Posts Falsely Claim CBS News Reported ‘Cheating’ in Election

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Quick Take

Some social media posts falsely claimed that CBS News reported there was “cheating” in the 2024 presidential election that benefitted President-elect Donald Trump. We found no evidence of such a report, and a CBS News spokesperson said the outlet “did not report or say there was cheating in the election.”

Full Story

The 2024 presidential election was called for Donald Trump on Nov. 6, with the president-elect winning 312 electoral votes and Vice President Kamala Harris receiving 226. The elections also saw Republicans regain control of the Senate and likely keep control of the House of Representatives, although several congressional districts have yet to be decided as of Nov. 12.

But social media posts, falsely citing CBS News, have made unfounded claims that the presidential election outcome may have been the result of cheating. 

A Nov. 10 post on Threads claimed, “CBS is reporting cheating in the election. If the accusations are true. There could be a recount. This will change everything. Let’s cross our fingers!”

A similar post on X on Nov. 6 said, “CBS News is currently accusing Donald Trump of cheating his victory over the 2024 Presidential Election.” As of Nov. 11, the post was viewed 2.7 million times and received 43,000 likes, according to the platform. 

We couldn’t find any stories posted by CBS News on its website, X account, or its Threads account that reported cheating during the elections. 

CBS News spokesperson Hugo Rojo told us in an emailed statement, “CBS News did not report or say there was cheating in the election.”

While there was no evidence of cheating, there was a considerable amount of disinformation before, during and after the elections. 

CBS News reported on Nov. 5, Election Day, that the FBI warned of fabricated videos using the agency’s name and insignia, including one that alleged voter fraud at prisons in three swing states. “The videos were likely created by the same Russian disinformation group that released two additional fabricated FBI videos in recent days, according to Antibot4Navalny, a collective of researchers that tracks online Russian disinformation,” CBS News reported.

Trump has repeatedly made baseless, false and misleading claims that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged,” citing conspiracies involving the Department of Justice, Dominion Voting Systems and local election officials, among others. State and federal judges repeatedly rejected Trump’s claims, saying the Trump legal team provided no evidence of fraud. 

On Election Day this year, while the polls were still open, Trump once again posted unfounded claims on social media about “massive CHEATING” in Philadelphia, adding “Law Enforcement coming!!!” As we wrote, city and state officials, including the Philadelphia district attorney, city commissioner and the Pennsylvania Department of State, denied any allegations of election impropriety. The Philadelphia Police Department also told CNN they were not aware of any election-related issues that had prompted a law enforcement response. 

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Facebook has no control over our editorial content.

Sources

Associated Press. “2024 Presidential Election Results.” Accessed 11 Nov 2024. 

CBS News. “Homepage.” Accessed 11 Nov 2024. 

Rojo, Hugo, Spokesperson, CBS News. Email to FactCheck.org. 11 Nov 2024. 

Delzer, Erielle and Kerry Breen. “FBI warns that fake videos using its name, insignia are spreading election misinformation.” CBS News. 5 Nov 2024. 

FBI. Press release. “FBI Statement on Inauthentic Use of Bureau Name, Insignia in Promoting False Election-Related Narratives.” 5 Nov 2024.

@antibot4navalny. “None of the fake videos published by Matryoshka after the poll stations got closed were made with an assumption that any particular candidate won… Moreover, most were still seeking to target the voting… And all of them either used FBI branding or falsely quoted FBI as saying.” X. 6 Nov 2024. 

McLean, Danielle. “Post Misrepresents Impact of Voter Registrations Delivered to Maricopa County.” 15 Oct 2024. 

Quinn, Melissa. “These 14 House seats are still undecided, with 2024 results outstanding a week after Election Day.” CBS News. 12 Nov 2024.

Robertson, Lori, et al. “Trump Repeats Baseless, False Claims About the Election.” FactCheck.org. 1 Dec 2020. 

Farley, Robert. “Trump Makes Unsupported Claim About ‘Massive CHEATING’ in Philadelphia.” FactCheck.org. 5 Nov 2024. 

Lybrand, Holmes, et al. “Philadelphia authorities shut down claims of “massive CHEATING” Trump referenced in Truth Social post.” CNN. 5 Nov 2024.