MEBRO · DISINFO DESK
Investigations
Long-form dossiers on the hoaxes, deepfakes, and death rumors that go viral — each one stamped with a verdict and printed with every source on the record.
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
A Fake Group Mailed Texas Kids 'Trans Student' Guides Days Before the Midterms — and Nobody Knows Who's Behind It
Envelopes addressed to children landed in Texas mailboxes as early voting opened, branded with a real advocacy group's name. That group says it never sent them — and the sender traces to a shell company that doesn't exist at its own return address.
FILED OCT 26, 2026 · 4 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
A Texas Senate Candidate Vanished for the Flu. MAGA Influencers Built a Fake Psychiatric Breakdown Around It.
After nine days off the trail, Democrat James Talarico became the target of a fabricated audio clip, a doctored 'surveillance' photo, and amplification from Elon Musk, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump himself — all debunked, in a Senate race decided by single digits.
FILED OCT 15, 2026 · UPDATED OCT 15, 2026 · 6 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
The 'Turbo Cancer' Myth: How Anti-Vaccine Misinformation Is Threatening Lifesaving Cancer Vaccines
The debunked 'turbo cancer' conspiracy claims mRNA COVID vaccines cause aggressive cancers. Now it threatens revolutionary mRNA cancer vaccines showing 49% melanoma recurrence reduction. Key spreaders William Makis and Ryan Cole have lost medical credentials.
FILED OCT 12, 2026 · UPDATED OCT 12, 2026 · 34 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
No, 163 Democrats Didn't Vote From One Oklahoma Address in 2020
A viral meme reviving Trump-era fraud claims traces to a real house in rural Oklahoma — but no election board, court, or news outlet has ever recorded the vote count it describes.
FILED OCT 12, 2026 · UPDATED OCT 12, 2026 · 3 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
The Dual Citizenship Hoax: How an April Fools' Prank Panicked Millions
A fabricated Trump Truth Social screenshot claiming he would revoke dual citizenship went viral in April 2025. Multiple fact-checkers confirmed it false. But the hoax exploited real immigration-enforcement fears — and a genuine bill with zero cosponsors.
FILED OCT 8, 2026 · UPDATED OCT 8, 2026 · 12 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
Trump Labor Day Weekend Death Rumor: Debunked by a Live Appearance
Over Labor Day weekend 2025, a misread VP Vance quote and a quiet presidential schedule fueled a viral rumor that Trump had died, racking up tens of millions of views on X before he reappeared live on September 2.
FILED OCT 8, 2026 · UPDATED OCT 8, 2026 · 3 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
Springfield Child Trafficking Conspiracy Exposed
TikTok creators arrived in Springfield expecting ICE raids. When none materialized, they fabricated child trafficking allegations against churches helping Haitians—leading to bomb threats against schools and county offices within days.
FILED OCT 4, 2026 · UPDATED OCT 4, 2026 · 12 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
No, India's Army Chief Isn't Dancing With a Major's Wife — a Pakistan-Linked Account Faked It
A viral clip appears to show General Dhiraj Seth dancing with "an Army major's wife." Four independent AI-detection tools, the Indian Army, and the real woman depicted all confirm it's a face-swapped fake built from a stranger's March dance video.
FILED OCT 2, 2026 · UPDATED OCT 2, 2026 · 4 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
Varanasi Police Called a Viral Video of Cops Watching a Temple Dance 'AI-Generated.' It Wasn't.
After footage showed officers recording a dance performance at a Varanasi temple festival, the police branded it AI fakery and threatened legal action against anyone sharing it. Multiple independent eyewitness videos say otherwise.
FILED OCT 1, 2026 · UPDATED OCT 1, 2026 · 3 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
QAnon Network Analysis: From 4chan to Congress
Comprehensive analysis of how QAnon spread from anonymous 4chan posts to mainstream politics, including network amplification patterns, key influencers, and platform responses.
FILED SEP 28, 2026 · UPDATED SEP 28, 2026 · 15 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion: Anatomy of History's Most Dangerous Forgery
Comprehensive fact-check of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the fraudulent antisemitic text created by Russian secret police that fueled pogroms, the Holocaust, and modern conspiracy theories.
FILED SEP 28, 2026 · UPDATED SEP 28, 2026 · 15 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
No, the New York Post Never Ran That 'Jewish Student Staged Her Own Swastika Attack' Story
A viral screenshot claimed the *New York Post* exposed a Jewish student for faking a swastika attack on her own dorm door. The Post never published it — the photo is from a 2021 Arizona synagogue vandalism, and it came from a serially banned, monetized disinformation account.
