THE THING ABOUT IT IS.

Browse · Where it sits

Investigations.

52 items from the longer passes: the AI fault line, the immigration fault line, the World Cup, and religion.

Fault Line Report: 130 of 484Weather Report: 302 of 484Investigations: 52 of 484

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18 recorded statements, the most serious of them calls for violence. 30 tested claims: read plainly, 16 holds and 7 mixed and 4 fails and 2 unresolved; read at their widest, 1 holds and 4 mixed and 24 fails and 1 unresolved. Across 6 countries.

Statements. Nothing to check, so these carry a severity instead.

An old radio transmitter with its dial glowing
Calls for violenceFeb 2026Cross-borderProtected groups
What was said

The Islamic State's spokesman told followers to keep attacking Jewish and Christian targets, and pointed at the dead as proof it works.

Who it targets

Jewish people and Christians

A megaphone lying on an empty city pavement
Calls for violenceApr 2026USProtected groups
What was said

He filmed himself on a New York street leading a chant about a massacre of Jews.

Who it targets

Jewish people

A card index drawer pulled open, full of blank filing cards
Calls for violenceJun 2026USProtected groups
What was said

A streamer with a million followers told them to identify every American Jew and plan to arrest them.

Who it targets

American Jews

A typewriter with a sheet of paper covered in capital letters
ThreateningMar 2026USProtected groups
What was said

A single post recast every Muslim on earth as under orders to kill Jews and Christians.

Who it targets

Muslims as a whole

An empty outdoor stage with a bank of loudspeakers
ThreateningMay 2026UKProtected groups
What was said

In front of a crowd estimated at 60,000, he said he would stop Islam and that it was time for many Muslims to leave.

Who it targets

Muslims in Britain

A passport lying open on a doormat by a front door
ThreateningJun 2026NLProtected groups
What was said

A riot with about two dozen arrests became an argument for deporting four generations of Dutch citizens.

Who it targets

Dutch citizens of Moroccan descent, including people born and raised in the Netherlands

A studio microphone with a pair of headphones hooked over it
HatefulFeb 2026USProtected groups
What was said

For an audience of six million, she said today's Jews are impostors wearing the religion as a costume.

Who it targets

Jewish people

A paper trail of documents running up a flight of stone steps
HatefulFeb 2026USProtected groups
What was said

The claim that Sharia is taking over America moved through Congress, two state houses, two attorneys general, and a primary ballot in five months.

Who it targets

Muslims in the United States

A folding information table with leaflets stacked on it
HatefulFeb 2026USProtected groups
What was said

An Islamic group announced 300 outreach booths at the tournament. One site called it the opening move of a conquest.

Who it targets

Muslims as a whole

An official envelope pushed halfway through a letterbox
HatefulApr 2026USProtected groups
What was said

A state government mailed every California voter a pamphlet describing non-Jews as livestock to be enslaved.

Who it targets

Jewish people

A state capitol dome seen from below against a plain sky
HatefulMay 2026USProtected groups
What was said

A sitting lieutenant governor said he hates Islam and called on others to hate it too.

Who it targets

Muslims in Indiana and beyond

A football pitch corner flag with a prayer mat folded beside it
HatefulJun 2026NLProtected groups
What was said

A sitting party leader answered a photo of players praying with an obscenity about God.

Who it targets

Muslims, by way of the Moroccan squad’s prayer

Two identical suitcases side by side, one tagged and one not
HatefulJun 2026USProtected groups
What was said

Scandinavian fans looked well behaved on television, and that became a claim about who else the country lets in.

Who it targets

Immigrants generally, set against the Norwegians and Swedes held up as the good kind

A referee's whistle on a lanyard hanging from a hook
HatefulJul 2026USProtected groups
What was said

A referee decision against Egypt turned into a claim that Jews run FIFA.

Who it targets

Jewish people, through “Zionists” standing in for them

A football resting on an empty stadium terrace step
HatefulJul 2026USProtected groups
What was said

A joke about the 2030 World Cup put Israeli soldiers on the pitch shooting people in the face.

Who it targets

Jewish people and Israelis, through Israel and the IDF used interchangeably

A team sheet on a clipboard with the names blanked out
StigmatizingMay 2026USProtected groups
What was said

The American squad was announced, and one post treated the 26 names as a choice between two racial stereotypes.

