CLAIM:Warnings for people to stay inside on Sept. 24, survival pack giveaways, a flier recruiting volunteers for a “mass casualty exercise” and an episode of “The Simpson” are evidence that a large-scale disaster will happen that day.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. This conspiracy theory isn’t supported by credible evidence. It grew online after a German lawmaker misspoke while making remarks about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
THE FACTS: An unfounded conspiracy theory that some sort of catastrophic event is planned for Sept. 24 has spread globally this week online, with internet users pointing to a Denver emergency bag giveaway, a Kansas firefighter training event and a German lawmaker’s slip-up as supposed evidence.
The theory emerged after the leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union party, Friedrich Merz, referred to the date Sept. 24 by mistake in a February speech.
In his remarks about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at a Feb. 27 meeting of the Bundestag, or German parliament, Merz misspoke and said Sept. 24 would be a day that people would remember.
But in the official minutes of the Bundestag meeting, Merz’s comments include the date Feb. 24, the day that Russia invaded Ukraine, not Sept. 24. Still, videos of his misstatement have rippled across social media with false claims that a major event is being planned for Sept. 24.
Some social media users went a step further to suggest Germans had been told to stay inside that day. There’s no evidence of a...
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