The movie "Sound of Freedom" has raised social media chatter about human trafficking. It also seems to have revived old, baseless claims about celebrities’ role in the crime.

A woman in a July 23 Facebook reel said it’s a good thing that the movie "Sound of Freedom" has raised awareness about child sex trafficking. Sticker text on the video reads, "The Sound of Freedom, Balenciaga, Beyoncé & child trafficking."

She then asks, "Why is Beyoncé out on tour if she is a defendant in a major human trafficking case, that include allegations like kidnapping, torture, rape, all kinds of stuff … murder?"

The video was originally shared on TikTok by the woman seen in the video, who said July 25 in another TikTok video that her first video was flagged as hate speech. Her original video about Beyoncé is no longer on that user’s TikTok timeline, but we found others sharing it on TikTok and elsewhere.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

In the Facebook video, the woman alleges Beyoncé is "with Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein — they’re all in the same document," she said, also mentioning Jay-Z, Kanye West and The Walt Disney Co.

She didn’t specify what document she was citing, but it’s likely a reference to a civil lawsuit filed in federal court in August 2020. That lawsuit included 38 defendants, including Beyoncé Knowles, Jay-Z (under his real name, Shawn Carter), West, Weinstein, Disney and the 1953 Trust, a trust fund Epstein created.

In 2021, PolitiFact rated as False a claim that Beyoncé and Kanye West were listed as co-defendants in the criminal trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, conflating the lawsuit with the Maxwell trial. Maxwell was found guilty for sex trafficking young girls for Epstein and in September 2022 was sentenced to 20 years in prison. 

The lawsuit accused all the defendants of establishing a "sociopathic criminal enterprise" in which they "engaged in decades of human trafficking, sexual assaults and various abuses," among numerous allegations. It sought $500 million in damages.

However, the lawsuit was dismissed as "frivolous" by U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton for the Southern District of New York on Sept. 18, 2020. The judge wrote that the plaintiff had no authority to file a claim on behalf of others, and that her "claims rise to the level of the irrational, and there is no legal theory on which she can rely."

Beyoncé is in the midst of her Renaissance World Tour, which began in May and continues through October. Surely an explosive charge that she is a defendant in a human trafficking case would garner heavy news coverage, yet we found none.

The claim that Beyoncé is a defendant in a human trafficking case, along with other celebrities, dates to a 2020 lawsuit that was dismissed as "frivolous" a month after it was filed. We rate it False.

A Facebook post baselessly claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was not only arrested, but was running a child sex trafficking ring. Despite the lack of evidence, the post gained thousands of views.

"US Navy SEALs are arresting Ron DeSantis for running child sex traffick ring with CPS and judges. Foster war 2023 operation shut down," the July 25 post read in uppercase letters. (The post used the abbreviation for Child Protective Services.) 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The two-hour video in the post started with footage of a supposed military operation, with text that read, "Military takes out child sex traffick ring king pins." 

This was a simulation, not a real military operation. The footage was from a May 27, 2022, YouTube video titled "War invasion military operation in downtown Tampa Florida." The video’s caption called the event a demonstration.

According to the city of Tampa, the simulation was part of the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference. The demonstration included simulated explosions, simulated gunfire and low-flying aircraft. The U.S. Special Operations Command conducted the demonstration May 18, 2022, with a rehearsal the day earlier.

This event did not lead to any arrest of DeSantis, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, having launched his campaign in May 2023.

On July 25, the day the Facebook video was posted, news reports said DeSantis was in a car crash in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on his way to a fundraiser. Press Secretary Bryan Griffin said DeSantis and his team were uninjured.

There are no reports that said he was arrested.

We rate this claim Pants on Fire!

Some social media users shared a misleading video of President Joe Biden appearing to abruptly walk out of an on-air interview. But it was edited to omit what really happened.

The caption of a Facebook video, shared June 30, read, "Biden just gets up and leaves during a live TV interview."

In the 10-second clip, Biden gets up and shakes hands with MSNBC’s "Deadline: White House" anchor Nicolle Wallace. The two exchange thank-yous before Biden walks off the TV set as Wallace addresses the cameras.

A June 30 tweet made a similar claim with a screenshot of Biden walking off the set. TikTok videos also shared the brief clip of Biden’s exit and questioned why the president left during a live interview.

The Facebook video was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Biden didn’t leave midinterview, as the social media posts suggest.

Biden’s exit occurs at the end of his 20-minute interview with Wallace, which aired June 29. The two discussed the Supreme Court’s rulings on affirmative action and abortion, foreign policy and bipartisanship.

The full interview on MSNBC shows Wallace signaling the end of the segment about 17 minutes into the video, and then Biden walking off the set a couple of minutes later after thanking and shaking hands with Wallace.

"Well, Mr. President, we don’t get a lot of presidents through this studio, so consider it your chair, consider it an open invitation. They’re going to be a lot of things on people’s minds, and I hope you’ll look at this as a place you can come and talk about anything that’s on your mind," Wallace said.

"It’s been an honor to be here. I really mean it," Biden replied. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Thank you so much. Thank you so much, sir," Wallace said as she shook Biden’s hand. "To be continued. We’re really grateful."

Then Biden quipped, "This ain’t your father’s Republican Party."

"It is not. I can attest to that," Wallace replied. "If you ever need a witness, I can attest to that. Thank you very much."

Following this exchange, Biden remained at the interview desk and spoke for about a minute about Republicans who have privately agreed with him on certain issues and how bipartisanship is still possible.

"I said I’d be a president for every American, whether they voted for me or not," Biden said before getting up from the interview desk.

Wallace said, "Well, and the ones who didn’t vote for your bills but run on them." As Biden stood up, Wallace said, "Mr. President, thank you."

"Thank you, Nicolle. I appreciate it. Thank you, thank you, thank you," Biden said, shaking Wallace’s hand.

"Thank you very much. It was great to have you," Wallace said to Biden before turning back to the cameras.

The Facebook video ends after this exchange, cutting off Wallace midsentence as she addressed the cameras and giving the impression that Biden left with the interview in progress.

A longer clip of Biden’s exit, shared on Twitter, shows Wallace announcing a commercial break. "Don’t go anywhere. It’s a very exciting day around here. We’ll have reaction and analysis to everything we just heard from the president. We’ll be back after a short break."

We rate the claim that a video shows Biden left abruptly amid a live TV interview False.

Un video en TikTok acusa al Departamento de Justicia de minimizar la gravedad del tráfico sexual infantil.

"Biden elimina ‘tráfico sexual de menores’ como una de las prioridades del Departamento de Justicia de su gobierno", dice una imagen que sale en el video del 16 de julio. La imagen aparenta ser un artículo de un medio en Argentina.

Esa publicación y otras en las redes sociales alegan lo mismo.

