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To finally sum up our fact checking blogs, we were tasked to head over to the website Buzzsumo. Buzzsumo credits itself as a tool that can aid content creation, marketers and SEO professionals in order to analyze the performance of ones content, find influencers, growing trends and create new content ideas. This trends can range from content ideas to recreate and have your shot at a viral video and news stories from all over the world. In order to chose my fact checking news story, I set my Buzzsumo filters to the last 24 hours, English and any location in the world.

From here, I chose a news story with a trending score of 511, or which news stories have received the most attention. This news story was the 2nd headline from the top which read, “Afghanistan national plots election terror attack in US”. The engagement was well over 3k with most of the attention coming from Facebook and X. I questioned the validity of this story and began conducting my research into its truthfulness.

Clicking on the Buzzsumo link, it redirected me to an article from foxnews.com written by Louis Casiano and David Spunt.

Ahead of reading the article, I began a deep dive into both authors and the validity of Fox News’ creation of this article.

Mediabiasfactcheck.com revealed that Fox News is a questionable source and holds an almost extreme far right view point. On the basis of factual reporting, they hold a mixed stance. Among the detailed report, MBFC credits their questionable reasoning to “Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience, Propoganda, Poor Sources and Numerous Failed Fact Checks”. Continuing, the MBFC gives them a rating of low credibility. Although the uncovered findings from the media bias fact checker paint Fox News to be a questionable source, that did not completely discredit my chosen article.

From here, I began my research on both Louis Casiano and David Spunt. Questioning what credibility and expertise they hold. Beginning on Casiano, he has his own page on the Fox News website which describes him as “A breaking news protester for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. He joined Fox News in September 2018 after freelancing. Since coming to Fox News, he has covered crime, foreign affairs, immigration and the economy”. Within his LinkedIn profile, Casiano has graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in Journalism. So, no background on politics.

Next, I did the same thing for David Spunt. Typing his name followed by Fox News into my search bar and seeing what popped up in regards to him. In his Fox News biography, he is a correspondent for the news outlet based in Washington D.C. He joined Fox News around the same time as Casiano in December 2018. For Spunt, he received a bachelors degree in political science and journalism from Miami University. Spunt may have some credibility here.

Now, I began reading the article and its detailed claims. In summation, the article states that an Afghan man going by the name of Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, aged 27, obtained firearms and ammunition in order to conduct a violent attack on Election Day.

Tawhedi entered the United States on September 9th, 2021 using a “special immigrant visa”. Tawhedi was then subsequently arrested on Monday. Tawhedi was then charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS and receiving a firearm to be used to commit a felony or federal crime of terrorism. He then appeared in Oklahoma federal court on Tuesday.

Casiano and Spunt then go on to detail the court hearing and statement by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

From this, I searched up any relating headlines on Google. There were many articles of the same nature from News 9, CBS News and Reuters. I decided to view the Reuters article due to its unbiased nature. The article is titled, “Afghan man in Oklahoma City arrested for plotting Election Day attack”, where I will then compare the information in both articles.

The Reuters article confirmed the same name and age as Fox News. As well as affirming the correct date in which Tawhedi entered the U.S. It also included some detailed information about what the Special Immigrant Visa Program was as well as that Tawhedi searched for firearm laws and accessed Washington D.C. cameras- specifically the White House and Washington Monument.

Shockingly, Tawhedi and his underage brother in law met with FBI assets to buy two AK-47 rifles and ammunition. Within his post arrest interview, Tawhedi states “The attack planned to target large gatherings of people, during which he and his co-conspirator expected to die as martyrs” (Ward).

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/afghan-man-oklahoma-city-arrested-plotting-election-day-attack-2024-10-08/

Since former President Biden dropped out of the upcoming 2024 election with Vice President Kamala Harris taking his place, social media has become a breeding ground for both parties political agendas to be spread. While scrolling X, I can across the post shown below. Within the post, X user @/Bubblebathgirl accuses Tim Walz, current Governor of Minnesota and current pick for Vice President, of being “A pathological liar, criminal, predator, and someone who should never be near the White House”. Due to the bold claims and accusations within this post, I have decided to investigate the credentials of X user Paul A. Szypula or @/Bubblebathgirl.

To begin my deep dive on Paul A. Szypula, I began to look at his X profile to see what type of content they regularly posted. Szypula has over 69k posts, most of which describe current events, Kamala Harris and the state of our nation. From the looks of it, Szypula is Pro-Israel and an avid Trump follower.

Each post usually contained a picture of video with the post describing what was happening and Szypula usually adding his own opinion on the matter at the bottom. This is not where it stops with Szypula, they have often released their own statistics on the current economy.

Szypula replied with this comment under a post by made by Kamala Harris where she spoke about Trumps economy. Since viewing these statistics it lead me to wonder who Paul A. Szypula is and if he has any kind of credibility to be stating these numbers and where he got them from.