FILED SEP 27, 2026 · UPDATED SEP 27, 2026 · 4 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
Patriot Front 'Federal Agents' Conspiracy: Debunked Claims About White Nationalist Group
Claims that Patriot Front members are secretly federal agents cite their coordinated appearance and matching attire as "proof" — but leaked internal communications, criminal convictions, and documented ties to the broader white nationalist movement confirm the group is exactly what it appears to be.
FILED SEP 24, 2026 · UPDATED SEP 24, 2026 · 4 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
NSF Grant Termination Claims: Policy vs. Conspiracy
Following executive orders on DEI, NSF began terminating grants under DEI-related categories, closely tracking a list Senator Ted Cruz's committee had compiled and released publicly.
FILED SEP 22, 2026 · UPDATED SEP 22, 2026 · 8 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
Montana "Pedophile Bonfire" Hoax
A satirical post claiming a pro-Trump Montana town would burn MAGA merchandise at a "pedophile bonfire" was shared online as real news after the Epstein files release. No such event was ever real — it began as satire.
FILED SEP 19, 2026 · UPDATED SEP 19, 2026 · 4 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
Maui "Weather Weapons" Claims
Viral posts blamed HAARP and directed energy weapons for the August 2023 Lahaina fire. Fire investigators concluded the cause was re-energized broken power lines, and the physics of the conspiracy claims does not hold.
FILED SEP 13, 2026 · UPDATED SEP 13, 2026 · 17 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
The Merz-Epstein Photo Is Fake — For the Fourth Time This Year
A black-and-white image claiming to show German Chancellor Friedrich Merz posing with Jeffrey Epstein at a 2014 BlackRock event went viral again in early September. It's a Google AI composite of two unrelated real photos that fact-checkers have now debunked four separate times since February.
FILED SEP 11, 2026 · UPDATED SEP 11, 2026 · 4 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
The Shabana Mahmood 'Hijab' Photo Is AI-Generated — And So Is Her Quote
A viral image shows UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood wearing a keffiyeh as a hijab next to a quote she never said. The photo carries a traceable OpenAI watermark, and it lands amid a year of sustained online abuse over her Muslim faith.
FILED SEP 6, 2026 · UPDATED SEP 6, 2026 · 4 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
The Von der Leyen-Epstein 'Files' Photo Is AI, Not a Leak
A photo claiming to show EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with Jeffrey Epstein went viral again on X in September 2026 with fake case numbers attached. AI-detection tools found an OpenAI watermark baked into the image, and a Kremlin-linked network helped push it.
FILED SEP 5, 2026 · UPDATED SEP 5, 2026 · 3 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
No, Mamdani's NYC Grocery Stores Don't Require a '666' Mark to Shop
A satirical Babylon Bee post claiming New York's city-run grocery stores would require a mark on shoppers' "hand or forehead" spread as real news, layering a mark-of-the-beast hoax onto a genuine fight over whether the stores would require ID.
FILED SEP 1, 2026 · UPDATED SEP 1, 2026 · 5 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
The FireAid 'Laundering' Myth: A Real Congressional Report, a False Conspiracy
Following the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires that destroyed more than 16,000 homes and structures, the entertainment industry raised over $100 million through the FireAid benefit concerts. A Trump Truth Social post and a later House Judiciary Committee report both raised real questions about how grantees spent the money — but online claims that funds were criminally 'laundered' to undocumented immigrants and that zero fire victims received aid go well beyond what either source supports, and are contradicted by an independent law-firm audit and by fire survivors who did receive help.
FILED AUG 31, 2026 · UPDATED AUG 31, 2026 · 8 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
Epstein Files: Separating Legitimate Documents From Fabricated Claims
Federal courts really did unseal genuine Epstein-related depositions and evidentiary flight logs — but viral "client lists" naming celebrities and politicians, and even fake government memos, are fabrications the Justice Department itself has disavowed.
FILED AUG 29, 2026 · UPDATED AUG 29, 2026 · 9 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
'The Internet Died in 2016' Theory
Fact-checking the Dead Internet Theory claiming most online content is AI-generated bots. Evidence shows the internet remains human-driven despite bot presence.
FILED AUG 22, 2026 · UPDATED AUG 22, 2026 · 13 SOURCES
Conspiracy & Hoaxes
D.C. Mid-Air Collision Misinfo
Fact-check of misinformation narratives surrounding the January 2025 D.C. mid-air collision near Reagan National Airport. DEI-blame claims and sabotage conspiracy theories are unsupported; FAA staffing shortages are real. Updated with the NTSB's final findings, released January 2026.
FILED AUG 22, 2026 · UPDATED AUG 22, 2026 · 9 SOURCES
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Investigative reports — not user-submitted fact-checks.