David Harris, Jr., un comentarista conservador también acusó en Instagram al Presidente Joe Biden y al Departamento de Justicia de disminuir la prioridad de combatir el tráfico sexual infantil.

Su publicación incluía un video de "Sound of Freedom", una película sobre los esfuerzos de un hombre para detener el tráfico sexual infantil. 

El equipo de Harris le dijo a PolitiFact que él se refería a artículos de AmericanMilitaryNews.com y de TownHall.com una de sus páginas web.

El departamento el 12 de mayo actualizó una página en su sitio web y borró información. Pero el contenido eliminado no era sobre las prioridades del departamento respecto al tráfico sexual infantil. La información eliminada sale en nuevos reportes disponibles en otra página web del departamento, según una verificación de The Associated Press.

Una de las eliminaciones describía cómo los traficantes ponen niños de diferentes partes del mundo en prostitución en los Estados Unidos: "Estas víctimas son casi siempre traficadas lejos de casa, y tiradas en culturas y localidades desconocidas". 

Otra información eliminada describía cómo los traficantes usan el Internet y teléfonos para encontrar  más clientela y poner a víctimas en peligro. 

Los abogados del Departamento de Justicia trabajan con agencias policiales alrededor de los Estados Unidos para investigar y enjuiciar los casos de tráfico sexual infantil, y ayudan a coordinar investigaciones internacionales, dice la página que fue actualizada.

El Departamento de Justicia le dijo a PolitiFact que "continúan dándole una muy alta prioridad, y una sustanciada devoción de recursos a la pelea de explotación de niños y el tráfico sexual infantil, doméstica e internacionalmente. Sugerir lo contrario es simplemente falso".

El departamento dijo que algunas páginas de su sitio web fueron revisadas en base a un reporte, "Estrategia Nacional para la Prevención e Interdicción de la Explotación Infantil", dado al Congreso en junio. 

En abril, el Departamento de Justicia anunció que había empleado a un coordinador nacional de tráfico humano y a un coordinador nacional para la prevención e interdicción de la explotación infantil.

No encontramos evidencia de que el Departamento de Justicia haya eliminado el combatir el tráfico sexual de menores como una de sus prioridades. 

Calificamos esa afirmación como Falsa. 

Una versión de este artículo fue originalmente escrita en inglés.

Lea más reportes de PolitiFact en Español aquí.

Debido a limitaciones técnicas, partes de nuestra página web aparecen en inglés. Estamos trabajando en mejorar la presentación.

La película "Sound of Freedom" o "Sonido de Libertad" a pesar de ser un éxito taquillero, para algunos fanáticos en las redes sociales los cines están impidiendo que los cinéfilos vean la película. 

La cinta de acción basada en la fe protagonizada por Jim Caviezel, es sobre los esfuerzos anti-traficantes de niños en Colombia de un ex-agente del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional, Tim Ballard. Esta ha sido un sorprendente éxito, a pesar de competir con la última película secuela de "Indiana Jones" y otros éxitos de taquilla. 

La película también ha generado controversia sobre las declaraciones de Caviezel como cuando le dijo a Steve Bannon en su podcast, "War Room" el 22 de junio que los niños están siendo torturados para producir adrenocromo, lo cual supuestamente hace lucir a las personas más jóvenes. Esta teoría conspirativa de QAnon sin base ha sido desmentida muchas veces. 

Después de su estreno, algunos medios conservadores y usuarios en las redes sociales criticaron la cobertura mediática, diciendo que era un intento para detener a las personas de ver la película. 

Recientemente, usuarios en las redes sociales estaban diciendo que una de las cadenas más grandes de cine mostrando la película estaba intencionalmente saboteando las proyecciones de la cinta. Eso sería una decisión rara dado el éxito que ha tenido y que AMC Theatres y otras cadenas de cines todavía están luchando para recuperarse de las pérdidas debido a la pandemia de COVID-19. 

Algunas cuentas en las aplicaciones de redes sociales como X, antes conocida como Twitter , TikTok y Facebook han estado llenas de declaraciones de sabotaje por los cines debido a la falta de aire acondicionado, sonando alarmas de fuego y las luces encendidas en las salas. 

Un video en TikTok del 17 de julio dice que las personas que van a ver Sound of Freedom encuentran impedimentos para terminar de ver la película.

"Si intentas ir a ver Sound of Freedom, esta película que trata sobre el tráfico de menores, tal vez te encuentres con una pequeña situación que está pasando en muchísimos cines de Estados Unidos", dice la narradora con música de suspenso de fondo. "Que a las personas en medio de la película se les va la luz, les hacen unas alarmas de bomberos o simplemente dicen que tienen que evacuar a las personas de la sala y no dejan terminar de ver la película".

No está claro cuántos cines están siendo afectados por falta de aire acondicionado u otros problemas, o si otras películas siendo proyectadas también han sido afectadas. Pero las declaraciones de sabotaje intencional han sido rechazadas por ambos el CEO de la cadena de cine AMC Theatres y Angel Studios, la compañía que distribuye la película. 

PolitiFact contactó a ambas compañías, pero no recibió una respuesta. 

Sin embargo el CEO de AMC Theatres, Adam Aron, rechazó las teorías conspirativas en X, diciendo el 12 de julio en una publicación que más de un millón de personas habían visto "Sound of Freedom" en los teatros de AMC.  

Angel Studios el 13 de julio también rechazó las alegaciones de que cadenas de cines como AMC estaban saboteando las proyecciones. 

"Nosotros entendemos que hay rumores — predominantemente en las redes sociales — que los teatros de AMC han estado haciendo difícil para los fanáticos de ver Sound of Freedom en teatros locales de AMC, y queremos dejar claro que estos rumores no son correctos", dijo Brandon Purdie, jefe de la Distribución Teatral de Angel.

AMC también va presentar la película en más pantallas debido a su éxito, dice el comunicado de prensa. 

Jeffrey Harmon, el co-fundador de Angel Studios, publicó su apoyo a AMC el 9 de julio en respuesta a otra publicación de Aron, llamándolo un "compañero increíble". 

Harmon también el 9 de julio dijo que los problemas de aire acondicionado en algunas salas fueron debido a las "olas de calor" y pidió agradecerles a los trabajadores de los cines por su arduo trabajo. 

Compañías de aire acondicionado en estados como Carolina del Norte, California, Louisiana y Arizona han reportado un incremento en demandas de reparaciones debido a las altas temperaturas de verano y su alcance a niveles más calurosos que los promedio. 

Los problemas con las salas de cine ciertamente no han afectado la taquilla de la película. Esta ha recaudado más de $100 millones. Antes del comienzo del fin de semana del 14 de julio, la película había recaudado cerca de $54 millones en los Estados Unidos desde el estreno el 4 de julio. Sus $19.7 millones recaudados en el fin de semana del 7 al 9 de julio fue el tercero más alto detrás de la nueva secuela de terror, "Insidious: The Red Door", y "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny". 

