New Index: June’s Top Falsehoods Dupe 49 Percent of Americans
In today’s edition, we announce the launch of NewsGuard’s monthly Reality Gap Index, the first regular measurement of how successful malign actors are at persuading Americans to believe false claims. We also debunk the claim that Yankee Stadium offered free hot dogs to ICE agents; unpack the manipulated video used to claim that the Italian prime minister was on drugs during the June NATO summit; and show how hoaxsters wrongly identified the suspect in a mass shooting in Idaho.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Sofia Rubinson and Eric Effron.
1. 49 Percent of Americans Believe June’s Top False Claims
What happened: NewsGuard today is launching the Reality Gap Index, the nation’s first ongoing measurement of Americans’ propensity to believe the top false claims circulating online each month. For June, NewsGuard found that nearly half (49 percent) of Americans believed at least one of the month’s top three false claims.
“Every day our team tracks and debunks the potentially harmful false claims that malign actors — from Moscow to Beijing to those peddling healthcare hoaxes — are circulating online,” said NewsGuard co-CEO Steven Brill. “What has not been measured until now is the ultimate result of their work: How successful are they at persuading Americans to believe what’s provably false is true? That’s the goal of the Reality Gap Index.”
A closer look: Through a monthly survey of a representative sample of Americans conducted by polling and market research firm YouGov, the Reality Gap Index measures the percentage of Americans who believe at least one of the month’s top false claims, as reported in Reality Check.
- The claims are sourced from NewsGuard’s False Claims Fingerprints data stream, which tracks provably false information with significant spread online. Respondents are quizzed on what our analysts consider to be the top three claims circulating each month, as determined by an assessment of each claim’s virality, spread, impact, and potential for harm.
June results: Nearly half of Americans (49 percent) reported they believed at least one of the three false claims to be true, while only seven percent of respondents could correctly identify all three claims as false. Seventy-four percent were unsure about the truth or falsehood of at least one claim.
- For example, asked about the claim that Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Richard Blumenthal spent $800,000 in taxpayer money on hotels during a trip to Ukraine, 27 percent of those surveyed said the claim was true and 57 percent were “not sure.” Only 17 percent correctly identified the claim as false.
- Asked about the claim that pallets of bricks were planted in Los Angeles during the June 2025 anti-deportation protests as part of a plan to arm protesters, 24 percent said the claim was true and 43 percent said they were “not sure.” Thirty-three percent correctly classified the claim as false.
- Asked about the claim that white South Africans are being systematically killed as part of a “white genocide,” 26 percent said the claim was true, 33 percent were “not sure,” and 40 percent correctly identified the claim as false.
Read NewsGuard’s first Reality Gap Index report and the press release announcing the new initiative here.
Brands Under Attack: An Exclusive Briefing for Reality Check Members
Reality Check members are invited to an exclusive online briefing by NewsGuard analysts and editors who specialize in false claims related to high profile consumer products. The one hour session will be on July 10, 2025, at 1pm ET. We’ll unpack the origins and spread of viral false claims targeting major brands, revealing how these campaigns take root and the real-world impact they can have on trusted brands and consumer decision-making. Become a member today and get your invitation to this exclusive event.
Members also get a FREE copy of the definitive book on the misinformation crisis, The Death of Truth by NewsGuard Co-CEO and bestselling author Steven Brill ($30 value), free access to NewsGuard’s browser extension that shows reliability ratings for 11K+ news sites right in your browser ($25 value), and unlimited access to our members-only content and archives.
2. No, Yankee Stadium Did Not Offer ICE Agents Free Hotdogs
What happened: Social media users across the political spectrum are posting a doctored image to claim that Yankee Stadium is offering free hot dogs to ICE agents who present valid identification.
Pro-ICE accounts are praising the Yankees for supposedly supporting ICE by offering free food, while anti-ICE accounts are commending the Yankees organization for purportedly luring ICE agents into revealing their identities — an apparent commentary on agents who wear masks during deportations.
A closer look: The image appears to have originated on the self-described “parody” X page @TalkinBasabell_, an account that frequently posts memes and fake news about baseball.
