The 2014 'Bird Box' challenge article I fact checked got 12k shares, but missed the real story

I was at a coffee shop in Portland last spring and this older guy starts telling me about a viral piece he shared about the 'Bird Box' challenge causing ER visits. He insisted it was a nationwide epidemic. I pulled up the actual CDC data and the nearest mention was a single hospital in Ohio with 3 possible cases over two years. He just stared at his phone and said 'so I helped spread a fake panic.' That moment stuck with me because he was smart, just never questioned the share button. How do you all decide when a viral claim is worth fact checking before you hit send?

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1 Comment

kellygrant3d ago

So you're saying the guy was wrong because the data didn't match... but honestly, who has time to verify every single thing that pops up in their feed? Maybe the real panic was the fact that nobody can tell what's true anymore, and that's not on him for sharing.