NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn't happen this week

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

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Claim about airline meeting on vaccine liability is false

CLAIM: Airlines recently met to discuss the risks and liability of carrying passengers vaccinated against COVID-19 since they could develop blood clots.

THE FACTS: There’s no evidence that major airlines had a recent meeting to discuss the risks of transporting vaccinated passengers or that flying will trigger extremely rare blood clots associated with some COVID-19 vaccines, such as those manufactured by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. But a popular Instagram post spread misinformation on that topic. “Airlines are meeting today to discuss the risks of carrying vaxed passengers due to the risk of clots and the liabilities involved,” the false post states. “Oh the irony only the non vaxed can fly.” In response to the post, International Air Transport Association spokesperson Anthony Concil told The Associated Press: “I can confirm that this is nonsense. We do have a medical advisory group that looks at health and air travel issues. This is not an issue on their agenda.” Concil added: “As far as we are aware there are no meetings taking place among airlines on this topic." He also noted that the IATA, a trade association for global airlines, is “not aware of any suggestion in medical literature” that the kind of rare blood clots linked to certain COVID-19 vaccines has any impact on air travel. In fact, the types of blood clots that people can develop on airplanes, such as deep vein thrombosis, are “totally different” from the rare blood clots a small number of people...