In recent months, multiple VERIFY readers who receive benefits from the government have reached out asking if they will see more money this year to help with rising costs due to inflation.
VERIFY reader Anthony recently texted us to ask whether veterans will be receiving a stimulus check in 2024.
THE QUESTION
Are veterans receiving a $3,000 federal stimulus check in 2024?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, veterans are not receiving a $3,000 federal stimulus check in 2024.
WHAT WE FOUND
A spokesperson with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) confirmed to VERIFY there is no stimulus check coming for eligible veterans in 2024. The misinformation appears to stem from inaccurate reporting about a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) applied to veterans’ benefits at the beginning of the year.
The “VA does not issue any form of stimulus to Veterans,” a VA spokesperson told VERIFY.
No one, including veterans, is getting a federal stimulus payment in 2024, the Internal Revenue Service told VERIFY.
Effective Jan. 1, 2024, eligible veterans’ monthly benefits increased by 3.2% because of the COLA adjustment.
Each year, the president signs a law guaranteeing veterans will receive a compensation adjustment based on the cost-of-living. President Joe Biden signed the Veterans’ COLA Act of 2023 in June 2023. The law directs the VA to provide the cost-of-living adjustment for veterans benefits equal to the COLA applied to Social Security benefits. The Social Security Administration adjusts benefit amounts every year to account for inflation through a cost-of-living adjustment. This adjustment is not a stimulus payment.
“Any rebate or stimulus program, operating through the tax system, could only happen if specifically authorized by law, enacted by Congress and signed by the President. There is no such payment due to happen this year for anyone, whether they are a veteran or anything else,” the IRS said.
The misinformation about a veteran stimulus check began with an incorrect report from Newsweek that the COLA adjustment came in the form of a stimulus check, the VA told VERIFY. That article has since been corrected to remove any reference to a stimulus payment.
How the misinformation spread
False claims about new stimulus checks are amplified in part by a growth in content created by generative artificial intelligence (AI), McKenzie Sadeghi, AI and foreign influence editor for NewsGuard, told AARP.
Sadeghi told AARP these articles about imminent stimulus checks are a staple of “content farms,” which are “supposed news sites that regurgitate dubious information and often rely on AI-generated articles with little or no human oversight.”
Search engines, like Google, have been using generative AI to provide results that summarize information from multiple sources. So instead of having to click on multiple links to find information, the results are summarized as a digest at the top of Google’s search results page.
When we Google searched “va stimulus check” on April 24, the results yielded false information that the VA would be sending stimulus checks. The information was summarized from dubious websites not associated with the VA.
For example, at the time of publication of this article, the homepage of the website labeled “pstet 2024” had unrelated information about an exam hosted by Punjab State Education Board located in Amritsar, India.
The homepage for the website labeled NRCL also says it’s based in India and has information about various exams and educational institutions in India– not resources for Americans claiming government benefits.
Another website included in Google search results, unelections.org, has a disclaimer on the homepage that says, “ Unelections.org is a information Based Blog Which provides content from various sources around the Globe to users for information purposes only. We are not responsible for any kind of inaccuracy or deficiency of the provided information. Also We do not represent any kind of Government Organization in any Manner.”
The incorrect punctuation, capitalization and inconsistent wording are red flags that this is a suspicious website.
Sadeghi told the AARP that if people are skeptical of a news site’s legitimacy to look for these signs of AI-generated content:
- Inconsistent information: AI-generated articles “often contain contradictions or conflicting info,” or even error messages, Sadeghi says.
- Repetition: Content farm articles will often repeat a key phrase like “stimulus checks” dozens of times.
- No attribution: “We’ll see a lot of missing citations,” Sadeghi says. “None of the information is credited anywhere.”
- Lack of transparency: Does the story have a byline or any way to verify the writer’s identity? Does the site disclose information about who is behind it?
The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More »