Who it targets

Black and Hispanic players on the roster, and by extension Black and Hispanic Americans

A microphone in a small radio studio with the on-air light off
StigmatizingJul 2026USProtected groups
What was said

A podcast covered a birthright citizenship ruling as a win for what it called the Third World.

Who it targets

Immigrants and their American-born children

An old newspaper column clipping pinned up, yellowed with age
StigmatizingJul 2026USProtected groups
What was said

A 2014 column arguing that soccer viewership proves the wrong people were let in got republished mid-tournament.

Who it targets

Immigrants and their American-born descendants

Claims we tested, and the roundups that collect them.

PlainHoldsWidestMixed
A pair of open handcuffs resting on top of a closed case file
Jul 2026USImmigration The claim

Fatal shootings and deaths in ICE custody show the agency under this administration is essentially violent and lawless, its brutality intended, unpunished, and beyond reform.

The catch

The officer in the Biddeford shooting was placed on leave with investigations opened by the inspector general, the FBI, and the Maine attorney general within days.

PlainMixedWidestMixed
A theater curtain pulled back to reveal scaffolding instead of a stage
Jul 2026USImmigration The claim

The administration's immigration leadership stages the appearance of enforcement it doesn't intend to deliver, and is quietly steering toward legalization under a reform label.

The catch

The detention population grew, a suspended enforcement practice was restored within two days, and the department opened a new enforcement line against driver-training schools in the same week.

PlainHoldsWidestFails
A courthouse door with two identical nameplates, one lit from behind and one dark
Jul 2026USImmigration The claim

Mohsen Mahdawi is a legitimate security and antisemitism-linked deportation target whose habeas litigation is an attempt to dodge lawful removal, while his supporters say the same ruling hands the government an unchecked power to detain and silence speech.

The catch

No tribunal has ever ruled on the underlying 'kill Jews' allegation; the appeals panel decided only which court has jurisdiction to hear the case.

PlainHoldsWidestMixed
A pay stub pinned under a stapler beside an empty desk chair
Jul 2026USImmigration The claim

The July H-1B cases show the corporate class wants cheap foreign labor to replace and underpay American workers.

The catch

Microsoft's 2,273 approvals for the year aren't tied to which roles it cut, and the company says the layoffs were driven by business need, with visa status playing no part.

PlainFailsWidestFails
A folded paper map with one route inked in red, stopping well short of the edge
Jul 2026Cross-borderImmigration The claim

Europe's far right, acting as one movement, intends a decades-long removal of non-white people, including citizens, from European countries.

The catch

The petition's own registered text asks for the return of lawfully resident non-European nationals judged 'unintegrated,' not the removal of anyone holding a European nationality.

PlainMixedWidestFails
A witness table with name placards where every chair is pushed in and empty
Jul 2026USImmigration The claim

A House hearing on ICE detention conditions shows the Republican camp pushes enforcement out of great-replacement ideology.

The catch

The description fits the five men who ran the subcommittee hearing, but the ranking member's statement named the full 25-member committee, which includes two women.

Hand-drawn cartoon of three arched doorways side by side with one long shadow across them
Jul 2026Cross-borderReligion in public life What we found

Thirty-nine of the 59 confirmed items target Jewish people. Every script that reached the top severity tier targets Muslims.

The catch

The heaviest cluster of the half-year isn't a set of posts. It's a hearing, a bill, a ballot measure, and a signed law.

PlainHoldsWidestFails
Cartoon of a person in a suit stuffing a wad of bills into a ballot box
Jul 2026USTechnology and AI The claim

Critics say AI billionaires are buying the election to control what happens in kids' classrooms.

The catch

The nine-figure spending targets candidates by their stance on AI regulation. Their stance on schools plays no part in it.

PlainMixedWidestFails
Cartoon of a person in a suit casually pulling a wall lever shaped like a padlock
Jul 2026USTechnology and AI The claim

Sacks says Anthropic invented the AI-safety panic to box out rivals.

The catch

Anthropic turned down a Pentagon contract and ate a federal blacklisting to keep its safety guardrails.

PlainHoldsWidestFails
Cartoon of an office manager shrugging and gesturing at a small robot beside an empty chair
Jul 2026USTechnology and AI The claim

Critics say companies are using AI as a cover story for ordinary layoffs.

The catch

Real AI-driven job cuts are also happening. Both things are true at the same time.