- On June 27, 2025, the page posted a photo appearing to show a hot dog cart at Yankee Stadium with a sign reading, “ICE Agents: Free hot dog (Please show ID)” with the caption: “Yankees stadium offering free hot dogs to ICE Agents. A small gesture from New York, served with mustard.” The post garnered 16.6 million views and 42,000 likes in three days.
The next day, accounts that did not appear to understand the photo’s satirical origins posted the photo as authentic.
- Anti-Trump Threads user @billcampa posted the image with the caption, “I.C.E. agents get free hot dogs at New York’s Yankee Stadium (about $8!) – just if they provide their I.D., of course.” The post received 496,000 views and 14,400 likes in two days.
- Pro-Trump X account @akafaceUS posted the image with the caption, “Yankees stadium is offering free hotdogs to ICE agents.” The post garnered 136,000 views and 5,800 likes in two days.
Actually: As noted above, the doctored photo was first posted as satire. The image was digitally altered to add a sign offering free hot dogs to ICE agents.
- The original photo, available on the free image repository Wikimedia Commons, was taken at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 3, 2017, and originally featured a yellow sticker reading “Caution Hot Surface Do Not Touch” in the spot where the phony ICE sign was added.
NewsGuard sent an email to the New York Yankees’ media office and the Major League Baseball’s press office seeking comment on the photo but did not receive an immediate response. ICE’s media office also did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Click here to find out more about NewsGuard Trust Scores and our process for rating websites. You can download NewsGuard’s browser extension, which displays NewsGuard Trust Score icons next to links on search engines, social media feeds, and other platforms by clicking here.
3. Kremlin Sources Add Italian Leader to List of Allegedly Drug-Addled EU Leaders
By Eva Maitland
What happened: Kremlin sources and some U.S. conservative sites are sharing a manipulated video of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaking to reporters at the June 2025 NATO summit, falsely suggesting she was under the influence of drugs. The video appears to be part of a Russian effort to discredit NATO by reviving unfounded claims that European Union leaders are drug addicts.
A closer look: After the NATO summit in late June, which resulted in NATO members agreeing to increase their defense spending to 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP), pro-Kremlin sources shared a 50-second edited video of Meloni speaking to reporters.
You can watch the video here:
- The video appears to have first been posted by Russian state news outlet RT (NewsGuard Trust Score: 20/100), which stated on X: “Is Giorgia Meloni okay? Did she party too hard with Zelensky in The Hague?” Pro-Kremlin media has repeatedly accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of being a drug addict. (See related Reality Check article here.)
- Italy.news-pravda.com, a site in the pro-Kremlin Pravda network (Trust Score: 7.5/100), a Moscow-based influence network of more than 150 websites, published 30 articles amplifying the footage and the drug use claims in less than 24 hours. One article was titled, “In Europe, they are already openly talking about the drug addiction of their leaders.”
- U.S. conservative site WLTReport.com (Trust Score: 0/100) published the video in an article titled “‘COKED OUT’? Italian PM Giorgia Meloni Appears ‘High as a Kite.’”
Actually: There is no evidence that Meloni, who is known for making exaggerated facial expressions, used drugs at the summit.
- The video edited authentic footage of Meloni speaking at the press conference, splicing together moments when she touched or twitched her nose, grimaced, blinked, or made other facial expressions.
EU leaders have been repeatedly targeted in recent months with claims of illegal drug use.
- In May 2025, pro-Kremlin sources falsely claimed that France’s President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer were caught with a bag of cocaine in a meeting on a train on the way to Kyiv. (See related Reality Check article here.)
If you see something, say something
If you see or hear something that you think may be provably false, please alert NewsGuard via realitycheck@newsguardtech.com and we’ll do our best to get to the bottom of it. Note: Tips should not include content that you simply disagree with, however strongly.
4. After Mass Shooting in Idaho, Social Media Users Invoke Internet Meme to Blame an Innocent Man
What happened: For reasons that nobody can explain, since at least 2015, a Rhode Island comedian named Sam Hyde has been repeatedly and falsely blamed on social media for almost every major mass shooting, from the 2017 shooting at a Texas church to the 2025 Florida State University shooting.
In the latest incarnation of this online hoax, social media users are falsely claiming that a photo of Hyde depicts the shooter responsible for killing two firefighters in Idaho, only this time, they changed his name slightly to sound Arabic: Samir al-Hayid.