Melissa Goldin
@melissagoldin.bsky.social
News Verification Reporter @apnews.com Previously: @newsguard.bsky.social | mgoldin@ap.org apnews.com/ap-fact-check melissagoldin.com
False claims about vaccines: apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: Trump makes false claims as he signs order urging revisions around childhood vaccines
While issuing an executive order urging states to revise childhood vaccine recommendations, President Donald Trump and others in his administration repeated several false claims about those vaccines, ...
apnews.com
Catch up on false and misleading claims Trump has made about the Reflecting Pool: apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: A look at Trump's false and misleading claims about the Reflecting Pool
In April, President Donald Trump announced that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was being renovated to address long-standing cosmetic and structural issues.
apnews.com
Social media users are claiming NYC's city-owned grocery stores will require shoppers to show ID. They won't. apnews.com/article/iden...
FACT FOCUS: No, you won't need an ID to shop at city-owned grocery stores in New York City
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan to open five city-owned grocery stores is being misrepresented online with claims that identification will be required to shop there.
apnews.com
Checking the facts at Trump's Cabinet meeting: apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: Trump blames Minnesota governor for cyberattacks against the state. Cites no evidence
President Donald Trump is claiming, without evidence, that recent cyberattacks in Minnesota were the fault of the state, including Democratic Gov. Tim Walz.
apnews.com
Obama didn't encourage noncitizens to vote in 2016, despite what social media posts claim: apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: Posts falsely claim Obama urged noncitizens to vote in 2016
As President Donald Trump continues to push for stricter proof of citizenship laws ahead of the midterm elections, social media users are falsely alleging that an old clip shows former President Barac...
apnews.com
Debunking conspiracy theories that spread after the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham: apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: Sen. Lindsey Graham's sudden death spurs false claims
Sen. Lindsey Graham’s unexpected death on Saturday night fueled baseless speculation on social media that his passing was the result of a criminal action.
apnews.com
No, Norway did not bring its own food to the World Cup because it distrusts U.S. products. apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: Norway brought its own food to the World Cup. But not because it distrusts US products
Social media posts are focusing on what Norway is feeding its athletes as the team excels at the World Cup.
apnews.com
Illegal immigration did not increase car insurance premiums, despite what Trump claims. Read more: apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: Trump says illegal immigration increased car insurance premiums. Experts say otherwise
President Donald Trump is crediting his tough immigration policies for a drop in car insurance premiums.
apnews.com
Obama and Biden did not spend 'hundreds of millions' to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, as Trump falsely claimed. Read more: apnews.com/article/trum...
FACT FOCUS: Trump says Obama and Biden spent 'hundreds of millions' on reflecting pool. They did not
President Donald Trump has claimed that the Obama and Biden administrations spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” to fix the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and alleged that renovations he is curre...
apnews.com
No, Maryland did not send out hundreds of thousands of "illegal" mail-in ballots. apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: Trump falsely accuses Maryland of sending 'illegal' mail-in ballots to voters
President Donald Trump has falsely accused Maryland officials, including Gov. Wes Moore, of illegally sending hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots to voters in an effort ensure victory for Democra...
apnews.com
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said there's been a nearly 4.3 million drop in SNAP participants because of a tamping down of fraud and an improved economy. Experts disagree. Read more: apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: Why nearly 4.3 million people are no longer receiving food stamps
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins this week attributed a multimillion-person drop in the number of participants receiving food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to the ta...
apnews.com
Even real-time reporting from a roomful of journalists couldn't stop conspiracy theories in the aftermath of the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting: apnews.com/article/whit...
Reporters covered the correspondents' dinner shooting in real time. Conspiracy theories still spread
Conspiracy theories flooded the internet minutes after the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner attended by President Donald Trump.
apnews.com
Experts say Trump is misrepresenting government data when he claims that 98.2% of drugs smuggled into the U.S. by sea have "stopped." Read more: apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: Trump says drug trafficking by sea is down 98.2%. The numbers don't show that
President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that the flow of drugs into the U.S. by sea has been nearly eradicated under his administration.
apnews.com
And for our regularly scheduled programming, catch up on false claims Trump made last night in his address about Iran: apnews.com/article/trum...
FACT FOCUS: False claims Trump made as he addressed the nation about Iran
President Donald Trump's address to the nation on the Iran war did not always hew to the facts. In his remarks Wednesday night, Trump declared that he inherited a “dead and crippled country” and deliv...
apnews.com
In celebration of International Fact-Checking Day, we've put together some tips for how to identify AI-generated content. Read more: apnews.com/article/misi...
