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Tech NewsFakes
President Trump Posts Altered Photos to Facebook and Instagram That Make Him Look Thinner
President Donald Trump’s social media accounts are filled with vile racism, idiotic xenophobia, and inaccurate statistics. And now we can add another category to the list: fake photos. In recent months, Trump’s official Facebook and Instagram accounts have published photos of the president that have been manipulated to make him look thinner. If it only … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFakes
AT&T Barrels Ahead With Its Bullshit Plan to Brand Enhanced 4G as ‘5G E’
Telecom giant AT&T has moved forward with its bullshit plan to rebrand an enhanced version of its existing 4G mobile network as its much faster and still-in-development successor 5G, TechCrunch reported on Monday. After a recent update to some AT&T, the devices now say they are connected to a “5G E” network. To be very … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsFakes
Viral Video of Glitter Bomb for Package Thieves Exposed as Partial Fake
Remember that viral video of the former NASA engineer who got sick and tired of people stealing his packages? He built an impressively high-tech glitter bomb to prank the thieves and even lent the sneaky invention to friends so they could do the same. Well, it turns out that some of the video was faked … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFakes
Russian State TV Shows Off ‘Robot’ That’s Actually a Man in a Robot Suit
Russian state TV apparently became confused yesterday while airing footage of a technology forum aimed at kids. A TV reporter proclaimed that Boris the robot, seen above, “has already learned to dance and he’s not that bad.” The only problem? Boris isn’t a real robot. It’s just a man in a suit. This “robot” actually … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFakes
That Photo ‘Debunking’ the Paris Protest Fires is Actually Bullshit
Did you see the tweets supposedly “debunking” the huge fires that were burning during the protests in Paris? In reality, the “debunkers” are bullshit. The photos weren’t merely taken from different perspectives—they were taken on completely different days on completely different streets. First take a look at the the bullshit “debunkers” with sarcastic titles like … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFakes
That Viral Photo of Justin Bieber Eating a Burrito Sideways is Totally Fake
Did you see that photo of Justin Bieber eating a burrito like a corn cob? The photo went viral on Facebook, Twitter, and dozens of news sites. But we’ve got some bad news for you, or good news depending on how you look at it. The photo is totally fake. The viral photo was actually … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFakes
The Real Story Behind That Viral Video of President Trump Hissing Like a Snake
Have you seen that viral video of President Donald Trump hissing? It’s really weird. But it makes more sense if you see the original video. And after some sleuthing, we finally tracked it down. Here’s the video, which went viral on Twitter today and got picked up by news outlets like Boing Boing. President Trump … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFakes
Donald Trump Jr. Posts Fake Letter to Instagram Mocking Woman Allegedly Assaulted by Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh
Republicans have come up with a lot of excuses for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged attempted rape of a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. Some say it never actually happened. Others say he shouldn’t be held accountable for something he did as a teenager. But still others seem to think that it’s all … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFakes
Researchers Come Out With Yet Another Unnerving, New Deepfake Method
Deepfakes, ultrarealistic fake videos manipulated using machine learning, are getting pretty convincing. And researchers continue to develop new methods to create these types of videos, for better or, more likely, for worse. The most recent method comes from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, who have figured out a way to automatically transfer the “style” of … Continued
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Tech NewsFakes
This Photo Claiming to be ‘Cassini’s Last Image’ is Totally Fake
Have you seen this photo, supposedly showing the last image captured by the Cassini space probe before it crashed into Saturn’s atmosphere? It’s beautiful. But unfortunately, it’s also totally fake. The image has been doing the rounds over the past few days, racking up tens of thousands of views and retweets on social media. But … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFakes
Texas Governor Tweets Fake Churchill Quote About Fascism, Gets Flooded With Equally Made-Up Replies
Have you heard the famous Winston Churchill quote that “the fascists of the future will call themselves anti-fascists”? Well, it’s a fake quote. Churchill never said it. But that didn’t stop Texas Governor Greg Abbott from tweeting the fake quote late last night. And while Abbott is rightly being taken to task, the responses to … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFakes
This Viral Photo Doesn’t Show Maria Butina in an Oval Office Meeting With Trump
On Sunday, 29-year-old Russian national Maria Butina was arrested and charged with being an unregistered agent of the Russian government while trying to influence the 2016 presidential election. Ever since, people online have been combing through old photos of Butina posing with American politicians. But one photo has gotten a lot of attention today. It … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFakes
Russian State TV Photoshops an Awkward Smile on Kim Jong Un’s Face [Updated]
Russia-1 aired a segment yesterday about Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. But one part of the news broadcast was pretty weird. Take a look at Kim’s face in the screenshot on the left. Kim has been photoshopped to look like he’s smiling. And it’s not even … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFakes
This Viral Video of Ducks Waiting for a Green Light to Cross the Street Is Totally Fake
Have you seen this video of ducks in Germany waiting for a green light before they cross the street? It’s gone viral, getting tens of thousands of views on Twitter and over 2.5 million views on Facebook. But the video is totally fake. The ducks are computer generated. Don’t believe me? Take a closer look … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFakes
Trump and Macron’s Disappearing Tree is Just in Quarantine to be Monitored For Pests
US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron planted a tree at the White House on April 23rd in a friendship ceremony. But the tree quickly went missing, and some people started to wonder if a conspiracy was afoot. But there’s no grand conspiracy. The tree, which was brought from France, is simply in … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFakes
Winning Wildlife Photo Disqualified Because of Suspected Fake Anteater
The Natural History Museum of London has disqualified a winning image from its 2017 Photographer of the Year competition on the grounds that the photographer almost certainly used a stuffed anteater—a blatant violation of the contest rules. It was a photograph that looked too good to be true. As we wrote back on October 18, 2017, … Continued
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Tech NewsFakes
That Viral Photo of Our Big Lumpy President Is Actually Photoshopped
Have you seen this photo of President Donald Trump bursting out of his jacket? The US president is a large man, but he’s not quite that lumpy. The photo has been photoshopped. The original photo, which you can see below, was taken by Tom Brenner for the New York Times. It shows President Trump arriving … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFakes
Julian Assange, Notable Edgy 14-Year-Old, Tweets Fake Ricky Gervais Quote in Earnest
Julian Assange likes to boast that WikiLeaks has a “perfect record” of “accurate vetting.” But if Assange’s Twitter account is any indication, Assange can’t even spot a ridiculous parody of “edginess” when he sees it. Rob Rousseau, a freelance writer from Montreal, created some fake Ricky Gervais quotes and posted them to Twitter earlier today. … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFakes
That Viral Video of a Convenience Store Robbery Is Worse Than Fake
An extremely compelling video has racked up over 2 million views on Twitter in less than 24 hours. It appears to show security footage of two young skateboarders stealing chips from a convenience store when a dude with a shotgun enters and attempts to rob the place. And then the skateboarders totally stop him and … Continued
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Tech NewsFakes
That ‘Loaded Grenade Launcher’ Found in a Goodwill Bin Is Actually an Airsoft Toy
On Thursday, news outlets around the country reported what seemed like an “only in Florida” story: Goodwill workers in the state found a grenade launcher in a donation shipment, complete with a live grenade. More skepticism was warranted, however, as keen-eyed readers (and authorities themselves) later determined the device is nothing more than a big … Continued
By Hudson Hongo