259 General claim verifications avg. score 5.2/10 91 rated true or mostly true 120 rated false or misleading
“Practical steps to avoid hoaxes include being cautious of provocative headlines, checking website addresses, and cross-referencing information from multiple trusted sources.”
Multiple credible, independent institutions — including the European Commission, SFU Library, and NOAA — explicitly recommend all three steps named in the claim: scrutinizing provocative headlines, checking website URLs, and cross-referencing with trusted sources. No evidence in the source pool contradicts these recommendations. The claim presents a non-exhaustive but accurate subset of widely recognized media literacy best practices; readers should be aware that additional verification steps (such as consulting fact-checkers) are also commonly advised.
“In the classic missing-money puzzle involving a 100,000 loan, after spending 97,000 and repaying 2,000, the remaining debt of 98,000 equals the sum of assets held, which are 97,000 in goods and 1,000 in cash, so no money is missing.”
The arithmetic and conclusion are correct — assets of 97,000 in goods plus 1,000 in cash do equal the 98,000 remaining debt, and no money is missing. Khan Academy's explanation of this exact puzzle variant confirms the resolution. However, the claim's framing omits a key piece of context: the puzzle's confusion arises from improperly adding debt and asset figures together, a category-mixing fallacy. Simply asserting "debt equals assets" resolves the riddle's answer but doesn't explain the trick, and could itself be misread as endorsing the flawed logic the puzzle exploits.
“Frequent use of the pronoun 'ia' in Indonesian texts can make the writing feel monotonous, and occasionally replacing it with the character name 'R.A. Kartini' can improve readability.”
The claim inverts what Indonesian writing guides actually teach. Authoritative sources consistently describe pronouns like "ia" as tools to reduce monotony caused by repeating proper names — not as a source of monotony themselves. No credible source supports the specific recommendation to replace "ia" with the full name "R.A. Kartini" to improve readability; this contradicts standard Indonesian stylistic guidance. The proposed remedy runs counter to the very principle it claims to serve.
“Economics is the study of how humans fulfill their needs using limited resources.”
The claim captures the core concept of economics — the relationship between scarcity and human needs — and uses language found in multiple credible academic sources. However, standard definitions consistently pair "needs" with "wants" and emphasize choice, tradeoffs, and allocation among competing uses, not merely "fulfilling needs." The omission of "wants" and the broader decision-making framework makes this a recognizable but incomplete paraphrase rather than a precise definition.
“Martin Heidegger was opposed to all metaphysical claims in principle.”
Heidegger critiqued the Western metaphysical tradition but did not oppose all metaphysical claims in principle. The most authoritative scholarly sources — including the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and the Cambridge Heidegger Lexicon — describe his project as a transformation and re-grounding of metaphysics, not a wholesale rejection. He pursued a "metaphysics of Dasein," advanced substantive ontological theses, and acknowledged that we are "always already within" metaphysics. The claim's universal scope fundamentally misrepresents his philosophical position.
“Severe floods occurred in the Dagestan region of southern Russia, resulting in the evacuation of residents from their homes.”
Extensive, independent reporting from multiple high-authority outlets confirms every element of this claim. Severe flooding struck Dagestan in late March 2026 — described as the worst in over a century — and over 3,300 residents were evacuated from their homes across the region. The claim, if anything, understates the scale of the disaster, which also included a collapsed railway bridge, states of emergency in multiple districts, and power outages affecting 327,000 people.
“Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha (Undiksha) is one of the public universities in Bali with a very good accreditation status as of April 2026.”
Undiksha is indeed a public university in Bali with a strong accreditation standing, but the claim understates the actual status. Official BAN-PT records and multiple news sources confirm Undiksha received "Unggul" (Excellent) accreditation — the highest possible tier — in March 2025 via Decree No. 2101/SK/BAN-PT/Ak.KP/PT/III/2025. Describing this as merely "very good" is directionally correct but imprecise, as "Unggul" sits above the "Baik Sekali" (Very Good) category in Indonesia's accreditation system.
“Out of 38 survey respondents, 18 reported listening to DWSA radio and 20 reported not listening to DWSA radio.”
No evidence supports the existence of this survey or its reported results. None of the credible audience measurement sources (Nielsen, Pew, Edison Research) reference a "DWSA radio" survey, and the only entity matching "DWSA" in the evidence appears to be a water/sewer authority, not a radio station. The specific 18/20 split from 38 respondents cannot be traced to any primary source, dataset, or publication.
“The chorus in Oedipus Rex serves as the voice of the community, commenting on events and guiding the audience's understanding.”
This claim reflects a well-established consensus in classical literary scholarship, supported unanimously across all available sources including institutionally credible ones such as the Yale Teachers Institute and Opera Philadelphia (citing Aristotle's Poetics). The chorus in Oedipus Rex is consistently described as representing the Theban elders — a community voice — that comments on events and shapes audience interpretation. The minor caveat that the chorus reacts alongside the audience rather than from a position of omniscience does not undermine the claim's core accuracy.
“The main causes of student dropout at the International University of Management in Namibia are financial constraints, poor academic preparation, and family obligations.”
No empirical evidence from the International University of Management itself supports this claim. The available sources study other Namibian contexts — distance learners at NAMCOL, rural schools, and generic global university dropout patterns — none of which collected data from IUM students or staff. The only source referencing IUM directly concedes that institution-specific dropout data is not widely published. While the three factors cited are plausible in a broad Southern African higher-education context, presenting them as verified "main causes" at IUM is unsupported.
