Accurate information is the foundation of a functioning democracy
A worldwide network of scientists sorting fact from fiction.
Our goal is to empower readers to discern trustworthy news.
Insights
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Cattle have numerous impacts on Earth’s climate and natural environments, despite misconceptions
Summary Studies have shown that cattle farming operations – even ones that are perceived to be ‘better’ like pastured operations…
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Will solar panels overrun farmland? The two are more likely to coexist
Even if solar capacity continues to grow at unprecedented rates in the next several years, data suggests that the land used for solar panels will account for a small portion of the land used for agriculture.
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Offshore wind turbines aren’t louder than high winds or passing ships, no evidence they harm whales
Offshore wind developers have faced fierce backlash from politicians and anti-wind campaigners, funded by or linked to the fossil fuel industry. Offshore wind turbines aren’t quiet, but it’s misleading to label their noise as a danger to whales while ignoring other noise sources.
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Recent Reviews
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IncorrectViral copypasta posts mislead about cancer causes and testing, promote unproven cancer remedies such as ivermectin, fenbendazole, alkaline water, and vitamin B17
Claim:
A list of alternative cancer treatments can be “successfully used to treat certain cancers”
Source: Facebook, Social media users, 2025-01-28 -
InaccurateNo evidence of mass deaths among vaccinated people, contrary to 2022 prediction by Dolores Cahill
Claim:
Everyone who received at least one dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine would "die within three to five years."
Source: Facebook, Dolores Cahill, 2025-01-25 -
Lacks contextSome evidence that wind turbines can harm eagles, but more are killed by other causes
Claim:
Windmills are a threat to eagles’ population.
Source: X/Twitter, Instagram, Social media users, 2025-01-16 -
Wildfires in LA influenced by Santa Ana winds and dry vegetation; climate change a likely factor, contrary to viral misinformation
Wildfires occur when several unfortunate conditions align; they cannot be blamed on one factor alone, contrary to recent misinformation. Climate change increases the risk and severity of wildfires by worsening the conditions that lead and sustain them (e.g., arid/dry conditions).
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UnsupportedMel Gibson makes baseless claim on Joe Rogan’s podcast that dewormers ivermectin and fenbendazole are effective cancer cures
Claim:
Ivermectin, fenbendazole have been used to cure stage four cancer
Source: The Joe Rogan Experience, Joe Rogan, Mel Gibson, 2025-01-09 -
MisleadingEarth was hotter in the past, but that doesn’t make humans safer from modern climate change
Claim:
It is not too hot now. Temperatures and CO2 are lower now than they have been throughout nearly the entire history of the Earth.
Source: X/Twitter, Wide Awake Media, Patrick Moore, 2025-01-07
Analyses & Investigations
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Sanctioned but Thriving: How Online Platforms Fail To Address the Widespread Presence of Entities Under EU Sanctions
given the ease with which such illegal content was discovered, Meta, Google, X/Twitter, TikTok and Telegram’s compliance teams should investigate why they seem not to have taken sufficient action to limit access.
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An unfair (algorithmic?) advantage: a popularity premium for low-credibility accounts on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram before the 2024 European Parliament elections
Analysis of YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram data in the run-up to the 2024 European Parliament elections campaign highlight a substantial “popularity premium” benefitting low-credibility accounts when compared to a control group of high-credibility accounts
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Despite Community Notes, most content reviewed by fact-checkers in Europe goes unaddressed on X/Twitter
While X is presenting the crowd-sourced Community Notes system as a substitute for professional fact-checking, our results show that in a European context, Community Notes (and more broadly, X’s content moderation systems) fail to identify the posts flagged by professional fact-checkers, leaving misleading and oftentimes highly-viral content unaddressed.
News & events
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Science Feedback Participates in New Project to Measure the Amount of Misleading Information on Large Online Platforms
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Science Feedback Launches French Website to Empower the Public to Verify the Credibility of Scientific Information
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European Fact-Checking Standards Network Announces First Annual Conference
press
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CNN
Fact-checkers, targeted by MAGA loyalists, blast Zuckerberg’s assertion their work was ‘biased’
Science Feedback, another one of Meta’s fact-checking partners, said “the public faces an ever-growing risk of being misled by powerful actors prioritizing their own interests over the well-being of their audience or the public good.”
Science Feedback recently published an analysis finding that X’s community notes system failed to address “most of the misinformation identified by fact-checkers on the platform” around last year’s European Parliament elections.
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TV5 Monde
Climate: denial, fake news? climate disinformation is gaining ground
(translated from French) Climate denying influencers and certain political leaders are spreading false information. How can we combat this type of misinformation? We discussed with Marie-Eve Carignan, professor at the University of Sherbrook and Emmanuel Vincent, founder and executive director of Science Feedback.
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Wired Italia
On Facebook, Russian media don’t care about European sanctions
(translated from Italian) There are 52 pages and accounts of Russian media and individuals on Facebook, with a total of more than 3.9 million followers, which, despite having been sanctioned by the European Union after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, are still currently accessible to European citizens. This is according to a report published on July 31 by the Alliance for Europe and Science Feedback, two organizations that are part of the Counter Disinformation Network and specialize in analyzing online disinformation campaigns.
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Rolling Stone
How Elon Musk and X Became the Biggest Purveyors of Online Misinformation
Science Feedback released a study in March 2023 which found that 490 misinformation “superspreader” accounts posting viral false claims had enjoyed a 44 percent increase in engagement under the Musk regime.