Un video en TikTok dice que las personas que van a ver ‘Sound of Freedom’ en medio de la película se les va la luz, suenan alarmas de bomberos o los evacuan. 

Ambos AMC y el estudio detrás de la película han públicamente rechazado estas declaraciones. La película ha sido un éxito taquillero, ganando más de $100 millones. Más de un millón de personas han visto la película en los teatros de AMC, dijo el CEO de AMC. 

Calificamos esta publicación como Falsa.

Una versión de este artículo originalmente fu escrita en inglés y traducida por Maria Briceño.

Lea más reportes de PolitiFact en Español aquí.

Debido a limitaciones técnicas, partes de nuestra página web aparecen en inglés. Estamos trabajando en mejorar la presentación.

Social media remains abuzz over CMT’s decision to stop playing Jason Aldean’s "Try That in a Small Town" music video. But you shouldn’t believe every headline you read.

"Luke Bryan pulls his videos from CMT: ‘Time for the Bud Light treatment,’" read the headline in a screenshot shared in a July 21 Facebook post.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

(Screenshot from Facebook.)

This claim about Luke Bryan originated from a satirical website, but it’s being shared across social media without context that conveys the claims were fake and humorous.

For example, the Facebook screenshot claimed country music star and television personality Luke Bryan told CMT’s "Executive Vice President Joe Barron, ‘Until you reinstate Jason’s video and issue him a formal apology, you get nothing from my label.’"

When PolitiFact looked into this detail, the story began unraveling. We found no evidence that a person named Joe Barron is CMT’s "executive vice president." 

Joe Barron is, however, a recurring character in stories produced by a network of websites known for publishing satirical news.

The story about Bryan and Barron traces back to an article on The Dunning-Kruger Times, which describes itself as "a subsidiary of the ‘America’s Last Line of Defense’ network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery." It includes the following disclaimer: "Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real."

Parts of the article that weren’t captured in the screenshot are more obviously satirical. For example, it cites "the people whose adrenaline levels doubled" after watching Aldean’s music video and later jokes about a 1,400-acre estate outside of Nashville that Aldean once owned, saying the property was "basically the size of a small town."

PolitiFact has repeatedly debunked false claims that originate from articles posted on this satire site.

Another article published on the site Uplifting Today also drove claims about Bryan clashing with CMT over the Aldean controversy. Besides claiming that Bryan removed his videos from the network, the article suggested President Joe Biden canceled his CMT subscription and country singer Billy Ray Cyrus was "working on a sequel to ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ called ‘Achy Breaky Cart’ about a dangerous run-in at a rural Walmart." Readers might be forgiven for missing teeny, tiny text at the bottom of the story saying it’s on a global parody website.

PolitiFact reached out to Bryan’s agent and publicity contacts but did not hear back in time of publication. A CMT spokesperson confirmed Bryan had not pulled his videos from CMT. 

Bryan shouted Aldean out during his July 20 concert in Ridgefield, Washington. "Wanna send this one out to my buddy Jason Aldean tonight, all right?" Bryan said. 

Facebook posts claimed, "Luke Bryan pulls his videos from CMT: ‘Time for the Bud Light treatment.’"

This originated on a satire website, but has been shared without the context that showed it was a joke. 

We rate claims that don’t include a satire disclaimer False.

RELATED: Jason Aldean's 'Try That in a Small Town' video includes footage from non-U.S. protests

RELATED: Was Garth Brooks ghosted by Illinois fans over his pro-LGBTQ+ stance? No. That story is satirical

Fans of country singer Jason Aldean have voiced their frustration after CMT pulled his "Try That in a Small Town" music video from rotation.

CMT didn’t say why it had stopped airing the video, but the move followed charges the video was racist and glorified lynching and violence, allegations Aldean has denied.

Some country singers have since shown their support for Aldean, but not every headline about supposed displays of solidarity is authentic. 

"Hank Williams Jr resigns from CMT’s board of directors: ‘I support Jason Aldean,’" reads what looks like one news headline among several shared in a recent Facebook post. 

It was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

We found the headline on the website of The Dunning-Kruger Times, which publishes "parody, satire and tomfoolery," according to its About Us page.

We found no evidence that Williams has made such a show of support for Aldean. No such statement appears on his Facebook, Instagram or Twitter pages, and we found no news stories corroborating the claim. 

We rate claims that it’s authentic False.

After a tornado struck a Pfizer facility in North Carolina on July 19, some social media users claimed the company’s vaccine supply had been demolished.

Multiple Instagram posts shared July 19 claimed the Pfizer warehouse destroyed by a tornado was "full of Covid vaccines."

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The tornado swept across 16.5 miles of central North Carolina, damaging several structures, including the Pfizer facility in Rocky Mount, about 60 miles northeast of Raleigh. 

More than a dozen people were injured. Pfizer confirmed all 3,200 workers at this facility were able to evacuate.

Amy Rose, a Pfizer spokesperson, told PolitiFact that COVID-19 vaccines and Paxlovid, a medicine that treats coronavirus infections, are not produced at the Rocky Mount facility.

In a press release, Pfizer said this facility has been a key producer of sterile injectables since 1968, and it is currently responsible for manufacturing 25% of the company’s sterile injectables, including anesthesia, analgesia, therapeutics, anti-infectives and neuromuscular blockers.

The site is closed while the pharmaceutical company assesses the tornado damage.

An initial assessment found that the warehouse facility sustained most of the damage. Pfizer said it stores raw materials, packaging supplies and finished medicines awaiting release. There does not appear to be any major damage to the medicine production areas.

We rate the claim that the North Carolina Pfizer facility damaged by a tornado was "full of Covid vaccines" False.

RELATED: Claim tornado planned for Pfizer insurance money unfounded

There’s seemingly no end to the number of celebrities supposedly hawking diets — through pills or gummies — on Facebook.

PolitiFact has debunked many claims over the years about a wide range of celebrities endorsing these products, including Oprah Winfrey, actor Kevin Costner, Dr. Phil McGraw, country singers Tim McGraw and Miranda Lambert, and former "Shark Tank" contestants.

In a new claim, CNN host Anderson Cooper supposedly interviewed MSNBC host Joy Reid about diet gummies on his show.

A July 21 Facebook post shares a video with a screenshot of Cooper on his show, with an image of Reid inset. "Joy Reid weight loss formula," read a chyron with smaller text that reads, "Americans are losing weight with NTX Keto."

In the video, Cooper says, "Joy Reid’s provocative photos of her weight loss results using NTX Keto are all over the internet. Is this true? We decided to ask Joy herself, and this is what she told us."

