$600 Bank Account Meme
Case #
2869

Instagram fact-checked a meme that makes fun of the government for wanting to allow the IRS to know how much Americans spend: A user posted a meme that read "They'll spend trillions on bills they haven't read, but want details on how you spend $600." The meme refers to a proposal made by the  U.S. Treasury Dept. for the fiscal year 2022 which advocates for a "comprehensive financial account information reporting regime." The proposal outlines that an "annual return will report gross inflows and outflows with a breakdown for physical cash, transactions with a foreign account, and transfers to and from another account with the same owner. This requirement would apply to all business and personal accounts from financial institutions, including bank, loan, and investment accounts, with the exception of accounts below a low de minimis gross flow threshold of $600 or fair market value of $600." Instagram's fact checker Factcheck.org quibbled that the meme, which said that the government "want[s] details on how you spend $600," was misleading because the proposal only asks for the totally aggregate amount each individual tax payer spends not the details of each transaction. Fact-checked posts lose exposure on Facebook feeds as they are negatively affected by the platform's algorithm. According to Facebook, users fail to click through a fact-check interstitial to see the post 95% of the time. Instagram, owned by Facebook, likely sees a similar effect.

Click images to enlarge

Fact Check
Instagram
Fact Check
Facebook
Fact Check
Facebook
Fact Check
Instagram
Fact Check
Instagram
Fact Check
Instagram
Fact Check
Facebook
Fact Check
Facebook
Fact Check
Instagram