A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue headlines of the week. None of these stories is legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked these out; here are the real facts:
BREAKING: Federal Judge Nullifies PA Election Results For ‘Wide-Scale Voter Fraud’
A judge cited in one of many false reports that followed Tuesday’s special congressional election doesn’t exist. Neither does the court cited in the Daily World Update story – the 45th Federal Appeals Court of Westmoreland County. Wanda Murren, a spokeswoman for Pennsylvania’s Department of State, says there have been no “legitimate claims” or evidence that voters illegally in the U.S. were brought into the state to cast votes, the subject of another piece following the election to fill the 18th District seat. Democrat Conor Lamb holds a lead of more than 600 votes over Republican Rick Saccone, with a few hundred provisional ballots left to be counted.
California Governor Signs Order To Use ARABIC Numerals In Public Schools
There is no state law requiring students to learn Arabic numerals, although California students – and others across the world – already use the Hindu-Arabic numeral system. Brian Ferguson, deputy press secretary for California Gov. Jerry Brown, said the post by the Last Line of Defense site serves to “stoke fear and misinformation.”
He said California encourages young people to study Hindu-Arabic numerals – “or as we call them, ‘numbers.’’” The photo the conservative site shared of Brown speaking at a bill-signing ceremony was from a July event in San Francisco about climate change.
Coca-Cola, Nestle seek to privatize world’s second-largest aquifer
Both companies say they are not negotiating for water rights at the Guarani aquifer in Brazil, which is shared by the governments of four countries.
Several blogs ran with the report out of Brazil recently, saying the companies wanted to privatize for the next century the reservoir supplying water to Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Tornado carries mobile home 130 miles, family inside unharmed
This tale of a home flying through the air from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to a field in Kansas has been traveling for three years and recently popped up again.
The World News Daily Report, which has shared hoaxes before, ran the piece about a five-member family that included a woman named Dorothy and unrelated photos of storm damage. A county spokeswoman near Wichita, Kansas, says a flying home never landed there.
This is part of The Associated Press’ ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform.
