WEBVTT 00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:02.450 What does this logo look like to you? 00:00:02.450 --> 00:00:04.980 It might not look like much at first glance 00:00:04.980 --> 00:00:08.123 but it did cause quite a stir online. 00:00:09.800 --> 00:00:14.570 This logo was found on the side of a mobile COVID-19 testing truck. 00:00:14.570 --> 00:00:17.610 The photo is real and so is the logo. 00:00:17.610 --> 00:00:21.840 A viral post on Facebook claim that this logo represents Anubis, 00:00:21.840 --> 00:00:25.193 the ancient Egyptian God of death and the afterlife. 00:00:26.210 --> 00:00:29.890 The rumors circulated among groups tied to QAnon, 00:00:29.890 --> 00:00:34.171 the once fringe conspiracy theory that has made its way into the mainstream. 00:00:34.171 --> 00:00:39.730 QAnon members said the logo revealed a deep state plot against Americans. 00:00:39.730 --> 00:00:45.590 They shared fears that these testing trucks were up to something nefarious. 00:00:45.750 --> 00:00:48.940 Of course it turns out the logo is actually an aardvark. 00:00:48.940 --> 00:00:50.040 An aardvark? 00:00:50.040 --> 00:00:52.230 Yes, an aardvark, which I learned, 00:00:52.230 --> 00:00:57.350 is an African mammal who is nocturnal and feeds largely on bugs. 00:00:57.350 --> 00:00:59.770 Sarah Spencer, a journalist with factcheck.org, 00:00:59.770 --> 00:01:03.450 ventured down the virtual rabbit hole to figure out where this logo came from 00:01:03.450 --> 00:01:07.260 and how it ended up linked to an Egyptian death deity. 00:01:07.260 --> 00:01:11.890 We initially were presented with this meme on Facebook. 00:01:11.890 --> 00:01:15.470 Why does COVID-19 testing facility have a logo of Anubis, the God of death? 00:01:15.470 --> 00:01:20.790 The first step would be to do just a basic reverse image search. 00:01:20.900 --> 00:01:22.640 It can give you a starting off point 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:25.410 and give you a sense of maybe how widespread something is. 00:01:25.410 --> 00:01:29.520 You can see obviously where the person who put together this meme shows, 00:01:29.520 --> 00:01:32.930 to select in red, indicating what they think is interesting about it. 00:01:32.930 --> 00:01:35.870 That will often skew an image search 00:01:35.870 --> 00:01:38.640 but you can also click and download, 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:43.140 and then put it into any photo editing software. 00:01:43.140 --> 00:01:46.940 In a picture like this, I would crop it like that, 00:01:47.090 --> 00:01:49.140 so that you get part of an actual picture. 00:01:49.140 --> 00:01:50.640 Then you can plug that picture 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:54.890 into your standard reverse image search. 00:01:54.890 --> 00:01:59.250 Here, in TinEye, you can select your cropped version. 00:01:59.360 --> 00:02:00.930 In TinEye, unlike in Google, 00:02:00.930 --> 00:02:03.890 you can sort by newest to oldest. 00:02:03.890 --> 00:02:08.870 So in this case, it was used in a Philadelphia business journal - 00:02:08.870 --> 00:02:13.014 a story about this area business that had started retooling its trucks 00:02:13.014 --> 00:02:16.190 to be used as mobile testing units during COVID-19. 00:02:16.330 --> 00:02:21.240 They identify the name of the company as Aardvark Mobile. 00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:24.730 So then just a simple, very simple internet search, 00:02:24.730 --> 00:02:30.091 a pretty obvious first result is the Aardvark Mobile Tours website 00:02:30.210 --> 00:02:33.850 that shares the same logo that you see on the truck. 00:02:34.070 --> 00:02:36.538 You see they have a mobile health care unit. 00:02:36.538 --> 00:02:37.681 That looks pretty close. 00:02:37.681 --> 00:02:40.110 Very similar setup, yeah, very similar setup. 00:02:40.110 --> 00:02:42.510 One thing that TinEye is really good at is finding 00:02:42.510 --> 00:02:45.560 where images first started showing up online. 00:02:45.560 --> 00:02:49.704 One of its first iterations showed up on 8KUN, 00:02:49.704 --> 00:02:54.980 which is a message board that often is home to conspiracy theorists threads. 00:02:55.230 --> 00:02:58.340 It's where a lot of conspiracy theories develop and then bubble up 00:02:58.340 --> 00:03:00.850 before they start showing up on Facebook and Twitter. 00:03:00.850 --> 00:03:02.920 So your tip to a general reader - 00:03:02.920 --> 00:03:07.920 if they see an image that makes these kinds of claims, 00:03:08.010 --> 00:03:11.010 what's the 1st thing they should have in the back of their mind? 00:03:11.010 --> 00:03:12.760 What's the 1st thing they should do? 00:03:12.760 --> 00:03:15.810 If you're scrolling through your social media, you see something 00:03:15.810 --> 00:03:19.263 that really speaks to you and really feels right, 00:03:19.263 --> 00:03:23.840 and you think, yes, that really solidifies what I think. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:27.340 That should be a warning to you that it might be questionable. 00:03:27.340 --> 00:03:31.860 Often you'll find that the facts that are included in memes 00:03:31.860 --> 00:03:34.503 that feel the most right, are actually wrong. 00:03:35.110 --> 00:03:37.780 The world feels scary right now 00:03:37.780 --> 00:03:40.160 and the future feels unknown. 00:03:40.160 --> 00:03:43.240 Reading something on the internet and assuming the worst, 00:03:43.240 --> 00:03:45.120 seems almost reasonable. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:47.469 But as Sarah said, if it feels right, 00:03:47.469 --> 00:03:49.400 you might wanna check first. 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:52.920 And if something requires an elaborate explanation, 00:03:52.920 --> 00:03:54.980 maybe there's a simpler answer. 00:03:54.980 --> 00:03:57.590 Sometimes a logo is just a logo. 00:03:57.590 --> 00:04:00.500 Sometimes an aardvark is just an aardvark. 00:04:00.500 --> 00:04:04.250 And why, by the way, is this truck company named after an aardvark? 00:04:04.380 --> 00:04:07.180 The owner of Aardvark Tours chose the name Aardvark 00:04:07.180 --> 00:04:08.690 because it starts with AA 00:04:08.690 --> 00:04:12.270 and way back when there were yellow pages in the phone book. 00:04:12.270 --> 00:04:15.610 Sure, we had AA Carpet Cleaning, AAA Carpet Cleaning. 00:04:15.610 --> 00:04:17.521 And aardvark starts with two A's. 00:04:17.521 --> 00:04:19.269 So, that's how that came to be. 00:04:19.269 --> 00:04:20.320 Until next time. 00:04:20.320 --> 00:04:22.453 Don't spread fake news. Keep it real. 00:04:22.453 --> 00:04:25.420 I'm Hari Sreenivasan, and this is Take on Fake. 00:04:28.340 --> 00:04:29.340 Thanks for watching. 00:04:29.340 --> 00:04:32.100 Want more tips&tricks for becoming a better fact checker? 00:04:32.100 --> 00:04:35.770 Subscribe to our channel and let us know what you think in the comments below.