The video cuts to Reid, with the logo of her MSNBC show "The Reid Out" in the background. 

A link on the Facebook post goes to a fake Joy Reid Facebook post where she supposedly endorses the gummies. That page links to an order page from a company called KetoBites. 

We found two other Facebook posts with the same video.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

If it seems strange that a cable news show would switch to the set of another cable news show, and that a journalist would then hawk a product on air, that’s because it is. 

Another sign that something is amiss in the video is the unnatural look of Cooper and Reid’s mouths, which at times move when no words are coming out, and at times appear blurry and off-center, clear signs of a deepfake video.

A screenshot of Joy Reid in a deepfake Facebook video shows a blurry, off-centered mouth.

We searched a CNN webpage containing transcripts of "Anderson Cooper 360" and found Reid’s name in none of the show descriptions. Shimrit Sheetrit, a CNN spokesperson, told PolitiFact a Cooper-Reid interview "did not happen."

And Reid herself debunked the video, writing in a July 23 Facebook post, "Welp… I guess I’ve made it in the world. I’ve been deep faked."

Reid wrote that she doesn’t take weight loss gummies and hasn’t endorsed them. Her weight loss regimen? She works out twice a week with a coach, who advises her on nutrition.

"What a wild world AI has created," Reid wrote.

We can add Reid to the list of celebrities who are not hawking diet gummies or other products on Facebook. The claim is Pants on Fire!

A spate of social media posts have recently vested the World Economic Forum with far more power than it actually has. 

So far this month, we’ve debunked claims that the nonprofit, which holds annual meetings in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss global commerce and political concerns, banned natural conception and is requiring a microchip that will "end gun ownership in America."

Now, a July 24 Instagram post says that Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum’s founder and executive chairman, "publicly admitted he is planning to implement China-style forced COVID lockdowns all over the world during the ‘next pandemic.’" 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Schwab doesn’t have the authority to implement a global lockdown, and the Instagram post offers no evidence that he announced such a plan. 

The post features a video and two images: the trailer for the movie 2020 COVID-19-inspired movie "Songbird," a picture of Schwab and an image of Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg.

The World Economic Forum didn’t immediately respond to PolitiFact’s questions about this post. 

But we looked for and found no news reports or other credible sources suggesting that Schwab said he plans to implement global forced lockdowns during the next pandemic. Maybe because he can’t. 

This claim may have originated with a July 23 tweet that said, "Klaus Schwab Just PUBLICLY ADMITTED He Is Planning To Implement China-Style Forced Covid Lockdowns ALL OVER THE WORLD During The ‘Next Pandemic’ Which He ‘EXPECTS’ To Happen Soon." 

A YouTube video from what appears to be the same user focuses on something Schwab said during a speech at the 2023 World Government Summit in February: "The capability to bounce back," Schwab said, "because there will be certainly what we call the black swans, the unpleasant surprises, which will come our way." 

The narrator then accuses Schwab of "trying to implement China-style policies all over the world for these black swan events that he knows he’s coming in part because he’s playing a role in them."

That hardly amounts to proof Schwab said he’s planning to implement a global lockdown.

We rate that claim False.

ESPN soccer analyst Shaka Hislop collapsed on air before a July 23 match between Real Madrid and AC Milan. 

But we found no evidence to support claims that the episode was connected to COVID-19 vaccines, as some social media posts have suggested. 

"Ex Newcastle Utd star Shaka Hislop working for ESPN collapses on live TV," a July 24 tweet said, referring to the Newcastle United soccer team for which Hislop once played. "He’s now in stable condition. This is not normal. Government and health officials need an urgent investigation into why this is happening & excess mortality levels. They don’t because the answer will mean a lot of power people end up in jail."

The tweet uses emoji for a red rotating light emoji and a syringe and shows a video clip of Hislop collapsing.

ESPN did not immediately respond to PolitiFact’s questions about Hislop. 

ESPN commentator Adrian Healey said during a broadcast of the match that Hislop was "OK" and had "recovered," The Athletic reported.

Hislop’s colleague, Dan Thomas, also gave this update during the game’s halftime: "He’s conscious. He’s talking. I think he’s embarrassed about it all."

Thomas added that it was "far too early to make any sort of diagnosis, but the important thing is that Shaka is conscious" and that he had spoken to "Shaka’s wife and things are looking OK."

Hislop is vaccinated against COVID-19. In an August 2021 video posted on the Newcastle City Council’s Facebook page, he urged people to "go and get vaccinated." 

"I got mine months ago, and I feel so much better for it," Hislop said.

Looking for news reports or other credible sources connecting this vaccination to his recent collapse, we found only speculation. 

That’s not enough to support such a dramatic claim. If evidence does emerge linking what happened to Hislop on July 23 and his COVID-19 shots, we’ll reconsider this ruling. 

For now, it’s False.

Misinformation has followed the release of "Sound of Freedom," a faith-based thriller about former Homeland Security agent Tim Ballard’s anti-child trafficking efforts in Colombia.

We’ve already debunked a claim that AMC is intentionally deterring people from seeing the movie. 

Another allegation spreading on social media suggests actor Mel Gibson is being persecuted because of the film. 

"7 MINUTES AGO: Mel Gibson Cries For PROTECTION From Hollywood Elite After Sound of Freedom," reads the caption of a nearly 11-minute video in a July 23 Facebook post.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The video in the post features clips from old Gibson interviews and a narrator who essentially plagiarizes a July 13 Newsweek article, following the structure of the story and repeating some sentences verbatim while rephrasing others with stronger language. 

The Newsweek article recounts an interview Gibson gave in 1998, and this appears to be the supposed cry for protection alluded to in the Facebook post — though it came 25 years before "Sound of Freedom" was released.

Segments of that interview have drawn attention in recent days. On July 9, Elijah Schaffer, host of the podcast "Slightly Offensive," and other people tweeted about three minutes worth of clips from the interview and said: "SHOCKING: Mel Gibson (Sound of Freedom) is the REAL DEAL warned of evils of Hollywood in 1998."

In the video, Gibson — who Ballard has said helped edit "Sound of Freedom" — doesn’t cry for protection from Hollywood elite, to use the Facebook post’s language. 

He does say things about Hollywood such as, "It takes that kind of cockroach resilience to survive in this town," and "I had a whole bunch of weird, paranoid suspicions about what the hell was going on, because there was a lot of stuff I couldn’t understand."

But that doesn’t support this Facebook post’s claim. 

We rate it False.

Vice President Kamala Harris drew wide attention when she called a section about slavery in Florida’s new middle school social studies standards an "insult."

"They push forward revisionist history," Harris said July 20 at a national convention of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. "Just yesterday, in the state of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery. They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it — we who share a collective experience in knowing we must honor history and our duty in the context of legacy."

