Not real news roundup: Debunking myths about Capitol rioters, COVID-19 vaccines and more

CLAIM: Photos prove that some of the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday were antifa activists, not Trump supporters.

THE FACTS: There’s no credible evidence to date that rioters who breached the Capitol in an effort to stop certification of U.S. presidential election results were supporters of antifa — a shortened form of “anti-fascists” that's used as an umbrella term for far-left leaning militant groups.

CLAIM: An NPR story headlined “Trump Supporters Storm U.S. Capitol, Clash With Police” was published on Wednesday at 9:33 a.m., before the insurrection, proof that the violence was staged.

THE FACTS: NPR did not publish news about the insurrection before it occurred. The story provided a running account of developments around protests at the Capitol as Congress met to certify electoral votes in the presidential election. The story was initially published at 9:33 a.m. The link shows the original headline referenced the electoral college tallying votes.

CLAIM: Nancy Pelosi’s son-in-law helped rioters access the U.S. Capitol.

THE FACTS: The false claim stems from a photo of Pelosi's son-in-law, a Dutch American journalist, while he was reporting outside the Capitol on Wednesday.

CLAIM: Photo shows shredded ballots found in Dell boxes in Georgia as election workers count the vote.

THE FACTS: The photos being shared online do not show shredded ballots.

CLAIM: Photos show dozens of boxes of counterfeit ballots at a warehouse in Fulton County, Georgia.

THE FACTS: The photos show legitimate emergency ballots, not fake ballots, according to Gabriel Sterling, a top official with the Georgia secretary of state’s office.

CLAIM: COVID-19 vaccines that rely on messenger RNA technology will teach the body to attack itself, leading to autoimmune disease.

THE FACTS: There is no evidence that the so-called messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna cause autoimmune disease.