“Cottage cheese is considered a substitute for traditional cheese in culinary uses.”
Cottage cheese is widely documented as a substitute for soft and fresh cheeses — including ricotta, cream cheese, and mascarpone — across dips, casseroles, lasagne, and baked dishes, supported by multiple credible culinary and health sources. However, the claim's broad framing overstates its versatility: cottage cheese does not melt, often requires blending to approximate other textures, and can fail in precision-baking contexts. It is a recognized substitute in many culinary applications, but not a general-purpose replacement for all traditional cheeses.
“Dubai International Airport (DXB) has plans to reduce flight operations during summer 2026.”
Flight reductions at DXB are real but stem from the Iran-Israel conflict that began in late February 2026 — not from any airport-authored plan. Dubai Airports' own communications frame changes as temporary precautions with gradual resumption underway, and its most recent pre-conflict outlook projected record traffic approaching 99.5 million passengers. The claim's phrasing — "has plans to reduce" — materially misrepresents reactive, externally imposed disruptions as deliberate airport strategy.
“Purchasing 1,000 copies of a book is sufficient to qualify it for the New York Times Best Seller List.”
No credible evidence supports the idea that 1,000 purchased copies can land a book on the New York Times Best Seller List. Every available source places the minimum threshold at roughly 3,000–5,000 copies sold per week, depending on category and competition. The NYT also uses a proprietary methodology that actively flags or discounts strategic bulk purchases, meaning that buying 1,000 copies in a single transaction would likely not even be fully counted toward list qualification.
“Judo is an effective martial art for self-defense in real-world street fight scenarios.”
Judo does offer genuine self-defense utility in unarmed, one-on-one, close-quarters encounters — its throws and leverage-based techniques can neutralize larger opponents. However, the claim's unqualified framing omits critical limitations consistently acknowledged across sources: Judo training is gi-dependent, lacks a striking component, leaves practitioners vulnerable to punches and kicks, and performs poorly against multiple attackers or armed opponents. Even the most credible supporting source limits its endorsement to "certain street fight situations." The claim is partially true but misleadingly broad.
“Butter chicken is being removed from restaurant menus across India due to rising operational costs in 2026.”
Misleading. Some restaurants in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru have trimmed butter chicken from menus in March 2026, but the cause is an acute LPG supply disruption triggered by geopolitical tensions in West Asia — not generalized "rising operational costs." The claim overstates both the geographic scope ("across India") and the nature of the driver. These menu changes are crisis-conditional and concentrated in a few metros, while butter chicken remains widely available elsewhere.
“Approximately 75% of job applications are automatically rejected by applicant tracking systems before being reviewed by a human recruiter.”
This widely repeated statistic has no credible empirical foundation. The 75% figure traces back to a 2012 press release from Preptel, a now-defunct company that never published its methodology. The most rigorous available evidence directly contradicts the claim: a 2026 survey of 1,000 U.S. hiring managers found only 19% use AI to screen out applications before human review, and a separate recruiter survey found 92% confirmed their ATS does not auto-reject based on resume content. The apparent consensus among career blogs repeating this figure reflects circular sourcing, not independent verification.
“Sicily is the largest island located entirely within the European Union.”
Sicily's status as the largest island entirely within the EU is well-supported by geographic and political evidence. Every European island larger than Sicily (~25,700 km²)—Great Britain, Iceland, and the island of Ireland—falls outside the EU or is split between EU and non-EU jurisdictions. The counterargument that the Republic of Ireland should count conflates a political entity with a geographic island; the island of Ireland as a whole is not entirely EU territory due to Northern Ireland's UK status.
“Oregon's plastic bag ban has not resulted in a reduction of overall plastic waste as of March 28, 2026.”
This claim presents a definitive conclusion — that Oregon's plastic bag ban has not reduced overall plastic waste — but the comprehensive statewide waste generation data needed to confirm or deny it has not been published as of March 28, 2026. Oregon DEQ reports show the ban did shift consumption away from thin single-use plastic bags, and a 2025 peer-reviewed study found 25–47% fewer plastic bags at shoreline cleanups in ban jurisdictions. While substitution effects (thicker bags, increased trash bag sales) are real concerns, they have not been quantified for Oregon in net tonnage terms. The claim asserts certainty where none exists.
“The green digital rain code effect in the 1999 film The Matrix was composed entirely of Japanese sushi recipes.”
The Matrix's iconic green digital rain was not composed "entirely" of Japanese sushi recipes. Production designer Simon Whiteley drew partial inspiration from his wife's Japanese cookbooks, but the on-screen code is a deliberate mixture of katakana characters, Arabic numerals, Latin letters, Kangxi radicals, and miscellaneous symbols — all heavily stylized. Snopes explicitly rates this claim as a "Mixture." Sushi recipes were one input among several, not the sole source.
“Flag football has been approved as an official Olympic sport.”
Flag football was officially approved by the IOC Session in Mumbai in October 2023 for inclusion in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic programme. A qualification system and competition schedule (July 15–22, 2028) have since been confirmed. The claim is substantively accurate but omits an important detail: the approval is specific to the LA 2028 Games. Flag football has not been confirmed as a permanent Olympic sport for future Games beyond 2028.