MELISSA GOLDIN

Associated Press
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks with reporters as he leaves St. Edmund Roman Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach, Del., Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024, after attending a Mass. On Friday, Feb. 23, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming Biden issued Executive Order 9066, which provides people who enter the U.S. illegally with a $5,000 Visa gift card. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
Social media users shared a range of false claims this week. Here are the facts: President Joe Biden did not issue Executive Order 9066 to provide $5,000 gift cards to migrants who enter the U.S. illegally.
 
FILE - Workers dismantle the stage outside of Union Station Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. On Friday, Feb. 16, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming a 44-year-old migrant was identified as one of the shooters at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
Social media users shared a range of false claims this week. Here are the facts: Three juveniles were detained and one was later released in connection with the mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory celebration.
 
FILE - Former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, in New York. On Friday, Feb. 9, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming Hawaii passed a bill to keep Trump off the ballot during the 2024 election. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
Social media users shared a range of false claims this week. Here are the facts: Hawaii has not passed a bill that could keep former President Donald Trump off the ballot.
 
Taylor Swift kisses Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce after an AFC Championship NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, in Baltimore. The Kansas City Chiefs won 17-10. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
How Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce became the focus of baseless political conspiracy theories
Superstar Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, have become the focus of a raft of false claims and political conspiracy theories on social media this week as the team advances to the Super Bowl on Feb. 11.
 
FILE - Former President Donald Trump leaves his apartment building in New York, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. On Friday, Jan. 26, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming a judge on Monday delayed proceedings in Trump’s New York defamation trial until Tuesday, the day of the New Hampshire primary, which is proof of election interference. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
Social media users shared a range of false claims this week. Here are the facts: Proceedings in former President Donald Trump’s New York defamation trial were delayed because a juror was sick and did not interfere with him being in New Hampshire for Tuesday’s primary.
 
FILE - People talk in front of the logo of the World Economy Forum on the last day of the forum's Annual Meeting at the Congress Center in Davos, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. On Friday, Jan. 19, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming a deadly contagion known as Disease X is emerging and under discussion at the World Economic Forum’s 2024 annual meeting in Davos. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
Disease X is not real. It is the name given to a hypothetical pathogen that is being used to help plan for future health crises. Global healthcare experts this week spoke on a WEF panel called “Preparing for Disease X.”
 
FILE - City inspectors and police officers outside the Brooklyn borough, N.Y., headquarters of the Chabad movement, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. On Friday, Jan. 12, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming a secret underground tunnel found connected to the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters was used for child sex trafficking or other illicit activities.(AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz)
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media.
 
FILE - Hasidic Jewish students sit behind a breach in the wall of a synagogue that led to a tunnel dug by the students, Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in New York. (Bruce Schaff via AP, File)
FACT FOCUS: Discovery of a tunnel at a Chabad synagogue spurs false claims and conspiracy theories
News of a secret underground tunnel found connected to a historic Brooklyn synagogue was picked up quickly on social media, with posts spreading baseless claims about the passage, many laced with antisemitism.
 
FILE - This photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein, March 28, 2017. On Friday, Jan. 5, 2024, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming court documents connected to a lawsuit involving financier Jeffrey Epstein that were released this week include details about theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who died in 2018, Hawking’s “proclivities” and a sexual encounter involving late night host Jimmy Kimmel. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File)
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media.
 
FILE - Jeffrey Epstein appears in court, July 30, 2008, in West Palm Beach, Fla. After dozens of previously sealed court documents related to financier Epstein were made public Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024, social media users began spreading false accusations about major public figures named in the release — and some who hadn’t been named at all. (Uma Sanghvi/The Palm Beach Post via AP, File)
FACT FOCUS: Images made to look like court records circulate online amid Epstein document release
Social media users are sharing images made to look like court documents to spread false accusations that well-known public figures, including late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, were implicated in wrongdoing by recently released court documents related to financie
 
FILE - The Capitol Dome and the West Front of the House of Representatives are seen in Washington, Monday, April 17, 2023. On Friday, Dec. 15, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming the federal government gives people who enter the U.S. illegally a cell phone, a domestic plane ticket to a location of their choosing and a $5,000 Visa gift card. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
Social media users shared a range of false claims this week. Here are the facts: The federal government does not give people who enter the U.S. illegally a cell phone, a domestic plane ticket to a location of their choice and a $5,000 Visa gift card, as an Arizona sheriff running for the U.S.
 
FILE - University of Pennsylvania athlete Lia Thomas prepares for the 500 meter freestyle at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, March 17, 2022, at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. On Friday, Dec. 8, 2023, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming The NCAA is transferring medals won by Thomas to Riley Gaines, another former Division I swimmer. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
Social media users shared a range of false claims this week. Here are the facts: The NCAA is not transferring medals won by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas to Riley Gaines, another former Division I swimmer.
 
FILE - A display for Zoom Video Communications is shown ahead of the company's Nasdaq IPO in New York. An update to Zoom's terms of service in March 2023 have some online worried that the company is using their data to train artificial intelligence, without giving them the ability to opt out. But Zoom says that's false and online privacy experts agree, with some caveats. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
FACT FOCUS: Zoom says it isn’t training AI on calls without consent. But other data is fair game
An update to Zoom’s terms of service is worrying some online that the company now has permission to use their videos and chat logs for artificial intelligence training with no ability to opt out. But that’s not accurate.
 
FILE - White House Chef Tafari Campbell smiles, Nov. 6, 2008, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. Social media users are casting doubt about the drowning death of Campbell, former President Barack Obama’s personal chef, on Martha’s Vineyard on Sunday, July 23, 2023. His body was recovered Monday, July 24. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)
FACT FOCUS: No head trauma or suspicious circumstances in drowning of Obamas’ chef, police say
Social media users are sharing false claims about the drowning death of former President Barack Obama’s personal chef on Martha’s Vineyard this week.
 
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