By Rashidat Oladele
The group’s mission is to “promote and initiate discussion of Flat Earth theory.”
Claim: Images authentically depicted a Facebook post by the Flat Earth Society in which it claimed to have “members all around the globe.”
Since 2017, pictures purporting to depict a Facebook post by The Flat world Society, a conspiracy theory group that aims to persuade people that the world is a flat disk rather than a spherical, have gone viral online. In the post, the group claimed to have “members all around the globe.” The pictures further stated that in response to the purported post, a group by the name of Physics-Astronomy.com said, “Say that again, but slowly.”
One such instance was shared in December 2021 by KISS vocalist Gene Simmons on X, formerly known as Twitter:
Upon closer inspection, there were multiple indications that the image above was edited with a photo-editing program.
According to a study done by Naturefact on snopes.com, snopes searched Google for studies using the phrase “flat earth society has members all over the globe.” Results from the search included online publications and social media posts featuring the disputed image from at least 2017. A camera allegedly took a picture of the claimed Facebook post while it was being viewed on another device, as evidenced by certain photographs that showed it from an angled perspective. To give the impression that it was a screenshot, other photos displayed the disputed post head-on.
On October 15, 2022, the Flat Earth Society posted a response to the prank on their “Flat Earth Wiki,” which they refer to as a The Flat Earth Society maintains this collaborative resource.
The group never posted anything like that on Facebook, and the post claimed the image wasn’t real. Additionally, it identified hints that suggested the image was altered digitally, like the missing portion at the top of the letter “y” in “Society” and the misalignment of the supposed commentator’s profile photo with their reported response, “Say that again, but slowly.” (At the time of publishing, Snopes was unable to locate a legitimate Facebook page with the name “Physics-Astronomy.com.”).
Additionally, Snopes examined every post made by The Flat Earth Society on Facebook that was accessible to the general public, starting on March 12, 2012. We were unable to locate any proof of the disputed post.
One online forum is called the Flat Earth Society.
The Flat Earth Society is an online forum dedicated to promoting the ideal of a “Flat Earth theory,” according to the group’s About page. In other words, the group embraces the repeatedly debunked conspiracy theory that the earth is flat.Around 225,000 Facebook users follow the group’s page.
Verdict: False