Harris revisited the subject in Jacksonville, Florida, July 21. "They want to replace history with lies," she said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking in Utah that day, said he "wasn’t involved" in writing the standards, but he defended them as being "rooted in whatever is factual."

"They’re probably going to show that some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life," he told reporters.

The Republican National Committee accused Harris of telling a "complete lie." Conservative critics said Harris was focusing exclusively on one part of the standards.

Although the new standards include many conventional lesson points about the history of slavery, they also include a sentence that enslaved people developed skills that "could be applied for their personal benefit" — and this has drawn heated rebuttals from historians, who consider it factually misleading and offensive for seeming to find a silver lining in slavery.

The Florida Board of Education approved new social studies standards July 19 following a law passed by the legislature in 2022, known as "Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees Act" or the "Stop W.O.K.E. Act." 

The law bans workplaces and schools from teaching that anyone must feel guilt based on their race as a result of actions by others in the past. Earlier this year, Florida rejected a new high school Advanced Placement course on Black studies.

The 216-page standards document covers a broad sweep of Black history, along with topics such as the Holocaust, world history and geography. It includes different standards for elementary, middle and high school students.

The part of Florida’s new standards that Harris was citing is for grades six through eight. It says: 

"Examine the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation)." 

The controversial part is in this "benchmark clarification" about slave labor: "Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."

The rest of the document includes specific standards about slavery, including the development of slavery and the conditions for Africans as they were brought to America. It also covers how slave codes resulted in enslaved people becoming property without rights, abolitionist movements, state and federal laws, revolts by slaves, and the Civil War.

Lessons about Black history include later eras such as Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, lynchings, contributions of Black Americans during both world wars, and the modern Civil Rights movement. 

The standards include some information covering the past two decades, naming an array of historically significant Black Americans who should be included in instruction, such as President Barack Obama, Supreme Court Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Clarence Thomas, Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, and Harris, the first Black vice president and first woman in the role.

The standards do not address the Black Lives Matter movement, including nationwide protests following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by Minneapolis police.

Destruction from the 1921 Tulsa massacre, in which white mobs attacked and razed a Black neighborhood, killing dozens. (Library of Congress)

Following state law, the standards were written by a working group that included teachers or school district staff who work in elementary education, social studies or history, or people experienced in teaching Black history.

Two members of the working group, William Allen and Frances Presley Rice, wrote in a statement shared by the education department that the criticism took "a few isolated expressions without context."

Rice is the chair of the National Black Republican Association. Allen lives in Maryland but grew up in Fernandina Beach, Florida. He is a retired political science professor and former dean of James Madison College at Michigan State University. 

The intent of the "personal benefit" benchmark, they wrote, was "to show that some slaves developed highly specialized trades from which they benefited" and listed the names of blacksmiths, shoe makers, shipping and industry workers, tailors and teachers.

"Any attempt to reduce slaves to just victims of oppression fails to recognize their strength, courage and resilience during a difficult time in American history," they said. But the Tampa Bay Times found that some of the people listed by the working group were not enslaved when they developed these skills or were freed at a young age. For example, Booker T. Washington, who was enslaved until he was 9, worked in mines and as a houseboy before entering school and later becoming a teacher. 

In an interview with PolitiFact, Allen argued the examples apply even if they developed skills after slavery. He noted that the title of Washington’s autobiography was "Up From Slavery."

"They benefited from the skills, not the slavery," Allen told PolitiFact.

Family of enslaved Black Americans in a field in Georgia, circa 1850. (Public domain)

Multiple experts on Black history and racism in the United States said the language used in Florida’s standards about enslaved people learning skills is misleading.

Marvin Dunn, a psychology professor emeritus at Florida International University, has authored several books on the history of African Americans.

"Most enslaved people had no special skills at all that benefited them following their enslavement," Dunn said. "For almost all their skill was picking cotton. An enslaved man who was made to be a blacksmith might have been a king had he not been captured and taken from his country. Is he supposed to be grateful? Enslavement prevented people from becoming who and what they might have been and that was slavery's greatest injury to humankind."

Dunn added that "there was no upside to slavery that applied to the enslaved."

Katheryn Russell-Brown, a law professor and director of the Race and Crime Center for Justice at the University of Florida, said the standards lack important context.

Russell-Brown said the standards offer "no discussion" of people who enslaved others. Much of the attention given to white people relates to how whites stood up against slavery, such as assisting with the Underground Railroad and support for Reconstruction policies for freed Blacks after the Civil War. It includes some information about groups opposed to "American equality," such as the Ku Klux Klan. 

Bruce Levine, an emeritus professor of history at the University of Illinois and author of "Half Slave & Half Free: The Roots of Civil War," was one of several scholars of the period who told PolitiFact that they rejected the value of spotlighting "skills" learned while enslaved.

"Very simply, can you imagine saying this about ‘skills’ developed in Nazi forced-labor camps?" he said. 

Carol Anderson, an African American studies professor at Emory University, said the standards represent an "old argument that slavery was a benevolent institution that benefited the enslaved."

"It has the racist underpinning of treating Africans as if they had no skills prior to being kidnapped from their homelands and trafficked to America," Anderson said. "In fact, it was Africans’ skills in cultivating tobacco, sugar and rice that proved beneficial to the enslavers and built the inordinate wealth of the United States. The question itself is dehumanizing."

Added Ashley Rogers Berner, director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy: "It is not common for state standards to include language about the ‘benefit’ to enslaved persons of learning trades."

Harris said Florida "decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery."

That is not the only lesson Florida students would be taught under the standards that also include many other aspects of Black history and slavery. But the one Harris cited is included, and has drawn significant criticism.

The middle school standards approved by the Florida state education board say students should learn about "skills" learned by slaves that could be "applied for their personal benefit." Several historians who have studied slavery cast doubt on this lesson’s educational value. 

We rate this statement Mostly True.

Recent Facebook posts have suggested former President Donald Trump is still the commander in chief, dispatching U.S. troops to the border. 

"BREAKING," begins one July 22 post. "Trump and Mattis just sent a battalion to the border and they’re bringing hell with them." 

"BREAKING," a July 23 post says. "Trump’s troops have arrived! Look what they’re putting on the border to stop the caravan!"

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The July 22 post features a video from YouTube channel The Next News Network, but it’s not breaking. It’s from Oct. 25, 2018, when then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was expected to sign an order sending at least 800 troops to the U.S-Mexico border. 

The July 23 post, meanwhile, has a video showing a montage of clips of migrants and members of the military set to dramatic music. These, too, appear to be old. One, for example, shows an October 2018 shot of the Guatemala-Mexico border where thousands of migrants were stopped.

Trump is not the president and no longer has the authority to send U.S. troops to any border. 

We rate claims that he recently did Pants on Fire!

