Trump didn’t close the borders

A video posted late last month contained a bold announcement concerning the president.

“Donald Trump has just signed one of the most extreme executive orders in U.S. history, a total border shutdown with no set reopening date,” the June 28 TikTok post reported. “Starting the first of July, no one goes in, no one comes out, not even legal residents with full documentation, the order according to the Trump administration is meant to protect national sovereignty … If you leave the country after that date, you may not be allowed back in at all.”

But this is false, according to PolitiFact. There is no evidence that supports this claim and no record of such an executive order.

The false post was also posted on TikTok in Spanish.

There needs to be an emergency, such as a military conflict, or other specific circumstance for a complete shutdown of the border to happen, Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of UCLA’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy, told PolitiFact. Trump most recently restricted border crossings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The president, on June 4, did issue a proclamation restricting entry of foreign nationals from certain countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti and Iran, citing a need to protect the U.S. from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats.

Trump dancing with girl photo is fake

A photo showing President Donald Trump dancing with a young girl has recently surfaced on social media.

“Photo of Donald Trump at (Jeffrey) Epstein’s private island dancing with a 13 year old girl,” reads the text on the post. “Trump was in his 50s when this was taken. What kind of man does that?”

But this image isn’t real, according to The Associated Press. It was created using artificial intelligence, or AI.

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told the AP the photo is a forgery.

University of California, Berkeley, computer science professor Hany Farid told the AP there are various giveaways to know the image was created using AI, such as a man standing in the background appears to have six fingers and there is an inconsistent reflection in the girl’s eyes.

Other commenters pointed out the “overly shiny and smooth skin and hair texture on both Trump and the girl, which gives them an almost cartoonish quality,” the AP said.

Some social media posts, which included the fake image, also added an actual photo of Trump standing with Epstein.

Sunscreen protects against skin cancer, say medical experts

There has been a rash of recent social media posts claiming that sunscreen is harmful to your health.

“Don’t put this on your children,” read one post that said skin cancer rates have risen by 400% since the use of sunscreen, vitamin D from sun exposure is blocked and the chemicals avobenzone and oxybenzone end up in your bloodstream.

“Our bodies were made to protect themselves!!” one commenter said.

But this is misleading, according to Reuters. Medical evidence shows the use of sunscreen reduces the risk of skin cancer.

According to studies, Vitamin D has not been found to prevent skin cancer, Elizabeth Platz, a cancer epidemiologist from Johns Hopkins University, told Reuters.

And as for the chemicals avobenzone and oxybenzone, studies show they are not harmful, Antony Young, a professor at St. John's Institute of Dermatology, King’s College London, told Reuters.

Dolphin saving leopard video created in AI

A few videos recently posted to social media show a snow leopard being saved by a dolphin.

A video titled “Spotted a Dolphin Carrying a Lost Snow Leopard in the Frozen Seas!” shows a leopard cub riding a dolphin before a crew on a boat pulls both aboard. The leopard is cleaned up and barnacles are washed off of the dolphin. The cub licks the dolphin, apparently in appreciation, before the sea animal is returned to the water.

But this heartwarming event didn’t really happen, according to Snopes. The footage is fake, created using artificial intelligence.

Snow leopards don’t live near the sea so it’s unlikely the two animals would meet.

There were at least two different but similar videos posted, nearly three weeks apart, which showed different-sized snow leopards and different dolphins, meaning if this improbable event actually happened, it even more improbably would have happened twice.

• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.