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In today’s edition, social media users are rushing to put Pope Leo XIV in a partisan or ideological box, with some citing a phony voting record to claim that he’s a registered Republican while others are pointing to a made-up quote to say that he once praised “woke” politics. Also, pro-Kremlin sources are misrepresenting a blurry video, claiming that it shows pro-Ukraine European leaders snorting cocaine. And health misinformers in the U.S. are baselessly claiming that the EPA has categorized fluoride as a “hazardous waste.”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Sofia Rubinson and Eric Effron.
By Sarah Komar and Giulia Pozzi
What happened: Within hours of his election as pope, social media users scrambled to assign Illinois-born Pope Leo XIV an American political identity, spreading false claims both about him being a Republican and about his supposed embrace of “woke” politics.
A closer look: Almost immediately, viral posts claimed that Pope Leo was a registered Republican in Illinois, based on what appeared to be a screenshot of a voting record for a “Robert F Prevost” of Will County, Illinois,...
A former nurse at the veterans affairs medical center in Houston was arrested over allegations that she filed false records in a government database about a patient who died during her shift. 54-y...