We are monitoring social media, national and international media, and fact-checking websites in order to share the Fake News making the rounds each week. Don't be fooled!

The world of news is complex – and false stories and images are often widely shared on social media. Blasting News’s editorial team spots the most popular hoaxes and misleading information every week to help you discern truth from falsehood. Here is some of the most popular Fake News of the week from around the world.

Please send us Fake News tips or claims to check at this email: factcheck@blastingnews.com or at this X/Twitter account @BNFactCheck. Read this page to better understand our submission guidelines.

1. A judge did not order Trump not to attend his son graduation

False Claim: “My son is graduating high school, and it looks like the judge will not let me go to the graduation,” Trump told the assembled group of reporters at the end of his first day of trial Monday April 15th. The same day Fox News pushed this narrative presenting it as true.

Truth:

  • During the first hearing of the trial the Judge Juan Merchan said that he has yet to decide on the trial scheduling matter. "It really depends on how we’re doing on time and where we are in the trial," Merchan said during the trial according to The Associated Press.

  • According to several reports Merchan appeared receptive to the possibility of adjourning for one day. Trump’s lawyers have asked that the trial not be held on May 17 so that the former president may attend his son Barron’s high school graduation.

  • Trump faces 34 charges of falsifying business records related to an alleged scheme designed to conceal a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election.

2. It is false that Venezuela crime is down because all the gang members emigrated to the USA

False claim: In a televised press conference from Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump said: “Venezuela announced that their crime is down 67% because of the fact that they’ve taken the gang members, the leaders and the members and they’ve deposited them very nicely into the United States of America.”

Truth:

  • Data suggests a 25% decrease in violent deaths in Venezuela from 2022 to 2023, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, rather than the 67% claimed, with experts attributing the decline to economic challenges and reduced population due to emigration, not U.S. immigration.

  • Experts also note that the drop in violent incidents is linked to extrajudicial actions by the government and a shrinking target pool for criminals due to mass emigration, dismissing claims of the Maduro government deporting criminals to the U.S. as unfounded.

3. Jimmy Kimmel did not read in an unusual performance in announcing the Best Picture award

False Claim: Donald Trump attacked the late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel saying that “right before he stumbled through announcing the biggest award of all, ‘Picture of the Year.’” Trump added in a post on Truth social: “It was a CLASSIC CHOKE, one of the biggest ever in show business, and to top it off, he forgot to say the famous and mandatory line, ‘AND THE WINNER IS.’ Instead he stammered around as he opened the envelope.”

Truth:

  • Trump's statement is incorrect. It was not Kimmel who gave an unusual presentation of the Best Picture award for "Oppenheimer". It was the actor Al Pacino, introduced by Kimmel, that hosted the Oscar night.
  • Furthermore, the phrase Pacino omitted is "and the Oscar goes to," which is the current standard for announcing winners at the Oscars, not "and the winner is," which was used before 1989.

4. No, Trump’s trial jurors are not Biden supporters

False Claim: “Today, on day 2 of jury selection, six jurors were chosen for Trump's trial.

Several are open Biden supporters. "RIGGED TRIAL!”, reads a post on X (formerly Twitter) by the conspiracy theorist and Trump supporter Laura Loomer.

Truth:

  • It's impossible to determine the voting choices of the jurors, much less whether they are openly supportive of Biden.
  • Some of the jurors that were selected shared some details about their lives and opinions of Donald Trump. One said Trump “speaks his mind” and “I'd rather that than someone who's in office who you don't know what they're thinking." Another said to consider Trump “fascinating and mysterious.” A third juror said he disagreed with some of the Trump administration's policies.
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