I began my search for his credibility by viewing his profile, specifically his biography on his public X account. Szypula’s biography only contains one line of information “SAVE AMERICA NOW”. Below that is Szypula’s information like their location, when they joined X and what job they have. Szypula has 237k+ followers and is verified. But the X verification means nothing now since it is no longer awarded by the app to the creator and can be bought by the creator if they are a verified subscriber.

From the looks of it, Szypula does not seem to be a reliable source for factual reporting. From here, I decided to search “Paul A. Szypula” on Google. A banner popped up stating that Szypula is an “internet personality”, along with his X account, an Instagram account with the same handle as their X account and an article about a Child Support hearing.

First, I decided to investigate the Instagram account that went by the same handle. Unfortunately, the account was private with on 21 followers. It had the same profile picture as their X account, the same “SAVE AMERICA NOW” in the biography but with an added link. Within the Instagram bio, Szypula claims he ran as a US Sentate Candiate for New York in 2022. When I clicked on the link in his bio, it took me to a pink webpage that explained that “Bubblebathgirl is the creative and technical showcase of Paul Antonio Szypula”. This website had a bunch of clickable links. On this website, Szypula listed his resume, which I viewed as it would be a good source of information on where Szypula could possible have some credibility.

Viewing the resume, Szypula lists jobs he has worked at what positions he has held. All the way down at the bottom, Szypula states that he has received his BFA in Graphic Design and AAS Illustration from the Rochester Institute of Technology. From the looks of it, Szypula has worked as an animator, flash developer and creative. None of which correlate with the political information he is posting on X.

Szypula has also done an interview with “Bak Magazine”, which can be designed as “An online magazine and source of inspiration for creative people”, the magazine is developed in English and Turkish. Here, Szypula explains his background, where he grew up and the origin of “Bubblebathgirl”. He claims that the site is for linking projects he has been working on since 2000 using both Flash and Design.

Going to 65media.com, I was taken to a domain that was available for sale.

Scrolling further down the Google search for Pau A. Szypula, I was taken to a site called Gab.com, which Szypula is a member of with the same screen name. Gab states that is “The Home of Free Speech and the Parallel Economy. Join our community where people who support, family, faith and free speech can speak freely and shop at business who share their values”. Szypula has around 7k followers on Gab with 4.9k “Gabs” which I’m assuming are posts. Within his Gab biography, Szypula has the same “SAVE AMERICA NOW” as well as where he can be found on other social media sites including TruthSocial, a site similar to X with the same values as Gab.

Have you ever been downtown, in the city or different country and really needed to use the bathroom?. You enter a shop and ask if they have a restroom and are hit with the “Restrooms are for paying customers only”, so now you have to buy a $5 water bottle or pastry just to use the bathroom. Well, this Chipotle location was sick and tired of the Wednesday runners club passing through their restaurant just to use the bathroom and posted this sign on their door.

I managed to scroll by the post on FaceBook; posted by “Man Cave Laughs”, a page dedicated to posting viral memes and other content. This post garnered 2.9k comments, 15.4k reacts and 335 shares. Now, as someone who frequents Chipotle and knows this is a bad business practice, I decided to do some digging.

I’ve been to many a Chipotle that has signs posted on the doors regarding staffing issues, payment options and unavailable food items- but never something this drastic. Reading the comments, people were outraged Chipotle would treat their customers this way, while some understood the potential business practice and effect that just using the restrooms has on a business. Before I developed my opinion whether this picture was real or fake, I put it into Google’s Reverse Image Search.

When I did this, the same photo popped up posted by a plethora of different meme accounts across all social media platforms, even LinkedIn. Clicking on each link, it was essentially the same thing. Posted by some meme page, angry and divided comments with no one to trace this photo back to. Until, I was brought to the Reddit sub r/oodlyspecific, then to r/RunningCircleJe*k where someone reposted the image from the r/Chipotle subreddit.

Looking at the comments on the post from r/RunningCircleJe*k, where runners post relatable content and memes regarding running, due to this Chipotle sign these runners were ANGRY. Demanding to know the location of the Chipotle, threatening to pee in lobbies and more. In the comments, a Redditor noticed how obviously doctored the photo is, stating that it looks like someone took an innocent Chipotle sign, covered the words with a white overlay and typed their own message over top. The Redditor stated that the curve of the words towards the end of the sign is not natural and looks like someone tried to squeeze the words into the frame because they were too big.

Now, an “update” was posted from user r/yaboyscottjurek claiming that the Chipotle in question put up ANOTHER sign to further push away the runners from coming in.

At first glance, this photo does look real. The shading of the paper isn’t a bright white like the previous sign, the words look legitimate and that is obviously a Chipotle in the background. Although, taking a closer look at the image, the tape on the four corners of the poster look off. As well as the lines towards the top of the sign look jagged and cut off. But, people still fell for the image. Claiming that the new poster doesn’t make anything better, some commenters saying they will never visit Chipotle again and more. After scrolling through around 300 comments, the validity of the sign began to dissipate the older the comments got, some people even commenting a simple “not real”.

After tirelessly scrolling, someone had finally answered regarding the truth behind this ongoing debacle.