Un video de una explosion reciente en Luisiana parece sacada de la nueva película de Christopher Nolan "Oppenheimer", la cual se trata del desarrollo de la primera bomba nuclear y su creador J. Robert Oppenheimer. Pero la realidad de lo que pasó en Luisiana es menos aterradora. 

Un usuario en Twitter publicó un video de varias explosiones de una planta química en Luisiana, diciendo que liberó radiación en la zona y toda la población fue evacuada. 

"Impactantes imágenes dejan 8 potentes explosiones en planta química de Louisiana - Estados Unidos, causando alerta roja por radiación en la zona donde se ordenó evacuar a toda la población, pero como no es Venezuela, Rusia o Irán esto no lo verás en CNN," dice la publicación.  

Esta publicación exagera los eventos. 

The Associated Press reportó sobre un incendio que sucedió el 14 de julio en la planta química Dow en Plaquemine, Luisiana, que ocasionó seis explosiones. El alguacil de Plaquemine Bret Stassi dijo que no hubieron heridos y la compañía había localizado a todos sus empleados. 

Los oficiales de Iberville Parish, donde Plaquemine se ubica, recomendaron que los ciudadanos cerca del área apagaran los aires acondicionados y abanicos mientras se refugiaban en sus hogares. También reportaron que el fuego comenzó en una área de la planta que maneja óxido de etileno, que es inflamable y tóxico, razón por la cual implementaron el orden de refugio. 

El 15 de julio, Dow y el Consejo de Iberville Parish anunciaron que no se detectó material peligroso en el ambiente y los ciudadanos podrían salir de sus hogares. 

No hay reportes de radiación en el área. Aun así, la exposición al óxido de etileno puede causar daños en los pulmones, diarrea y náuseas según la Administración de Seguridad y Salud Ocupacional (OSHA, por sus siglas en inglés). 

No hay evidencia que los oficiales de Iberville pusieran una alerta roja o que haya radiación en la zona. 

Las plantas químicas utilizan reacciones químicas de materia prima para crear nuevos productos. En una reacción química los átomos se vuelven más estables, mientras en la reacciones nucleares los átomos crean isótopos inestables que son radioactivos, según Science Direct y Libretexts Chemistry.

Una publicación en Twitter dice, "8 potentes explosiones en planta química de Luisiana - Estados Unidos, causando alerta roja por radiación en la zona donde se ordenó evacuar a toda la población."

Esto no es correcto, ya que solo fueron seis explosiones reportadas y los ciudadanos del área solo se refugiaron por unas horas en sus hogares. Dow y el Consejo de Iberville Parish reportaron que no se detectó material peligroso en el ambiente.

Clasificamos esta publicación como Falsa. 

Lea más reportes de PolitiFact en Español aquí.

Debido a limitaciones técnicas, partes de nuestra página web aparecen en inglés. Estamos trabajando en mejorar la presentación.

Un usuario en Facebook afirma que Florida ha decretado inválidas las licencias de conducir de los estados de Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai, Rhode Island y Vermont. 

"Noticias de último momento, la Florida ha decretado que cinco licencias de diferentes estados de los Estados Unidos ya no van a ser válidas en este estado," dice el video. "Entre esas licencias invalidadas están las licencias de Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai, Rhode Island y Vermont." 

Esta afirmación tiene algo de verdad, pero le falta contexto.

El gobernador de Florida Ron DeSantis, firmó este año una nueva ley que dice que ciertas licencias y permisos de conducir emitidos por otros estados exclusivamente a "inmigrantes no autorizados" no son válidos en Florida. La ley entró en vigor el 1 de julio.

La ley requiere que el Departamento de Seguridad Vial y Vehículos Motorizados (FLHSMV, por sus siglas en inglés)mantenga una lista en línea de las clases de licencias de otros estados que ahora no son válidas en Florida. Actualmente, la lista invalida las licencias que dicen "no para identificación federal" o "solo privilegios de conducir" de Connecticut, Delaware y Hawai.

Las personas a las que se sorprenda conduciendo con estas licencias exclusivas para conducir pueden enfrentar citaciones y sanciones en Florida. La ley también prohíbe que las personas que se encuentran ilegalmente en el país soliciten una licencia de conducir en Florida.

Diecinueve estados y Washington, D.C. emiten licencias de conducir para inmigrantes que se encuentran en los EE. UU. ilegalmente, tienen 16 años o más y no pueden establecer una presencia legal en los Estados Unidos. Estas licencias no sirven como identificación estatal o federal; son exclusivamente un permiso para manejar.

Para solicitar estas licencias, las personas deben presentar evidencia de su residencia estatal, tomar una prueba de permiso de aprendizaje y presentar una declaración jurada que indique que presentarán, tan pronto como sean elegibles, una solicitud para legalizar su estatus migratorio.

Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai, Rhode Island y Vermont se encuentran entre los estados que emiten estas licencias.

El departamento de vehículos de Florida actualmente rechaza esas licencias solo de Connecticut, Delaware y Hawai. Las licencias de los otros estados están permitidas en Florida porque también se emiten a personas que se encuentran legalmente en los EE. UU.

El 18 de julio, Rhode Island y Vermont fueron eliminados de la lista luego de que funcionarios estatales contactaran a funcionarios de Florida. Ambos estados aclararon que el formato de licencia que emiten a las personas que se encuentran ilegalmente en el país es el mismo que se otorga a las personas que se encuentran legalmente en el país.

Los residentes también pueden obtener estas licencias de "solo privilegios de conducir" en ambos estados.

La publicación en Facebook no menciona  los conductores con licencias estándar no tendrán problemas para conducir por Florida.

Una publicación en Facebook afirma que licencias de conducir de Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai, Rhode Island y Vermont…han sido declaradas no válidas" en Florida.

A esta afirmación le falta un contexto importante, ya que la ley se aplica sólo a las licencias marcadas como "no para identificación federal" o "solo privilegios de conducir". Se seguirán aceptando las licencias estándar para ciudadanos e inmigrantes legalmente en los EE. UU.

Estas licencias invalidadas solo para conducir se otorgan específicamente a inmigrantes que se encuentran ilegalmente en los EE. UU. Actualmente, solo las licencias específicas de Connecticut, Delaware y Hawai están marcadas como inválidas por el departamento de vehículos de Florida.

Calificamos lo que dice esta publicación como Mayormente Falso.

Lea más reportes de PolitiFact en Español aquí.

Debido a limitaciones técnicas, partes de nuestra página web aparecen en inglés. Estamos trabajando en mejorar la presentación.

Worries about being poisoned by fentanyl have proliferated on social media in recent years as the deadly drug has worn on Americans. 

