No, the Ken Doll is Not Pregnant
PLUS: TikTok’s Eclipse Hoaxes; Russia-Ukraine Myths Reach 200 Milestone
Welcome to NewsGuard's Reality Check, a report on how misinformation online is undermining trust — and who’s behind it.
Today:
Blinded by the light: TikTok becomes hotbed of eclipse-related misinformation
He’s just AI: Mattel did not market a pregnant Ken doll to boost sales
Kremlin propagandists in line for productivity bonuses: They’ve just surpassed 200 myths about the Russia-Ukraine war
And more…
Today’s newsletter was edited by Jack Brewster and Eric Effron.
AI Content Farm Tracker: 794 Sites and Counting
AI content farms are taking over the internet, and NewsGuard analysts track their spread. Read more about AI content farms, and how they are proliferating:
1. Bonkers Eclipse: TikTok Users Claimed an Interdimensional Portal
Calm down, Star Trek fans. An interdimensional portal did not open during the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse.
What happened: During the lead up to the April 8 eclipse, TikTok users claimed that routine tests conducted by the European Council for Nuclear Search, known as CERN, were evidence that the famous scientific research center was preparing to open an interdimensional portal. Yes, you read that right.
For those unfamiliar with “Interstellar,” “Doctor Strange,” or “The Chronicles of Narnia,” interdimensional portals are bridges to alternate realities, other worlds, or hidden dimensions.
While some physicists have speculated that the existence of portals to higher, yet-unimaginable spatial dimensions is theoretically possible, there is no evidence that such portals exist.
Watch some of the wildest videos we found advancing this conspiracy theory below:
Actually: While CERN did run tests using its large Hadron particle collider on April 8, 2024, the same day as the eclipse, they were part of an ongoing effort to observe collisions between protons charged to just under 14 trillion volts — the collider’s maximum energy level.
CERN spokesperson Sophie Tesauri told USA Today (NewsGuard Trust Score: 100/100), which fact-checked this claim, that CERN’s work is unrelated to the eclipse. “What we do at CERN is doing particle physics with accelerators such as the [Large Hadron Collider], and this has little to do with astrophysics in a direct way,” she said in April 2024. Solar eclipses are astrophysical events.
Clara Nellist, a CERN particle physicist and science YouTuber, said in an April 2024 video on her YouTube channel debunking this claim that the timing of CERN’s test “just happens to coincide with an astronomical event” and that the timing is a “pure coincidence.”
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.
2. The Baby Bump that Wasn’t: AI Makes Ken Doll Pregnant
By Leonie Pfaller and Marie Richter
And now for a phantom pregnancy, conceived not in toy factories, but within the imaginative womb of artificial intelligence.
What happened: Social media users around the world are sharing images of a boxed Ken doll exposing a pregnant belly, with many claiming that toy manufacturer Mattel saw a sales boost of its Barbie line after marketing the pregnant male doll.
Colombia-based @sergioa94679493 first posted the image on X, stating: “The end is near,” while Instagram user @drhowardcohn shared the photo with the caption: “Perfectly Normal. 🤯#WTF #OMG #What #Nope #Wow.”
Another X user, @VirginiaSanroma, said in Spanish: “Mattel Corporation, which produces the Barbie toy line, announced an increase in sales of Pregnant Ken and improved sales of the Barbie doll line.” The post was viewed nearly 10,000 times.
The anonymously run, pro-Russian site Pravda-FR.com (Trust Score: 7.5/100) republished the photo in a March 4, 2024, post titled “Western values: Pregnant Ken sales break records.”
Actually: Ken is not pregnant.
A reverse image search by the German news wire dpa, which debunked the claim in March 2024, revealed that the photo of the pregnant Ken doll stems from an Oct. 26, 2023, Instagram post by the account @the.forbidden.toys.
Although the photo’s caption states, “Pregnant Ken unproduced prototypes by Mattel,” the hashtags #ai #aitoys #midjourney #aiart indicate the image is AI created.
The owner of the Instagram account also confirmed to dpa that the image was made using the AI tool Midjourney.
Mattel did not respond to a NewsGuard email inquiring about the hoax.
You can help: This is not the first time a social media user has shared an AI image as satire, only to have other users miss the joke. If you see something, say something: Send examples of AI satire being mistaken for news to realitycheck@newsguardtech.com.
Do you work in Trust and Safety for a technology company, in brand safety for advertising or otherwise counter misinformation as part of your job? Find out about NewsGuard’s weekly Risk Briefings, a more detailed briefing for professionals. Click here.
3. Productivity Bonus Time in Moscow: False Narratives About Ukraine Pass 200 Milestone
What happened: NewsGuard has now debunked more than 200 Ukraine-related false narratives circulating online since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
The false claims have been shared by more than 1,564 websites and social media accounts identified by NewsGuard analysts, including sites owned or operated by the governments of Russia, China, and Iran.
A closer look: Some common themes, as identified by NewsGuard’s Eva Maitland …
Invasion justification: Many false claims have advanced the very pretexts that Russia used to justify its invasion. For example, NewsGuard debunked seven false narratives suggesting that NATO or Ukraine had been planning to invade Russia or Russian-occupied Eastern Ukraine, These claims relied on out-of-context footage, made-up quotes by officials, and fabricated documents. A further 10 false narratives sought to advance Russia’s claim that Ukraine is ruled by neo-Nazis.
Atrocity denial: In the early stages of the conflict, as attention centered on Russia's assaults on civilian infrastructure, NewsGuard debunked six false claims aimed at denying documented Russian attacks on civilians.
Corruption: Pro-Kremlin disinformation sources have sought to undermine Western support for aid to Ukraine by portraying Ukrainian officials as corrupt. NewsGuard has debunked seven such false narratives. This includes the claims that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky bought a $5 million villa in Egypt, the mansion of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, an English estate owned by King Charles, and two superyachts. (Read related commentary from NewsGuard’s Co-CEO Gordon Crovitz here.)
NATO: NewsGuard has identified 18 unsubstantiated narratives advancing Russia’s claim that it is fighting the whole of NATO in Ukraine.
Manipulated media: While out-of-context footage, digitally altered images and video, and fabricated quotes continue to form the basis of many false claims, disinformation sources are increasingly producing fabricated news masquerading as coming from reliable news outlets, such as the BBC and Bellingcat, to give false content credibility.
AI: Perhaps unsurprisingly, NewsGuard is increasingly encountering false claims created using artificial intelligence, including deepfakes of public officials and sites that use AI to produce content.
Capitalizing on high-profile news events: Pro-Kremlin claims about the war often seek to use high-profile news topics to turn public opinion against Ukraine. For example, when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, multiple false narratives sought to tie Ukraine to the conflict, such as the false claim accusing Ukraine of supplying Hamas with weapons.
Produced by co-CEOs Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, and the NewsGuard team.
We launched Reality Check after seeing how much interest there is in our work beyond the business and tech communities that we serve. Subscribe to this newsletter to support our apolitical mission to counter misinformation for readers, brands, and democracies. Have feedback? Send us an email: realitycheck@newsguardtech.com.