The AFP News Agency has a lengthy thread fact-checking claims made online surrounding the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and this one stood out to us as being particularly facepalm-worthy:
❌ The queen did not announce that she had information that could lead to the arrest of former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
These fabricated tweets are part of a long-running internet meme that circulates after the deaths of public figures https://t.co/7FaQWANum8 pic.twitter.com/LBCnokCnNC
— AFP Fact Check 🔎 (@AFPFactCheck) September 15, 2022
New @AFPFactCheck: The queen did not say before dying that she had information that will lead to Hillary Clinton's arrest, as some social media posts allege. This false claim is just the latest version of a years-old meme predicated on a conspiracy theory. https://t.co/sWPlnwS71U pic.twitter.com/hTu8FNvgcw
— Bill McCarthy (@billdmccarthy) September 14, 2022
Really?
Yes, really:
Social media posts claim Queen Elizabeth II announced before she died that she had information that could lead to the arrest of Hillary Clinton. This is false; there is no record of the queen making such a statement, and the claim matches a years-old meme that reflects a conspiracy theory that the former secretary of state and her husband kill their political opponents.
“I have information that will lead to the arrest of Hillary Clinton,” the queen is quoted as saying in an Instagram post shared September 9, 2022.
Variations of the same message circulated across Facebook and Instagram in posts that appeared to show screenshots of Twitter pages associated with the queen. Twitter accounts impersonating her also repeated the line.
Maybe next time the “fact-checkers” could first find out if there’s anybody who believed the meme in the first place.
They fact checked an internet meme 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 https://t.co/I6OfYckNYX
— Daniel Vaughan (@dvaughanCI) September 15, 2022
I believe another name for a meme, is a joke. You’re fact checking literal jokes.
— Grab Em By The Steering Wheel (@iwill_slapyou) September 14, 2022
It’s not the first time and certainly won’t be the last.
Well I am glad we clarified that one, thank you for your important work @AFPFactCheck https://t.co/oPyiMPKwHU
— Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) September 15, 2022
What would we do without the “fact-checkers”?
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Politifact fact-checks the White House’s spin on Republicans who took out PPP loans, rates it true
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