Much of what follows is true:
(In short: a beagle was scheduled to be put down at an animal shelter in Kentucky, but ended up rescued and adopted by an actress by the name of Meghan Markle who was working in Toronto, who named him Guy. The rest, as they say is history. The Guardian has the story here.)
The screenshot above, which apparently started the rumour, is from video shot the day before the wedding by the Daily Mail. That’s the real Queen beside the unidentified dog (who, we have to admit, resembles Guy.)
(Town and Country hedged, writing that “Meghan Markle’s dog Guy might have been at the royal wedding reception … It’s our favorite rumor,” while Harper’s Bazaar said he was “” … rumored to attend the evening reception at Frogmore House.”)
It is a last-page-of-the-fairy-tale sort of resolution, we have to admit, and it appealed to a lot of people on Facebook this week, but it doesn’t seem to be strictly grounded in fact.
h/t in part to Snopes.
In brief:
- The deluge of fake news in the aftermath of a mass shooting is as predictable as it it depressing. The Washington Post has a roundup of fake stories circulated in the aftermath of the Santa Fe, Tex. shooting last week. (The first fake Facebook account appeared 20 minutes after the suspect’s name was announced.)
- Infowars’ Alex Jones has been tormenting families of children murdered in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre for years, claiming they invented the massacre. Now, they’re suing him. “For Alex Jones, it appears that the only real thing on his mind is his business,” one lawyer says. “And if you threatened that, you can make him understand that these kinds of practices have a cost. “
- Facebook has reversed course and will now let researchers study how fake news circulates on the platform, Wired reports.
- Last week, Sweden freshened up and republished Cold War-era leaflets sent to every household about what to do during a war or serious crisis. Swedes are told to prepare to do without power, heat or food supplies, and also to ” … be on the lookout for false information.” The government warns that “States and organisations are already using misleading information in order to try and influence our values and how we act. The aim may be to reduce our resilience and willingness to defend ourselves.” (English version here.)
- Buzzfeed’s Charlie Warzel looks at the market in fake Facebook profiles: ” … dummy accounts with partially written backstories, a small posting history, and a photo gallery of real people taking real selfies.” They’re bought and sold in batches of thousands at a time, he reports.
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