Actions

Fact Check Friday: Research before reposting

WCPO_spoiled_ballots.jpg
Posted at 10:02 AM, Nov 13, 2020
and last updated 2020-11-13 10:02:31-05

Social media makes it so easy to retweet, share and repost seconds after a video or statement has been made online.

If you take the time to find out where the message comes from, you may find yourself sharing less misinformation.

Over the weekend, video of deputies in Boone County, Kentucky was shared hundreds of times, with people suggesting they had found discarded ballots off North Bend Road in Hebron.

The Sheriff's office posted to its Facebook page that the deputies were notified that discarded packages had been found near the wood line. The bags were filled with Amazon packages that had been torn and opened. Amazon confirmed they came from a local facility.

Other videos circulated since the election brought false flag warnings from either their creators or even officials.

In a video uploaded to TikTok and then shared on other platforms, a man is seen ripping up a ballot. He's in a yellow vest and claims he's working in the post office and destroying ballots of voters who chose President Donald Trump.

The man said on his Facebook page that it was fake and just a joke, according to Heavy.com. But you can still find the videos circulating on YouTube.

YouTube has added "The AP has called the presidential race for Joe Biden" to all election related content with a link to Google's election results page.

Another widespread video came from Oklahoma.

Two men said they found ballots for President Trump while taking out the trash at a wedding venue that had been a polling place.

The Oklahoma state board of elections responded to several people who shared it on Twitter that the video is of "spoiled ballots," where someone mistakenly marked more than one option in a specific race.

They shared freeze frames of the video as well as the affidavit people signed before those ballots were destroyed in an effort to dispel the disinformation.

If you have questions about information being shared on social media, send an email to adrian.whitsett@wcpo.com.