U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a cabinet meeting on Feb. 26.Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
This article is part of The Globe’s initiative to cover disinformation and misinformation. E-mail us to share tips or feedback at disinfodesk@globeandmail.com.
In this regular update we examine some notable false and misleading stories that have been circulating online and the forces that shape the information we consume.
This week, a closer look at U.S. President Donald Trump’s first cabinet meeting and some other stories that caught our eye:
Instagram Reels fixed after flood of violent videos
Photo illustration of the Instagram and Meta logos.KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images
Meta Platforms said on Thursday it had resolved an error that had flooded the Reels feed of Instagram users worldwide with violent and graphic videos.
Reuters reported it was not clear how many people were affected by the glitch and Meta did not disclose the reason behind the error.
Meta’s moderation policies have come under scrutiny since it decided last month to scrap its U.S. fact-checking program on Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
U.S. government has been audited in the past
Businessman Kevin O’Leary was a guest on CNN’s Laura Coates Live on Feb. 24 with former New Jersey congressman Tom Malinowski.
In discussing federal government cuts lead by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, Mr. O’Leary said that there’s no way to be surgically precise. “You have to cut more because you just don’t know. There’s no way to do it. Remember, we’ve never audited government for 100 years. Never done this before.”
Kevin O'Leary testifies at a U.S. Senate banking committee in 2022.J. Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press
U.S. federal agencies have been conducting audits and financial analysis for years. The 1978 Inspector General Act established inspectors general in 12 major agencies to submit reports to Congress twice a year.
The act has been updated and expanded several times over the years with more agencies added along with protections for the independence of inspectors general. The Trump Administration went against the act when it fired 17 inspectors general in January.
Trump’s first cabinet meeting
Mr. Trump held his first cabinet meeting on Feb. 26 where he repeated and made several false claims.
The U.S. does not “subsidize” Canada by US$200-billion
When goods and services are combined, the U.S. trade deficit with Canada was US$40.6-billion in 2023 according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. If using the value of just goods, the U.S. deficit widens to about US$63-billion for 2024 according to the U.S. Trade Representative.
The U.S. does import more from Canada than it exports, particularly oil, vehicles and lumber. The Canadian and U.S. economies are closely tied, with about US$762-billion in goods traded between the countries in 2024.
A trade deficit is not a subsidy. It occurs when a country imports more goods and services than it exports, leading to a negative balance of trade.
U.S. President Donald Trump hosts his first cabinet meeting on Feb. 26.Brian Snyder/Reuters
U.S. spending on Ukraine exaggerated
Mr. Trump inflated how much the U.S. had spent on the war in Ukraine, saying US$350-billion had been allocated. The official Ukraine Oversight spending tracker puts the total amount of support for Ukraine at around US$182-billion across military, economic and humanitarian aid since 2022.
The Council on Foreign Relations said that much of the aid is spent in the U.S. to produce weapons that are shipped to Ukraine or to replenish U.S. weapons stocks drawn on during the war. Analysis published by The Washington Post found 71 cities in 31 U.S. states doing this production work.
According to figures for the European Union, it has made available US$145-billion in financial, military, humanitarian and refugee assistance for Ukraine since 2022. Some of the EU loans to Ukraine are backed by seized Russian assets.
300,000 people don’t die from fentanyl annually
Mr. Trump seemed to exaggerate at the cabinet meeting when he said that 300,000 people die from fentanyl every year in the U.S.
Statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 105,007 people died of overdoses for all drugs, not just fentanyl, in 2023 in America.
A Globe investigation found that the Trump administration is misrepresenting the fentanyl figures it uses to justify tariffs against Canada.
Illegal border crossings did not drop by “more than 100%”
Mr. Trump again was exaggerating or being hyperbolic when he said, “illegal border crossings have plummeted by numbers that nobody’s actually ever seen before. It’s much more than 100 per cent.”
Logically, a drop of 100 per cent would mean zero people were crossing the border.
Illegal border crossings are down from 2024 to 2025. A news release by the Department of Homeland Security said that there were 81,792 border encounters in January, a 34-per-cent drop from December, 2024.