

'That's the thing about social media—you never know if someone's telling the truth.'

On Aug 10, 2022 by Cecilia Lenzen

photo of Kadyrov kneeling at gas station

Pro-Russian ‘TikTok warlord’ accused of staging trip to Ukraine for invasion clout

Internet sleuths believe Ramzan Kadyrov staged the whole thing.

On Mar 30, 2022 by Claire Goforth

man holding poland spring water (l) dropper with substance in hand (c) man holding shaker of white substance (r)

‘Just add salt and sugar with water’: This ‘instant snow’ hoax is massively viral on TikTok

TikTokers are claiming to make a snow-like substance.

On Mar 16, 2022 by Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

Pictures of a child wearing a face mask

Police: Parents claim that disabled child was abused at school with face mask ‘unfounded’

The viral claim was promoted on Fox News and allowed the parents to raise over $100,000.

On Nov 28, 2021 by Dan Latu

Five individuals in matching clothing holding tiki torches

Lincoln Project has people stand in front of Glenn Youngkin bus with tiki torches for some reason

Conservatives accused the Virginia Democrats of posing as white supremacists to frame Youngkin.

On Oct 29, 2021 by Mikael Thalen, David Covucci

A gloved hand holding a test tube with the words COVID-19

A Texas man used Facebook to scare people away from grocery stores as the pandemic started—he’s going to prison for it

He claimed he was doing it for good.

On Oct 5, 2021 by Mikael Thalen

'1F' written in snow on top of a garbage can

Woman’s TikTok about ‘1F’ stokes fear—and misinformation

The mysterious marking freaked people out. But it's tied to misinfo about trafficking.

On Jan 21, 2021 by Audra Schroeder

ronnie mcnutt faked death conspiracy theory

No, Ronnie McNutt did not fake his own death

A troll set up an account in McNutt's name to start the conspiracy that his suicide video is fake.

On Sep 9, 2020 by Eilish O'Sullivan

Selene Delgado Lopez conspiracy

Don’t fall for this Selene Delgado Lopez Facebook hoax

A woman by the same name went missing 30 years ago.

On Sep 5, 2020 by Onaje McDowelle

BethAnn McLaughlin

ASU professor who ‘died’ of coronavirus never existed

The fake Twitter account was created by a famous, award-winning scientist.

On Aug 5, 2020 by Nahila Bonfiglio