Some claims say police warned people to wipe the handles of shopping carts to avoid being poisoned by fentanyl residue. Others warned that people were overdosing by picking up dollar bills laced with the drug. Still others warned that gas station pumps were being laced with toxins so human traffickers could kidnap incapacitated victims.

The fentanyl crisis is real — nearly 110,000 people died of drug overdoses in the U.S. in 2022, the vast majority of them because of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. But PolitiFact has found no evidence supporting those claims about deadly surface contact.

A new claim has surfaced in recent weeks that construction workers were receiving water bottles on hot days from seemingly friendly passing motorists, only to find the beverages were laced with fentanyl.

A July 20 Facebook post shared what appeared to be a letter to employees from Precision Pipeline, a Wisconsin construction company. "Safety alert" was written on top of the letter, with a subject line that read, "Cautionary Incident Involving External Beverage Source."

The letter said two employees of another company, NPL Pipeline Co., working as flaggers, were offered water bottles by a passenger in a passing vehicle. The water bottles were laced with fentanyl, which left one of the workers dead and the other critically injured, the letter said.

The letter warned employees not to take food and beverages from anyone outside their team.

We reached out to Precision Pipeline to verify the authenticity of the letter, but didn’t hear back.

We could find no "NPL Pipeline Company," as named in the letter, but there is an NPL Construction Co., an Arizona-based company that provides natural gas utility infrastructure services. It operates in 29 U.S.locations, including four in the Chicago area: The city of Chicago, Naperville, Cortland and East Chicago, Indiana.

NPL denied the letter’s premise in a July 21 Facebook post, a tweet and a post on LinkedIn.

"We are aware of a false report stating NPL employees were harmed after drinking drug-laced water offered to them by a member of the public. This information is entirely false," the posts said.

Bruce Van Wankun, a Cortland Police Department commander, said he spoke with an employee at the NPL office in that town, and that person "verified that this is a false hoax. It never happened."

The department has received no calls about an incident like the one the post describes,he said.

The Naperville Police Department hasn’t, either, said Kelley Munch, a city spokesperson.

"We are not aware of any such incidents occurring in our jurisdiction," Munch said.

Luis Agostini, a public information officer for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Chicago office, called the claims "urban legends" in a July 21 tweet that has since been deleted.

Posts describing the same scenario — fentanyl-laced water given to outdoor workers — have surfaced in San Diego and Washington state.

A July 20 Instagram post shared an image of a document from SDGE, a gas and electric company in San Diego. The document, dated July 19, said two flaggers from a local contracting company that were working on a solar project were given fentanyl-laced water bottles, leading to the death of one worker.

Alex Welling, a spokesperson for SDGE, said the document was real, but the company later realized it could not confirm the incident.

"After further evaluation, we discovered the source of this incident information could not be confirmed. All external social media sources that posted this information have been taken down," Welling said. "However, while we couldn’t confirm the validity of this incident, our safety reminders are still important to keep in mind."

An undated article on the website of Big Frog 104, a New York country music station, said Rensselaer County Bureau of Public Safety’s director sent a May 25 email to county emergency services to warn them about a similar fentanyl-laced water bottle incident in Spokane, Washington.

We reached out to the Rensselaer County bureau to see if the email was real, but have not heard back.

In a search of Google and the Nexis database, we could find no credible news reports that incidents like this have happened in the Chicago area, San Diego or Spokane.

A social media post claimed two flaggers working for a pipeline company in the Chicago area were poisoned with fentanyl-laced water bottles given to them by a person in a passing car.

The post shared a letter from a Wisconsin company warning its employees about the incident. We were unable to verify if the letter is real. The letter’s claim that the workers at NPL, a separate company operating in Illinois, were poisoned is inaccurate. NPL posted on its social media accounts that the reports are false.

We could find no credible evidence the incident described in the letter happened. We rate the claim False.

Photos of children participating in satanic rituals at schools are circulating on social media. But don’t let certain devilish depictions fool you.

A July 19 Facebook reel claimed an elementary school in Virginia started "an after-school program about Satanism." The video shows multiple photos of this supposed satanic school club. In two photos, children are seated around a pentagram in a library. In other photos, children are wearing what looks like satanic clothing. In another, children are sitting in front of a devil-like creature with large horns and claws.

"The Bible says that in the last days before Jesus comes again, people will call what is evil good and what is good evil," the person in the reel says.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The photos shown in the post are not real. They were created with generative artificial intelligence, which has become wildly popular now that it is accessible to more people.

If you look closely at the photos, there’s a lack of identifiable brands or distinguishable features that would clue viewers into what school this is or where this takes place. Also, some children in the photos have blurry faces or lack full sets of fingers on their hands. These are among the signs experts say you can use to spot AI-generated images.

The creator of these photos, The Pumpkin Express, also put a watermark on the images, which can be seen in the Facebook reel. The creator said in a May 2 Facebook post that the photos were not real and were made with an AI software. "The children are not real, this never happened," the post said.

PolitiFact debunked a similar claim about these photos in Spanish.

This creator also used AI to make images of occult-themed clothes at Target, which we fact-checked when they were shared out of context.

In a May 8 Facebook post, The Pumpkin Express reiterated that the photos of children doing satanic rituals at school were AI-generated. "No, these are not pics actually taken. They were generated just in fun," the post said. "This is not the satanic book club in Pennsylvania or wherever that was approved. This is not Satancon. I’m not a satanist."

In February, the After School Satan Club held its first meeting at B.M. Williams Primary School in Chesapeake, Virginia. The club was organized by The Satanic Temple, which says its objective is to "encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice and undertake noble pursuits."

According to the group’s website, the After School Satan Club is "not interested in converting children to Satanism," but in providing "a safe and inclusive alternative" to religious clubs at public schools.

Students involved in the club make toys for animals in shelters, write letters to children in hospitals and play educational games, Lisabeth Burkhardt, The Satanic Temple’s assistant to executive ministry, told PolitiFact in May.

"The AI images have no resemblance to anything at SatanCon or The Satanic Temple at large and certainly not our after-school program," Burkhardt said. "We do not believe in the existence of Satan, and we do not champion evil."

We rate the claim that these photos depict children participating in satanic rituals at school False.

On Facebook, a man styled as a news anchor claimed there’s no need to buy solar panels, because U.S. homeowners can get them for free.

"Do not buy solar panels! It’s the latest announcement from the government," the man said in the July 11 Facebook post. "You see, our government just had an urgent meeting and we’ve just been informed that, with the goal to reduce carbon emissions, they launched a program called the 2023 Solar Incentive Program, and anyone who owns their home and lives in the United States can now qualify to get a full, state-of-the-art solar system at absolutely no cost from the government."

He continued, encouraging people to complete an online application to have a crew come install a rooftop solar system at no cost.