It’s International Fact-Checking Day. Refresh your AI identification skills
Artificial intelligence-generated content is everywhere these days, making it increasingly difficult to separate fact from fiction, particularly when it comes to breaking news.
apnews.com
Would your driver's license let you register to vote under the SAVE America Act? It depends. Read more: apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: Only some driver's licenses usable for voter registration under the SAVE America Act
Posts circulating on social media claim driver’s licenses could not be used for voter registration in federal elections under the SAVE America Act, legislation that would require documentary proof of ...
apnews.com
I had a blast speaking with @jimludes.bsky.social and @drmarkjacobson.bsky.social on their podcast last week about mis/disinformation -- have a listen!
Jim Ludes@jimludes.bsky.social · 5mo agoThis week on the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, AP News Verification Reporter @melissagoldin.bsky.social joins @drmarkjacobson.bsky.social and me to talk about the work she does, the methodology she employs, & a bit about the #disinformation coming out of the Iran War. omny.fm/shows/active...
President Jimmy Carter supported mail-in and absentee voting, despite what Trumps says: apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: The Trump administration is falsely claiming Jimmy Carter was against mail-in voting
President Donald Trump and members of his administration are claiming that former President Jimmy Carter was against the use of mail-in and absentee ballots, citing a bipartisan 2005 report from the C...
apnews.com
There has been a deluge of misinformation related to the Iran war. State actors are fueling it. Read more: apnews.com/article/iran...
State actors are behind much of the visual misinformation about the Iran war
A deluge of misrepresented or fabricated videos has spread widely online since the Iran war began last weekend, fueled in part by state-linked propaganda influence campaigns — particularly around who ...
apnews.com
What's real and what's not amid the Iran war: apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: Misrepresented images spread after US and Israel strike Iran
As the U.S. and Israel continued to strike Iran on Monday following a major attack over the weekend that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, misrepresented images related to the war ...
apnews.com
My favorite story today, via @megkinnardap.bsky.social: "The woman who took the aisle seat next to the former president first set down her coffee on the arm rest they shared, deposited a bag in the overhead compartment, then sat down and realized her seatmate was the nation’s 46th president."
Biden flies commercial from Reagan National Airport and winds up stuck in delays like everyone else
Former presidents are just like us. Joe Biden has gotten stuck in delays while flying commercially from Reagan National Airport.
apnews.com
Fact-checking the State of the Union in video form, direct from the White House! m.youtube.com/watch?v=9x0D...
AP fact checks Trump’s State of the Union address
YouTube video by Associated Press
m.youtube.com
Trump's State of the Union speech tonight was full of inaccuracies. Get the facts here: apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: A look at Trump's false and misleading claims in his State of the Union speech
President Donald Trump has spent the last year boasting of his accomplishments while mocking the record of his predecessor, Joe Biden.
apnews.com
In preparation for the State of the Union tonight: apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: A look at Trump's false and misleading claims ahead of the State of the Union
President Donald Trump is delivering the first State of the Union address of his second term. Priorities for the Republican’s administration have centered largely on the economy, immigration, crime, e...
apnews.com
The Trump administration revoked the 2009 endangerment finding yesterday, making multiple false claims in the process: apnews.com/article/gree...
A look at false claims made by the Trump administration as it revokes a key scientific finding
While announcing that he was rolling back the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 endangerment finding, President Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin made false claims regarding the gover...
apnews.com
A 5-year-old detained by ICE did not make a cameo in Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show. Read more: apnews.com/article/fact...
Boy who appeared in Bad Bunny's Super Bowl show is not the 5-year-old detained by ICE in Minneapolis
Social media users incorrectly identified a young boy who was part of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday as Liam Conejo Ramos.
apnews.com
Viral images of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani with Jeffrey Epstein are not real. They were generated with AI. Read more: apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: Images of NYC mayor with Jeffrey Epstein are AI-generated. Here's how we know
Images circulating online that show New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as a child with millionaire financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are generated by artificial intelligence.
apnews.com
Another cabinet meeting, more false claims: apnews.com/article/fact...
FACT FOCUS: A look at false and misleading claims made during Trump's first cabinet meeting of 2026
President Donald Trump has held his first cabinet meeting of 2026, focusing on the economy, housing, energy, health initiatives and drug prices.
apnews.com
