Việt Kiểm Tin
What can you do to fight misinformation? You can flag content so that YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook know to remove them. These platforms have a team dedicated to identifying and taking down misinformation or incitement towards violence, but they can always use more eyes.
Claim: Many Vietnamese Americans believe that you can get COVID-19 from the COVID-19 vaccines.
Rating: This claim is FALSE. The COVID-19 vaccine, by the manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna, does not contain any live COVID-19 viruses. The COVID-19 vaccine is a type of vaccine called an mRNA vaccine. After getting vaccinated, an mRNA will enter our body and give our cells instructions to make the Covid-19 spike proteins. Then our immune system takes action by learning to fight off these proteins and produce the necessary antibodies. When our body encounters the real COVID-19 virus, our body can take action quickly, with the ready-made antibodies, to prevent the virus from spreading and making us sick.
Claim: Donald Trump has been impeached by the House of Representatives for “incitement of insurrection,” which led to the Jan. 6 armed mob at the U.S. Capitol.
Rating: This claim is TRUE. Though Trump never explicitly encouraged violence, he has been claiming without evidence that the 2020 Election was stolen from him. According to the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, these claims of voter fraud have led to an increase in “domestic violence extremists.”
Claim: QAnon is a conspiracy theory. QAnon supporters believe that President Donald Trump is fighting enemies in his own government who are running a child sex trafficking ring run by top Democrats.
Rating: QAnon’s claims are FALSE. It has been denounced by most Democrats and Republicans, as well as Fox News, as a baseless conspiracy theory. The FBI has called QAnon a domestic terror threat because it regularly incites people to commit violence.
Claim: On Jan. 6, a crowd waving Trump flags illegally stormed the U.S. Capitol building, to pressure Congress to choose Donald Trump as the next president of the United States. A number of Congressmen have said that it was Antifa, a far-left ideology, and not MAGA that was responsible for the riots.
Rating: This claim is FALSE. While there are ongoing federal investigations into the individuals who participated in the attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol, the FBI said there has been no evidence that Antifa was involved. In addition, numerous eye-witness sources from both liberal and conservative outlets identified the rioters as Trump supporters.
VietFactCheck started less than 6 months ago, with the idea that it would stop on Nov. 3. Now, the site is here to stay—at least as long as misinformation continues to plague our Vietnamese-American community. As we look back on a momentous year, the entire team behind VietFactCheck would like to thank our readers for helping us reach this critical point.