Don’t do that. Offers that promise free or extremely low-cost items when those things typically come with high price tags are often scams. PolitiFact frequently debunks such claims on social media, so we decided to investigate this no-cost solar panel promotion. 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

(Screenshot from Facebook.)

The "2023 Solar Incentive Program" is an empty promise. American homeowners might be eligible for federal tax credits for solar installations or state subsidies for solar energy, but not free panels.

The U.S. government does not provide free solar panels, said a U.S. Department of Energy spokesperson. The department urges people to report scams to the Federal Trade Commission.

The Energy Department and the Solar Energy Technologies Office have warned consumers about online solar scams. 

"As more people choose solar energy, the increase in popularity has opened the door for some bad actors who are spreading misinformation," wrote Becca Jones-Albertus, the director of the Energy Department’s Solar Energy Technologies Office. 

PolitiFact turned up no search results for the "2023 Solar Incentive Program" on government websites. 

The Facebook post’s link to "see if you qualify" took us to a Smart Home Savings page, which we’ve archived here so you can avoid similar websites in the future. 

Near the bottom of that page, there’s an important disclaimer: "‘No Cost’ means that you may not be required to put any money down at the time of installation if you qualify. Solar is not free, but it usually saves homeowners thousands of dollars more than the initial investment."

Although there are no federal programs to install solar panels for free, there are some real programs that could make it more affordable.

The Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in August 2022, expanded the solar federal tax credit, for example. Americans might be eligible to receive a 30% federal tax credit for installing a solar photovoltaic system through 2032. 

"Some states subsidize solar energy for income-qualified households," Jones-Albertus said. People can verify whether the program is legitimate by seeing whether it’s listed on a .gov website or calling the state office to learn more, she said.

A Facebook video claimed the government "launched a program called the 2023 Solar Incentive Program" which means American homeowners "can now qualify to get a full, state-of-the-art solar system at absolutely no cost from the government."

The U.S. government does not provide free solar panels. The Energy Department and the Solar Energy Technologies Office have warned consumers about this type of online scam involving solar panels. 

We rate this claim False.

RELATED: The federal government is providing free solar panel installation and $8,500 incentive checks to eligible homeowners.

RELATED: Don’t fall for this Facebook post promising cheap Walmart bikes

A swarm of flying insects at a Baltimore music festival in June has many people still buzzing on social media, with some suggesting a sinister plot was undertaken to unleash deadly mosquitoes on the crowd.

"Helicopter released deadly mosquitoes in Baltimore, MD, AFRAM 2023," read sticker text on a video shared July 13 on Instagram. "Baltimore I can’t believe yall did us dirty and released those bugs on us," it continued.

We found multiple similar posts on social media alleging the insects were intentionally targeted to attack the crowd at the AFRAM music festival, one of the largest African American festivals on the East Coast. 

Some posts linked the insects to Microsoft Corp. co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and his ties to an anti-malaria program outside the U.S. that genetically modifies mosquitoes.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

It’s been over a month since the festival ended, but no one appears to have died as a result of the supposedly deadly insect swarm.

Arinze Ifekauche, a spokesperson for the Baltimore Public Health Department, said it hasn’t "received any reports of bug-borne illness stemming from AFRAM."

More likely, as many others tweeted, the swarm of insects were likely gnats. 

One attendee posted a June 19 TikTok video about the festival. She described millions of gnats "that came out of nowhere" and started flying into people’s ears, mouths and noses. Many left early, she said. "I stayed, honey, but it was torture," she said. 

The TikTok shows what it said was Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott addressing the insects. "You all can deal with the gnats. You all dealt with the cicadas, you can handle the gnats. Calm down."

We spoke with Doug Tallamy, a professor in the University of Delaware’s Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology. He said the swarming insects were likely midges, which are nonbiting and resemble mosquitoes.

"Mosquitoes don’t swarm like that," said Tallamy, who described the claim in the Instagram post as "utter nonsense."

He said the swarms have nothing to do with people. The midges aren’t interested in them. The male midges are just trying to find a female to mate with, he said.

"It’s like a bar scene. They go to the bar and hope to pick up a female. The female only goes to these swarms, so they have to be there," Tallamy said. 

He added that the swarms may have come from a nearby water source. A Google map shows Druid Hill Park, where the festival was held, is close to Druid Lake.

Mosquitoes, by contrast, tend to be most active at dusk and dawn, when there is little wind and it’s not bright and sunny. When female mosquitoes feed — they’re the only ones who bite —   they don’t do it in groups.

"She’s trying to get a blood meal, so that she can generate eggs. Getting together with a bunch of other females competing for it makes no sense at all," Tallamy said.

Michael Raupp, an entomologist at the University of Maryland, told The Associated Press the insects could be "eye gnats," which he said breed in grassy lawns.

Although the post we are checking and others didn’t specify who they think is plotting to unleash deadly mosquitoes, some tied it to a Gates-connected program that releases genetically modified mosquitoes in some parts of the world to combat malaria. 

The biotechnology company Oxitec has a program that targets two malaria-spreading mosquitoes, Anopheles stephensi and Anopheles albimanus, in Africa and Central America, by releasing genetically modified mosquitoes to mate with them. The malaria program is not in the U.S.

We rated False a claim that said Gates is behind five recent cases of malaria found in the U.S. because his foundation funded the Oxitec malaria program. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has provided funding for Oxitec’s malaria programs but not for its work in the U.S., a spokesperson told us.

Separately, Oxitec has a program, called the Friendly Aedes program, aimed at controlling the population of the invasive Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the U.S. Those pests can carry dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika fever and yellow fever, but not malaria. 

The U.S. program works by releasing genetically modified male mosquitoes to mate with females and pass on a protein that prevents female offspring from surviving to adulthood. The modified mosquitoes do not bite humans, nor do they carry diseases that could infect them, Jamie Lester, an Oxitec spokesperson, told PolitiFact.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved Oxitec’s genetically modified mosquitoes for field testing in the Florida Keys and parts of California. Harris County, Texas, was removed as an approved testing location in 2022 after no activity occurred there.

Field testing so far has taken place only in Florida, Lester said; there are no programs in Maryland. 

Those mosquitoes "are not released by helicopter or in any other sudden mass release. They are released gradually over a period of days after adding water to a small box," said Lester, who added that the mosquitoes could not be released in the quantity seen in the Instagram video.

An Oxitec webpage has an image of the boxes, and this YouTube video by the company shows how it works.

Tallamy said no sinister plot is afoot with these programs, which are aimed at reducing the population of invasive mosquitoes in the U.S.

"These are programs designed to help people, not to get them," he said.

An Instagram video claimed that a "helicopter released deadly mosquitoes" at Baltimore’s AFRAM Festival.

Many who attended the festival described the flying insects as gnats, not mosquitoes. An expert told us that mosquitoes do not swarm in the way seen in the video. 

We rate the claim False.