PlainHoldsWidestFails
Cartoon of a person holding a phone and pointing toward a small distant group
Jul 2026USTechnology and AI The claim

A White House adviser says AI-doomer rhetoric incited the attack on Sam Altman's home.

The catch

The safety groups blamed for it have zero documented contact with the attacker and explicit no-violence policies.

PlainMixedWidestFails
Cartoon of a data center building with a large camera on the roof, a small person looking up at it
Jul 2026USTechnology and AI The claim

Critics say Big Tech's AI buildout is really one big surveillance machine.

The catch

Anthropic turned down $200 million from the Pentagon to keep its rules against mass surveillance.

PlainHoldsWidestOpen
Cartoon of a person turning a crank behind a curtain while a giant wave rises on the other side
Jul 2026USTechnology and AI The claim

Critics say the AI industry is selling inevitability to make opposition feel pointless before it forms.

The catch

A hundred-plus cities protested data centers five months after the industry's biggest ad push.

PlainMixedWidestFails
Cartoon of one person pointing at a distant bus while another stands with arms crossed, unimpressed
Jul 2026USTechnology and AI The claim

A tech investor says anti-data-center protesters are bused-in actors funded by Beijing.

The catch

A reporter asked attendees how they got there. They drove themselves.

PlainHoldsWidestFails
Cartoon of a person holding a picket sign while another gestures dismissively, a rocket in the sky behind
Jul 2026USTechnology and AI The claim

Pro-buildout voices call data-center protesters Luddites who are handing the AI race to China.

The catch

The 120-plus protests are local fights over power bills and water, and none of it is organized opposition to AI itself.

PlainOpenWidestFails
Cartoon of a lanky executive holding up a coin beside a piggy bank
Jul 2026USTechnology and AI The claim

Sanders says AI executives are cutting jobs to get richer and for no other reason.

The catch

OpenAI's CEO just proposed taxing the rich, including himself, to fund a payout for everyone.

PlainHoldsWidestFails
Cartoon of a person posting a large coin into a slot on a capitol building's door
Jul 2026USTechnology and AI The claim

Critics say data-center tax breaks prove officials are bought by industry money.

The catch

The same year, New York banned new data centers and a North Carolina commissioner lost his seat for approving one.

PlainOpenWidestHolds
Cartoon of a person in a suit scattering seeds, tall tangled plants sprouting behind them
Jul 2026USTechnology and AI The claim

Critics say the AI industry's own doom talk set the mood for someone to attack Sam Altman.

The catch

The critics making that case condemned the attack in the same breath they made it.

Cartoon of a perfectly level balance scale holding a coin and a computer chip
Jul 2026USTechnology and AI What we found

Fifty-one checks across thirteen arguments about AI, each one tested twice.

The catch

The same words hold up or fall apart depending on how far you push them, and the arguing happens in that gap.

PlainHoldsWidestFails
Cartoon of a person cheerfully stamping a tall stack of documents
Jul 2026USTechnology and AI The claim

Sacks says California's "one-time" billionaire tax was never going to stay one-time.

The catch

He was right that a second tax proposal followed. Nobody's found a backer who actually wants the industry destroyed.

PlainHoldsWidestFails
Cartoon of a newspaper vendor holding up a big open newspaper
Jul 2026USTechnology and AI The claim

Sacks says the AI jobs crisis is a hoax the press is running on purpose.

The catch

A real study found no AI-driven hiring collapse, and the same outlets gave the skeptical case prominent coverage too.

Hand-drawn cartoon of a soccer ball balanced on top of a tall cone plinth
Jul 2026Cross-borderThe World Cup What we found

Nine of the 33 accounts and posts we followed through the tournament crossed into hate.

The catch

All five underlying stories were in circulation before a ball was kicked.

PlainHoldsWidestFails
A padlock hanging open beside a stack of unsigned petition forms
Jul 2026Cross-borderImmigration The claim

The EU's social-media ID plan and its rejection of the Save Europe Act citizens' initiative together show the establishment intends to identify and suppress migration critics, dismissing their demands as racism.

The catch

The Commission's own stated purpose for the ID plan is child protection, and no proposal text or mechanism routing identities toward critics existed in the window.

WidestFails
A revolving door frozen mid-turn, half open and half closed
Jul 2026CAImmigration The claim

Restarting low-wage foreign worker visa processing in eight cities shows Canada's Liberal government wants imported cheap labour while Canadians are still looking for work.

