What People Are Getting Wrong This Week: Fake News About Karoline Leavitt

The internet is full is misinformation, conspiracies, and lies. Each week, we tackle the misunderstandings that are going viral.

There’s a new star in the firmament of fake new: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Known for her combative press conferences, Leavitt is at the center of a tornado of misinformation that is being spread on both sides of the political spectrum.

To set the record straight on two of the most viral fake Leavitt stories: She did not say people will love tariffs if they “avoid woke things like math.” And she did not appear on the Stephen Colbert Show. So if you believed either of these things, you’re wrong, Before you feel too bad for the lies being told about Leavitt, she is okay with spreading fake news of her own, so it’s a huge mess.

Karoline Leavitt did not say math is woke

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The above image has been shared and re-shared on Instagram, BlueSky, Reddit, and probably Friendster, so basically everyone has seen it. The X post above has been viewed over 2.6 million times alone. But Leavitt never said math is woke. This is a doctored version of an actual screenshot from Fox News, so it’s fake. It’s actually a joke, but judging from comments like these…

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…a lot of people didn’t see the humor in it. It’s not just people on the left who missed the mark; presumed defenders of Leavitt felt the need to refute the picture with political “whataboutism” like this:

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While the creator of the image is unknown, it was created as satire—but political parody is nearly impossible to pull off these days. This is a perfect example of Poe’s Law in action. Poe’s law states, basically, “any parodic expression of extreme views can be mistaken by some readers for a sincere expression of those views.” That tracks.

Karoline Leavitt did not debate Stephen Colbert

The fake news from the other side of the aisle can’t hide behind “It’s just a joke.” The above YouTube video isn’t meant to be funny. It looks and sounds like a straight-forward news story recounting Karoline Leavitt appearing on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and completely owning the late night host in a debate.

“I know what Americans want more than some ivory tower news outlets or millionaire hosts like you,” Leavitt supposedly said, “Trump’s working for the people, not for you guys.”

Leavitt has never been on The Late Show. Everything about this clip was generated by AI, from the video footage of Leavitt, to the voice-over, to the content. It’s a crude fake—as far as I know, the real Karoline Leavitt only has five fingers on her hands, and news anchors don’t pronounce “asterisk” aloud when it appears in their scripts unless they’re Ron Burgundy—but it’s been viewed over 60,000 times. In the comment section, opinions are divided as to its reality, despite a disclaimer reading “Sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated.”

The video was posted by a channel called “Phantom Stories,” which, until very recently, only posted AI-generated videos about cars and trucks, dozens of them, like this one. Eleven days ago, something changed at Phantom Stories, and the accursed algorithm that chooses its content went all in on Karoline Leavitt. According to Phantom Stories, Leavitt has:

Appeared on Anderson Cooper’s show and debated Michelle Obama. (Spoiler: Leavitt won the debate.)
Debated Jasmine Crockett on Live TV. (Spoiler: Leavitt won this debate also.)
“Destroyed” Robert DeNiro on Live TV. (You know the drill.)
Was kicked out of a car dealership, only to return the next day with her husband driving a Rolls-Royce.
Was fined in court for wearing a cross necklace. She then started an advocacy group that ended up inspiring a bi-partisan bill allowing religious expression. According to the video, in the future, Leavitt will tell her daughter about this.
Made Steve Harvey cry.

Stay tuned for more news on fake Karoline Leavitt as it develops.

Stephen Johnson

Staff Writer

Stephen Johnson is a Staff Writer for Lifehacker where he covers pop culture, including two weekly columns “The Out of Touch Adults’ Guide to Kid Culture” and “What People are Getting Wrong this Week.” He graduated from Emerson College with a BFA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing.

Previously, Stephen was Managing Editor at NBC/Universal’s G4TV. While at G4, he won a Telly Award for writing and was nominated for a Webby award. Stephen has also written for Blumhouse, FearNET, Performing Songwriter magazine, NewEgg, AVN, GameFly, Art Connoisseur International magazine, Fender Musical Instruments, Hustler Magazine, and other outlets. His work has aired on Comedy Central and screened at the Sundance International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, and Chicago Horror Film Festival. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.

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