Latest Fact Check

FACT CHECK: Russian Trolls Aided #NoDAPL Protesters

April 8, 2019

CLAIM: Russian agents used social media to undermine the U.S. energy infrastructure projects.

RATING: True

FACT CHECK

A 2018 congressional report detailed how Russian agents utilized social media to undermine U.S. energy policy, including approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Investigators with the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology found that between 2015 and 2017, “an estimated 9,097 Russian posts or tweets regarding U.S. energy policy or a current energy event,” including the approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline, appeared on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Pipelines and domestic energy infrastructure were a primary target of the Russian agents.

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FACT CHECK: Security Personnel Did Not Set Fire at North Dakota Pipeline Protest

April 8, 2019

CLAIM: The Albuquerque Journal reports that “someone set some army trucks parked on a bridge on fire” at the Standing Rock pipeline protest in 2016, and that “some thought it was the work of security details dressed as protesters.” The Journal also quotes an activist photographer as saying, “There’s this huge issue of who set those trucks on fire” because security “wanted to keep their jobs; they were making $1 million a month.”

RATING: False

FACT CHECK

The Journal quotes the claims uncritically but fails to mention that seven people were charged with federal crimes in conjunction with the protest, …

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