Internet Mythbusters

In October 2025, AI-generated videos mimicking Ireland's RTÉ News falsely announced a presidential candidate had withdrawn from the race. The deepfakes reached nearly 30,000 viewers before removal. Catherine Connolly won anyway—but the incident exposed how vulnerable democracies are to synthetic media attacks. With 2026 packed with elections worldwide, this is the playbook every voter needs. This...

In early 2025, TikTok exploded with videos from Chinese factories claiming to expose Hermès, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel as secretly manufacturing bags in China. The videos got millions of views. There was just one problem: they were promoting counterfeits, and the actual labeling laws make such schemes virtually impossible. This episode was generated with AI assistance.

A 2026 global survey reveals that education doesn't protect people from health misinformation—seven in ten people worldwide believe at least one debunked medical claim, forcing scientists to rethink how they communicate. This episode was generated with AI assistance.

How a completely fabricated statistic about Stanford CS graduates spread because it confirmed existing fears about the tech job market. Dissects confirmation bias in viral misinformation. This episode was generated with AI assistance.

Tracing the century-old origin of the '10% of your brain' myth and why blockbuster movies keep it alive despite overwhelming scientific evidence This episode was generated with AI assistance.

Dr. Donald Unger cracked the knuckles on his left hand every day for 50 years while leaving his right hand uncracked—all to prove his mom wrong about arthritis. His dedication earned him an Ig Nobel Prize and definitively settled one of medicine's most persistent parental myths. This episode was generated with AI assistance.

Examining the March 2026 Grok controversy and what happens when millions of people trust an AI to tell them what's true — from falsely blaming Liverpool fans for the Hillsborough disaster to hallucinating place names in war footage analysis. This episode was generated with AI assistance.

How one woman's fake detention story fooled millions before hotel receipts and surveillance footage revealed the truth. A masterclass in why we should wait for evidence before outrage. This episode was generated with AI assistance.

For 50 years, textbooks blamed Native Hawaiians for hunting indigenous waterbirds to extinction. A bombshell 2026 study from the University of Hawaiʻi found zero scientific evidence for this claim. Instead, the birds thrived under Indigenous stewardship and declined after European arrival. This episode examines how bias can corrupt science and how long it takes to correct. This episode was generat...

TikTok has become the de facto mental health resource for millions, but research shows over half of ADHD content and 41% of autism content on the platform contains misinformation. With only 2% of TikTok health content aligning with public health guidance, the platform is reshaping how people self-diagnose, seek treatment, and understand conditions—often with dangerous consequences. This episode wa...

Every few months, a new TikTok account claims to be a time traveler with warnings about the future. They gain millions of followers, make specific predictions, and then... nothing happens. We investigate the most popular 'time traveler' accounts, examine their failed predictions, and explore why our brains are wired to fall for this exact type of hoax. This episode was generated with AI assistance...

Mount Sinai researchers discovered that AI chatbots hallucinate fake diseases, repeat debunked health myths, and can be easily manipulated—raising urgent questions about relying on AI for medical advice. This episode was generated with AI assistance.

Deepfakes have exploded from 500,000 in 2023 to over 8 million by 2025. But the real threat isn't fake videos—it's the 'liar's dividend': the ability to dismiss ANY real footage as AI-generated. From stock market manipulation to romance scams, we investigate how synthetic media is eroding the very concept of visual proof. This episode was generated with AI assistance.

On April 1, 2026, the internet mourned Jonathan — the world's oldest tortoise. The BBC reported it. The Daily Mail printed it. USA Today ran with it. There was just one problem: Jonathan was alive and well. And the account announcing his death? It was asking for crypto donations. This is the anatomy of a modern internet scam that weaponized our emotional connection to a 193-year-old tortoise livin...

A February 2026 University of Florida study reveals a surprising twist in the fight against deepfakes: while AI achieves 97% accuracy on fake images, it performs at chance level on videos. Meanwhile, humans maintain 66% accuracy on both. As synthetic media floods our feeds, understanding why your brain still beats the machines could be the key to navigating this new reality. This episode was gener...

After unusual March rainfall hit North India in 2026, social media exploded with claims that Bill Gates was secretly controlling weather through cloud seeding experiments. This episode traces the viral misinformation, explains what cloud seeding actually is and isn't, examines what Gates has truly funded, and reveals why billionaire weather conspiracies keep going viral. This episode was generated...

In March 2026, the National Republican Senatorial Committee released an attack ad featuring an AI-generated deepfake of Texas Senate candidate James Talarico - a synthetic version of him appearing to endorse statements he never made. With a tiny 'AI generated' disclaimer barely visible in the corner, the ad exploited legal loopholes that leave voters vulnerable. This episode investigates how polit...

In March 2026, a viral story claimed a Florida man was kidnapped by dolphins to help build an underwater city. The twist? Most people sharing it knew it was fake. This episode explores the phenomenon of 'Don't Question Gerald' and what ironic sharing reveals about how we consume content in 2026. This episode was generated with AI assistance.

AI voice cloning has crossed the 'indistinguishable threshold'—scammers can now replicate your loved one's voice using just seconds of audio from social media. This episode exposes how 1 in 4 Americans have been targeted, why seniors lose triple what younger adults do, and reveals the simple family code word that could save thousands. This episode was generated with AI assistance.

In March 2026, Facebook users are once again copying and pasting a supposed legal notice claiming CBS's '60 Minutes' advised them to protect their data. This exact hoax has been circulating—and debunked—since 2012, with Snopes alone publishing more than a dozen refutations. This episode explores how authority bias and digital literacy gaps keep zombie hoaxes alive. This episode was generated with...

When OpenAI pulled the plug on Sora in March 2026, it marked the end of an experiment that showed exactly how vulnerable we are to AI-generated misinformation. This episode examines the rise and fall of Sora and what it taught us about the future of trust online. This episode was generated with AI assistance.

In March 2026, a blurry 40-second clip of 'GTA 6 gameplay' exploded across gaming forums and news sites. Days later, creator 'tenshi' confessed it was entirely fake—a four-month project designed to test whether one person could fool the entire internet. We break down the technical craft, the psychology of gaming leaks, and why even major outlets got played. This episode was generated with AI assis...

A deep investigation into the $75 billion detox industry's favorite myth—that special products can remove 'toxins' your body can't handle—when the evidence shows your liver already does this job 24/7 for free. This episode was generated with AI assistance.

Investigating the viral berberine trend and why calling it 'Nature's Ozempic' is dangerously misleading. We examine the 53,000% search spike, compare the actual science, and reveal why this supplement is 18 times less effective than the real thing. This episode was generated with AI assistance.

Full Fact's investigation exposed a network of AI-generated 'professors' promoting wellness products on TikTok - including deepfakes of real academics endorsing supplements and cures for conditions that don't exist. This episode was generated with AI assistance.