The catch

The same quarterly update that reopened eight cities closed four others in the same step, and wage floors for the program rose a week later, both of which cut against a deliberate cheap-labour push.

PlainHoldsWidestFails
An airport departure sign lit up above a small paid ticket envelope taped to the counter
Jul 2026USImmigration The claim

Ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitian nationals shows Trump is acting to inflict cruelty for its own sake, for no other reason at all.

The catch

The same DHS announcement that marked the deadline offered departing holders a $2,600 check and a free flight, which also serves the ordinary purpose of making removals cheaper.

PlainHoldsWidestFails
A doorway height-measurement chart with some of its pencil marks erased and others left untouched
Jul 2026UKImmigration The claim

The Home Office's facial age-estimation tool for asylum seekers makes age decisions more accurate and protects genuine child claimants, against the charge that it's an experimental, racially biased tool deployed mainly to defend the department's existing decisions.

The catch

Independent analysis of the supplier's own test submissions found the algorithm classified more than half of West African 16-year-olds as over 18, against fewer than a quarter of Eastern European 16-year-olds.

PlainHoldsWidestFails
A welcome mat rolled up and leaning against a locked door
Jul 2026ESImmigration The claim

The Ceuta crossing shows Spain's government and the wider pro-legalization camp intended the mass entry and its later legalization, and their emergency response was reluctance staged for the cameras.

The catch

Spain's regularization program only covers people present before January 1, 2026, so it can't legally reach anyone who crossed at Ceuta in July.

PlainMixedWidestFails
A single spent match lying apart from an unlit row of others
Jul 2026USImmigration The claim

Violence against ICE personnel expresses the character of Democratic officials and the anti-ICE movement, and is the product of that camp's rhetoric, which will continue producing bloodshed until the camp stops talking.

The catch

The Federal Plaza attacker had no reported tie to any official or movement organization, and the mayor named most often condemned the attack the same morning.

PlainHoldsWidestFails
A podium microphone switched off, with a stack of policy binders visible behind it
Aug 2026UKImmigration The claim

Andy Burnham's silence on Channel crossings in his first week as Prime Minister, while crossings continued, shows he intends to leave the border open.

The catch

He kept the sitting Home Secretary in post, backed a bill tightening enforcement, and went to Dover in his third week to pledge an enforcement push.

PlainFailsWidestFails
A megaphone propped on a sandbag wall with floodwater rising behind it
Aug 2026Cross-borderImmigration The claim

The European right treats every migration emergency as a political asset it welcomes and amplifies for advantage, as shown by its response to the Ceuta crossing, and has no real interest in solving the problem.

The catch

The Ceuta crossing itself was large and deadly, with dozens of confirmed deaths, which the accusing coverage itself concedes even while arguing the right's response was opportunistic.

PlainFailsWidestFails
A visa stamp resting on top of a locked strongbox
Aug 2026USImmigration The claim

The Curtis-Kelly state-sponsored visa bill is an amnesty, and the Republican senators backing it are working against their own voters' wages and housing costs.

The catch

The bill bars visa holders from federal means-tested benefits and caps the program at 5,000 visas a year plus a share of a 245,000 pool, both of which cut against the claims made against it.

PlainFailsWidestFails
A photocopy machine printing the same page over and over into a tall stack
Aug 2026USImmigration The claim

Democratic votes against a law funding rural healthcare and a tips deduction reveal a settled preference: Democrats would rather spend the money on healthcare for people in the country illegally than on Americans.

The catch

People in the country illegally remain ineligible for federally funded coverage, and no Democratic proposal directing comparable money to their healthcare was found in the independent fact-check record.

PlainMixedWidestMixed
A wrecking ball hanging motionless beside a half-built brick wall
Aug 2026USImmigration The claim

Democratic officials' immigration and criminal-justice positions show the party wants open borders and lawlessness, that its program would destroy the country, and that several of its own members say so.

The catch

The House Democratic Caucus chair disavows the word 'abolish' on the record, even as a Michigan Senate primary winner campaigned explicitly on abolishing ICE.

A folded paper map half unfolded across a tabletop, with five small map pins stuck into it
Aug 2026Cross-borderImmigration What we found

Seventeen arguments about immigration, from five countries, each one tested twice.

The catch

The same claim holds up or comes apart depending on how far you push it, and the arguing happens in that gap.

Cut these 52 another way

How far it goes

Read the plain way

Read at its widest

What it's about

Where

When it was said