2 like 23 dislike
in General Factchecking by Genius (47.3k points)
Disney bought Jeffrey Epstein's island to build a theme park.
by Newbie (260 points)
0 0
This statement is clearly untrue. I have surfed through this website time and time again and have seen in their "about" section of the website. The first paragraph in this website states that "Mouse Trap News is the world’s best satire and parody site. We write fake stories about Disney Parks stuff. From Disney Park announcements to Disney Hotel and resort news to made-up Disney partnerships, you can be assured that anything you read here is not true, real, or accurate, but it is fun." Aside from this, there is no evidence about the fact that Disney had even considering buying Jeffrey Epstein's Island to build a theme park. In fact, another website had also fact-checked this and proved that this was wrong the second this "fact" or "news" had been released.

https://mousetrapnews.com/about/

https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/article-about-disney-buying-epstein-island-is-satire-2024-04-22/
by Newbie (240 points)
0 0
This claim is completely untrue. Immediately after doing extra research, the first few things to pop up on a google search claim that this is complete satire and untruthful. This is a pretty recent article and it is clearly trying to use clickbait to jump on the Epstein island story that surfaced around the time of the article. One major thing that stood out when looking at this article is that there is no name given, only the news source that posted this claim is seen, and the quality of the post seems very low. After doing more than just a google search, I found that both Snoops, and USA Today both wrote this article off as satire. USA Today claims that this is from a satirical website, however "The Facebook post is an example of what could be called stolen satire." as they say. The satire seems to come from the fact that the allegations on what happened on Epstein Island are horrific, which is just the opposite of a Disney park. There are false claims in this article as well, most prominent one having to be that Epstein was "great" and has now passed away. While the headline does in fact aline with the article, this seems like just a joke of a post, only used to make people laugh that have a twisted sense of humor.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2024/04/12/epstein-island-sold-to-disney-satire-fact-check/73292777007/
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/disney-bought-epsteins-island/

https://mousetrapnews.com/the-walt-disney-company-buys-epstein-island/
by Newbie (240 points)
0 0
Yeah, and there are many different websites that back the claim up that this is false, such as USA Today, and Snopes. This is completely satirical and suppose to be a joke, however Facebook users see this claim without the original website, which is known for posting fake news, which is why so many people actually believed this.
by Newbie (240 points)
0 0
That is a really good point about social media. Things that are clear jokes can be taken out of context and then people online will think that the information they receive is true. This is why misinformation spreads so easily. Social media makes it so easy for posts to go up that can spread so much falseness.
by Newbie (200 points)
0 0
While reading this article, I can easily tell that this is entirely satire even down to the "evidence" with who the sources talked to. The website that was used, MouseTrap News also has many other satirical articles that are meant to be a joke. There is no real evidence and no other sources that back up its outlandish claims, thus leading the article to clearly be fake. But, because this article was posted on social media, the people were quick to believe it without really reading the contents in the article.

59 Answers

0 like 0 dislike
by (140 points)
According to a USA Today article, this information is incorrect. The writer also uses subjectivity and casual speech. Also, attribution was not properly used and quotes were confusing.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2024/04/12/epstein-island-sold-to-disney-satire-fact-check/73292777007/
1 like 0 dislike
by Newbie (290 points)

This claim that Jeffrey Epstein's island will become a theme park created by Disney isn't factual and lacks actual evidence. The island was bought by a financier Stephen Deckoff and he has absolutely nothing to do with Disney at all. Also, there is a ton of speculation on websites about what will happen to the island. There is nothing confirmed. 

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/04/1173956903/jeffrey-epstein-island-sold-st-james: This article describes who actually owns the island at the moment. 

https://www.newsweek.com/disney-offer-cruises-jeffrey-epstein-island-twitter-fact-check-1802125: Everyone is unsure about what actually happened with the island and can only speculate. 

1 like 0 dislike
by (160 points)
This is False. There was a claim made the Disney has bought or is interested in buying the Epstiens island for a stop on its crew ship. The claims were spread through TikTok and X first claims came from Dominick Andrew McGee on May 18th on X. He shared Disney would send kids to the island for snorkeling day trips. Disney released a a statement saying they never have or will have connections with epstiens island. They had snorkeling at an island near the area not related.
False
1 like 0 dislike
by Newbie (320 points)
This is misinformaiton. There is no valid or real proof of Disney purchasing or attempting to purchase Epstein's island.  This is 100% false.
False
1 like 0 dislike
by Newbie (240 points)
This claim is not true. Disney is a brand for children, they would never buy an island with such a bad reputation to build a theme park on.
1 like 0 dislike
by Newbie (240 points)
This article is False, the origin of the headline was from Mouse Trap News, which is known for it false news about the Disney Company. However Jeffrey Epstein's island was sold in 2023 to Stephen Deckoff for $60 Million.
1 like 0 dislike
by Novice (540 points)

This Article is not factual and lack any real evidence. I was looking at articles made by more reliable news sources, and it said a man named Stephen Deckoff, was the man who bought it, and this man has absolutely nothing to do with anything related to Disney. I found a article that shows that Disney did not buy it 

https://www.techtimes.com/articles/303614/20240415/disney-denies-purchase-epstein-island-amid-viral-rumors.htm

So the article is false 

False
1 like 0 dislike
by Novice (540 points)

“Jeffery’s Island is the perfect place to put up a new theme park. It’s also a great way to honor the late, great, Jeffery Epstein, who took his life too soon.” this quote when I googled it can only be traced back to the article and no source. MouseTrap does not specify the speaker. This is misinformation. 

1 like 0 dislike
by Newbie (200 points)

This is completely false. When searching this up on Google, all the articles from a day or two ago are about how this claim is fake. Articles like Yahoo, Tech Times, USA Today, and Snopes all discuss the wrong claim. Snopes even has a statement from Mouse Trap News saying that they are a satire site that posts fake and fun stories about Disney.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/disney-bought-epsteins-island/

1 like 0 dislike
by Newbie (200 points)

This claim is entirely false. Disney did not buy Epstien's island, and is not planning to build a new theme park on it. This hoax was started on Facebook and spread like wildfire. After further research there were multiple articles that said this was in fact wrong. I'll link them below

73292777007

viral-video-claiming-disney-bought-192000032.html

Community Rules


Be respectful.

There is bound to be disagreement on a site about misinformation. Assume best intentions on everyone's part.

If you are new to factchecking, take some time to learn about it. "How to Factcheck" has some resources for getting started. Even if you disagree with these materials, they'll help you understand the language of this community better.

News Detective is for uncovering misinformation and rumors. This is not a general interest question-answer site for things someone could Google.

Posting

The title is the "main claim" that you're trying to factcheck.

Example:
Factcheck This: Birds don't exist

If possible, LINK TO to the place you saw the claim.

Answering

LINK TO YOUR EVIDENCE or otherwise explain the source ("I called this person, I found it in this book, etc.")

But don't just drop a link. Give an explanation, copy and paste the relevant information, etc.

News Detective is not responsible for anything anyone posts on the platform.
...