A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week.

ClaimCOVID-19 vaccines make people produce a spike protein that is a toxin and can spread to other parts of the body and damage organs.

The factsCOVID-19 vaccines do instruct the body to produce spike proteins that teach the immune system to combat the spikes on the coronavirus, but experts say these proteins are not toxic and do not damage organs.“The spike protein is immunogenic, meaning it causes an immune response, but it is not a toxin,” said William Matchett, a vaccine researcher at the University of Minnesota Medical School.Dr. Daniel Kaul, an infectious disease expert at the University of Michigan, noted that the vaccines have been proven safe and effective through clinical trials and the millions of people who have so far received the vaccines in the U.S.

ClaimCOVID-19 vaccines have resulted in some people becoming magnetic.

The factsIn recent weeks, videos have circulated on social media falsely claiming that metal objects shown hanging on people's bodies were the result of magnetism created by COVID-19 vaccines or microchips. A new video claims that magnetism was added to the vaccine in order to make the messenger RNA move throughout the body.The CDC says there is no truth to these claims and that the COVID-19 vaccines are free from ingredients that could produce an electromagnetic field.“Receiving a COVID-19 vaccine will not make you magnetic, including at the site of vaccination which is usually your arm,” the agency posted on its website. “In addition, the typical dose for a COVID-19 vaccine is less than a milliliter, which is not enough to allow magnets to be attracted to your vaccination site even if the vaccine was filled with a magnetic metal.”The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized use of the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines and the ingredients are publicly available in agency documents and on the CDC website. None of the shots include any metals.

ClaimCoronavirus cases without symptoms aren't real. An asymptomatic patient is simply a healthy person.

The factsPosts liked thousands of times on Instagram this week are falsely claiming that asymptomatic COVID-19 cases do not exist.“In case anyone is still confused — an 'asymptomatic' person is a healthy person,” the posts read. “Never in the history of acute respiratory illnesses have we declared 'cases' without any indication of symptoms. It's called a false positive. The end.”In fact, asymptomatic COVID-19 infections do occur and are a key feature of the virus, according to the CDC and several experts consulted by The Associated Press.“We know that asymptomatic infections occur based on at least two facts,” said Jade Fulce, public affairs specialist at the CDC. First, she said, the “virus has been isolated by culture from persons who have tested positive but never develop symptoms.” Second, she said, “there are well documented cases of infected persons who are asymptomatic who have transmitted infection.”Though false positive and negative tests can occur, the risk of such errors is low in most of the tests authorized for use by the FDA, Fulce said.Furthermore, false positives due to lab errors are not the same as asymptomatic cases.Though estimates vary, researchers who reviewed the available published data in May 2021 said that at least one-third of people who become infected with the coronavirus likely did not experience symptoms.

ClaimPresident Joe Biden once said he was about to “swoop down with Special Forces” and “gather up every gun in America,” and now his administration is advertising giving out guns to people who get vaccinated for COVID-19.

The factsA video circulating widely on social media this week falsely claims to show the U.S. president standing at a podium and threatening to take people's guns away. Text overlaid on the video aims to contrast it with current policies, falsely suggesting Biden's administration is now “advertising guns to the public” as an incentive to get a COVID-19 vaccine.Neither claim is true. Biden's administration has not led any national giveaway of guns for getting a vaccine. Some smaller-scale lotteries like this do exist, such as in West Virginia, where a statewide vaccine lottery counts hunting rifles and shotguns among its prizes. Biden also never threatened to take “every gun in America.”The video, which amassed thousands of shares on TikTok and spread to Instagram, strips key context from Biden's words during a 2013 press conference. The video makes it sound like Biden intends to take everyone's guns away. However, Biden was actually explaining that the government would do no such thing.

ClaimVideo shows Pope Francis saying in Italian that “we are living in the end times,” that he has “a secret agenda” to deceive people and that he unites people under one world religion in order to “control them better,” among other foreboding messages.

The factsA video clip circulating widely last week on Instagram, TikTok and conspiracy theory websites shows Pope Francis speaking to the camera in Italian while fake English subtitles mislead viewers about his message. The subtitles falsely claim the Roman Catholic leader is letting viewers in on something he has been “keeping secret for a long time.”The video inaccurately translates Francis as saying that we are “living in the end times,” that we are “living like Jesus Christ isn't coming back,” and that in worshipping Francis, people will actually receive a message from the Antichrist known as the “Mark of the Beast.”An internet search reveals the clip actually comes from a 2014 video filmed on a smartphone by Anthony Palmer, a pastor who knew Francis personally and died later that year. English subtitles on multiple 2014 versions of the video indicate that Francis is actually saying Christians should come together as brothers. The original videos do not include any mention of the Mark of the Beast or a secret agenda.