Answer questions

The claim: An April thread on X reporting suspicious entries in Washington’s voter registration database claimed that more than 200 voters were allegedly registered at a single home in Seattle.

The truth: The database contained a typo. The intended address was the site of Seattle’s Compass Housing Alliance, which provides a fixed address for homeless people.

The spread: By the next day, the tweet had been shared more than 2,000 times on X. It was also posted on Truth Social and linked to in order to circumvent bans on sharing addresses on X.

Foreign voters

The claim: In a September 23 article on Truth Social, Trump claimed that Democrats were “preparing to CHEAT” by encouraging overseas Americans to vote.

The truth: It’s true that Democrats were encouraging Americans living abroad to vote through a program called the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. But federal laws still require new voters to prove their identity before voting by mail, and there is no evidence that overseas voters have become a vector for voter fraud.

The Spread: The rumor likely gained momentum from a September 6 article on the infamously inaccurate far-right site Gateway Pundit. It was boosted by the Federalist, a right-wing media site, and by an account apparently impersonating Trump’s former lawyer, Sidney Powell, before ultimately being taken over by Trump himself.

Assassination attempt

The Claim: After Thomas Matthew Crooks’ attempted assassination of Donald Trump on July 13, anti-Trump narratives began fueling speculation that the whole thing was staged for Trump’s political advantage.

The truth: Reporters quickly confirmed that the assassination attempt was real and that the shooter had been identified and killed.

The Spread: Rumors peaked in the two hours after the shooting, as confusion and speculation reigned, and largely calmed once reliable information was released. But on TikTok,

Hurricane Claims

The claim: Dark, dark forces can control the weather, and they intentionally steered Hurricane Helene’s path directly toward Republican-dominated rural areas of Florida and Georgia.

The truth: Although human-caused climate change likely contributed to the severity of Hurricane Helen, there is no evidence to suggest that anyone successfully – or could – intentionally control a hurricane.

The Spread: The conspiracy theory began heating up on September 28 when @MattWallace888, an X account with over 2.2 million followers, began posting misleading maps and mocking the idea that the hurricane’s path was a coincidence. Soon, TikTok videos making the same claim were viewed over a million times. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, Republican of Georgia, joined the chorus on October 3, with a tweet asserting “Yes, they can control the weather.”