Fact check: Email requiring employees to use masks on Zoom calls originated as satire
Nayeli LomeliThe claim: Email required employees to wear masks during Zoom calls
Some social media users were deceived by a post showing an employer's purported email requiring remote workers to wear masks on Zoom meetings.
"We are doomed," reads the caption of a Jan. 5 Facebook post that features the email.
The email's subject line reads, "Zoom Meeting Protocol."
"I am writing you all today to inform you of a new protocol for our staff zoom meetings," the email message says. "Moving forward, everyone will be required to wear a mask during our meetings. One of our team members has a fear of unmasked people, and I want to make sure everyone feels safe and comfortable."
The post gathered more than 2,000 shares and 10,000 reactions within two days. The claim also circulated on Twitter feeds, where it amassed thousands more.
"Please let this not be real," one commenter wrote.
It's not. The image is a screenshot from a TikTok video posted by a satirical account.
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USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment.
Image comes from satirical account
The image of the viral email circulating online is from a Jan. 4 TikTok video. User @zactokz notes in his bio that his posts are satire.
On Dec. 30, @zactokz posted a video saying he had received an email from his boss informing the team to wear face masks during Zoom meetings because a colleague had a "fear of unmasked people."
A few days later, he replied to a comment from a user asking to see the email and posted a video with the fake email.
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The Facebook post is an example of what might be called "stolen satire," where stories originally presented as satire are reposted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.
Our rating: Altered
Based on our research, we rate ALTERED an image claiming to show an email that required employees to wear masks during Zoom calls. The image was created as satire and was not sent in an actual workplace.
Our fact-check sources:
- TikTok video, archived Jan. 7
- TikTok video, archived Jan. 7
- PolitiFact, Jan. 6, Messages about employer mask requirements for Zoom meetings originated on satire accounts
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Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.