Someone who has had terrible experiences with Chipotle commented their unfavorable reaction towards this sign and automatically assumed it was real, while user TheBowerBird responded and explained that both signs were created by user Yaboyscottjurek. None of the signs were real, yet people still took toward hating on Chipotle and vowing to never eat there again because of a doctored viral image.

by Sydney Phillips

Since this assignment came about, I knew the first thing I wanted to focus on was Imane Khelif. The Algerian professional woman’s boxer who recently underwent social media harassment and threats for her performance in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Out of this dumpster fire of social media harassment came J.K Rowling. Author of the *very famous* Harry Potter series that inspired a series of movies and even a theme park to be made after her successes from Harry Potter. You might be wondering, “What does J.K Rowling have to do with boxing” and the answer is NOTHING.

The discourse sparked from a boxing match between Imane Khelif and Angela Carini, her Italian competitor, who pulled out of the match just mere seconds after it began. Within their 46 second round, Carini abandoned the match which lead to Khelif’s win. Carini never attempted to shake Khelif’s hand after the round and spoke to a camera saying “I felt severe pain in my nose, and with the maturity of a boxer, I said ‘enough’ , because I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, I couldn’t finish the match” (Beacham). Since Carini’s unexpected decision, this rose speculation about Khelif and her background.

In 2023, “Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 World Championships after failing an unspecified gender eligibility test” (Beacham). As this came to light, people rose their pitchforks and lit their torches against Imane Khelif and her gender became the spectacle of the Paris Olympics.

To name a few people who were ready to take down Khelif, Logan Paul, YouTuber turned podcaster and CEO who has his own problematic past, former President Donald Trump and J.K Rowling. Below, there are multiple tweets from Rowling’s personal twitter page where she openly criticizes Khelif and even says Khelif is a male.

Now, Rowling is not a stranger to openly revealing her problematic thoughts on her social media pages. She has openly condemned the transgender community as well as shown racism towards the black community in her books and in real life.

When this became a trending topic on Twitter, I didn’t immediately chose sides but instead, did my own research into Imane Khelif and her background.

Khelif has always competed as a woman in women’s events, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Her father, Omar Khelif, even took to national television showing his daughter’s birth certificate on French television. Algeria also does not recognize the LGPBTQ+ community as persons and CBS Sports states that “It is unlikely the Algerian government would allow someone identifying as anything other than a heterosexual and their assigned gender to represent the country on a world stage” (Mahjouri).

Most of the discourse and outcry of Khelif’s gender seemed from Khelif’s “…inability to compete under the International Boxing Association, a sanctioning body banned by the Olympics since 2019” (Mahjouri). Both Khelif and another competitor, Lin Yu-Ting were disqualified after an unspecified gender test was administered. As the discourse continued, the International Boxing Association President, Umar Kremlev, allegedly revealed the test dented the prescience of XY chromosomes. Kremlev then spoke in a press conference stating “These testing [sic] show that they have high level of testosterone. Like men. They have men’s level of testosterone. We cannot go further into our investigation — whether they were born like men or some changes intervened at the later stages” (Mahjouri). This is where people took what Kremlev said and ran, including J.K Rowling, forming their own narrative and incorrect opinions and spreading them online.

Since Kremlev’s press conference, Mark Adams, a spokesperson for the International Olympics Committee stated in a press conference Sunday, “The test themselves, the process of the tests, the ad how nature of the tests are not legitimate. The testing, the method of the testing, the idea of the testing which happened kind of overnight. None of it is legitimate and this does not deserve a response” (Mahjouri / Adams). Adams continues to say “I would just say that everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the completion eligibility rules, They are women in their passports” (Adams).

The International Olympics Committee has since stripped the International Boxing Association of their status as the global governing body for boxing due to governing issues and judging scandals.

So is J.K Rowling correct in her belief that Imane Khelif is a man brutally punching women?. The answer is NO. J.K Rowling, Donald Trump and Logan Paul have all spread misinformation on the internet with their false narrative of Imane Khelif being a male. Imane Khelif has been a victim of social media harassment and gender policing on a global stage.

Sources:

Beacham, Greg. “Algeria Boxer Imane Khelif Wins First Olympic Fight When Opponent Angela Carini Quits.” AP News, AP News, 5 Aug. 2024, apnews.com/article/olympics-2024-boxing-gender-4b6eb881cce9c34484d30c68ad979127.

Beacham, Greg. “Who Is Imane Khelif? Algerian Boxer Facing Gender Outcry Had Modest Success before Olympics.” AP News, AP News, 4 Aug. 2024, apnews.com/article/olympics-2024-imane-khelif-boxing-paris-2eb07d442ffb29a61e09911884dcdaa9.

Mahjouri                                                                                                                                                                                Aug 9, Shakiel. “2024 Olympics Boxing: Who Is Imane Khelif? How the Algerian Boxer Became a Symbol of the Gender Debate.” CBSSports.Com, 9 Aug. 2024, www.cbssports.com/olympics/news/2024-olympics-boxing-who-is-imane-khelif-how-the-algerian-boxer-became-a-symbol-of-the-gender-debate/.