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Snopes' top 10 news stories of 2025, Eric Clapton & Jesse Watters

Plus: Snopes' favorite claims we unpacked in 2025

December 30, 2025

TUESDAY EDITION

Snopes Debunker

From left to right, a white man wearinga white collered shirt, a white man wearing a blue suit and a white woman are seen. A black "Snopes" logo can be seen behind them.

This year, Snopes encountered many claims that our team couldn't rate with certainty. But we didn't leave you guessing. Our reporters published original news stories explaining what we did — and didn't — know.

Many of the stories that resonated with our readers focused on politics, including those examining rumors about President Trump and his administration.

Here are our 10 most popular news stories of 2025, ranked by page views.

A white man speaks while looking to the right.

Auditing claim Mike Johnson donates his salary to charity

Johnson has described himself as "a man of modest means."

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Posts claim Eric Clapton called Trump 'disgrace to America' and 'cancer on society.' Here's the truth

A meme featuring the musician's alleged comments made the rounds online, but there was no indication he actually produced the quote.

A person rings someone up in a check-out line. Someone appears to stand behind them looking into a cart.

Does Walmart track customers even when they pay in cash? What we know

Walmart gave Snopes a possible explanation for a customer being sent an email about a product he purchased with cash.

A white man wearing a black suit looks to the right. A chryon with a graphic that says "FOX NEWS channel" on the left says, "WATTERS: "IF TRUMP HAD BEEN PRESIDENT DURING THE CIVIL WAR, WE WOULD HAVE WON IT.""

Did Fox News' Jesse Watters say, 'If Trump had been president during the Civil War, we would've won it'?

Users questioned what Watters meant by "we," but the claim was intended comedically.

Staff pick

From left to right, a keychain of a mischeveous-looking creature, a large white building and a Black man walking next to a white man are shown. A black "Snopes" logo can be seen behind them.

Snopes' favorite claims we unpacked in 2025

To celebrate the end of 2025, we asked our reporters to pick their favorite story from the year and explain why it stood out to them.

Their responses ranged from an investigation into whether Russia created an online "marketplace" for kidnapped Ukrainian children to a fact check of a video claiming rapper Tupac Shakur appeared on an unaired episode of educational children's television show "Sesame Street."

Here are eight of our team members' favorite stories from this year.