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Friday, February 13, 2026

54 People So Dumb You Might Feel Your IQ Drop After Reading Their Posts (New Pics)

Sator Tenet February 13, 2026

Practically everyone has made an embarrassingmistakeor written something they later regretted online. We all mess up. But some failures areso bad and ignorantthat they deserve to be called out for spreadingmisinformation.

Our team atBored Pandahas collected some of the most painful and cringeworthy posts that social media users have ever made, and it hurts to read. Scroll down for a big dose of secondhand embarrassment and a reminder that you should always do a bit of research before sharing anything online.

The fact that we all inevitably make mistakes is no excuse to post and reshare whatever you come across on social media. We're all responsible for making the global digital environment a more trustworthy place with less misinformation and disinformation. But that's easier said than done, especially with so many malicious actors,biases, competing agendas, and bots online.

Disinformation is when someone deliberately makes up a false claim for a specific purpose. Meanwhile, misinformation is false content that is accidentally shared by people who don't know that the information is inaccurate, the BBCexplains.

As per the BBC, there are various reasons why someone might spread false information. For instance, they might have misheard or misquoted a claim from a real piece of news. Or they might have misunderstood a joke or a parody post, believing it to be fact.

Furthermore, someone might intentionally spread false info just to make money or drive attention to their website. Or they are paid to promote a specific person, point of view, or political party.

Broadly speaking, when we come across information that matches our own beliefs, we're much more likely to believe that it's true. This is known as confirmation bias. On the other hand, even if the info isn't something that we usually believe, if it is shocking enough, it might use our emotions against us, driving us to share it with others online.

According to the BBC, sharing false information tends to start in small and trusted networks before spreading more widely.

"These might be groups on messaging apps like a family chat, or social media pages and groups full of like-minded members. We all trust our family and friends, so when they send something on to us that might contain false information, we're more likely to believe them—and then in turn share it with others that we trust too. Imagine a web of contacts slowly getting larger as fake news is passed between different trusted networks; that's how the sharing starts," the BBC explains.

The spread of misinformation and disinformation is sometimes helped along by bots (fake accounts) and trolls (real accounts of people who enjoy harassing and intimidating others). "They might do this for money, political gain, or even just for fun," the BBC notes.

If someone with a large online following notices false information and then decides to share it, it then goes even more viral. These individuals have a lot of power to amplify false narratives.

As per astudyby the University of Oxford's Reuters Institute, just 20% of fake news stories were produced or shared by famous public figures, but these posts made up nearly 70% of the total engagements on social media.

That's not to say that non-influencers don't have much of an impact. They do. Sharing misinformation among your close family and friends raises the probability that it will then be picked up by news outlets and spill over into the public.

Some news outlets are so desperate for clicks and popularity that they won't double-check the information they publish it.

The American Psychological Association seconds the BBC's point that people are more likely to share misinformation when it aligns with their beliefs or when it is shocking. Namely, individuals tend tospreadmisinfo when it matches their personal identity or social norms, and when it elicits strong emotions. On top of that, people tend to spread false claims when the info is novel.

And, like with any information, the more it is repeated, the more likely you are to believe it (even if you're educated).

"Exposure to misinformation increases the odds that people will believe it, which in turn increases the odds that they will spread it," the APA explains.

"At the same time, people do not necessarily need to believe misinformation in order to spread it; people may share information they know is false to signal their political affiliation, disparage perceived opponents, or accrue social rewards," the APA stresses.

The difference between legacy media (TV, radio, newspapers), mainstream news outlets, and social media is that the latter often doesn't have robust safeguards and encourages viral content with low oversight.

"Rapid publication and peer-to-peer sharing allow ordinary users to distribute information quickly to large audiences, so misinformation can be policed only after the fact (if at all)."

What's more, people tend to find themselves isolated in 'echo chamber' communities with similar views.

In the meantime, social media algorithms tend to prioritize information that evokes negative emotions, such as anger and outrage.

The best thing that anyone can do before resharing anything they come across online is to slow down, take a breather, and think about the reliability of the claim and the source.

Trustworthy outlets fact-check their information, are transparent about their sources and where they get their data from, have strict editing guidelines, hire people with records of exemplary work, and will correct any mistakes that they make.

Meanwhile, untrustworthy sources tend to sensationalize or outright make up events to fit some sort of agenda or to get more clicks. They care less about the truth and more about making their audience feel a certain way.

A good rule of thumb is to be slightly skeptical of any source that toys with your emotions, presents the world as black-and-white despite its complexity, and supports all of your beliefs.

If you accidentally share or post something false or dumb on social media, the healthiest course of action would be to set your ego aside and apologize. Take responsibility for your mistake, vow to do better, and actually put that into practice in the future.

Embracing failure and admitting that you messed up might be embarrassing, but it's also a sign of maturity. Paradoxically, it makes you seem more down-to-earth, relatable, and likable. On the flip side, if you deny that you made a mistake, get defensive, and stick to the false info you spread, you're only pushing people away.

Be honest, which of these posts genuinely made you cringe the hardest? How good are you at weathering secondhand embarrassment?

What do you do to stay as accurate and factual as you can when posting online? How do you react when you come across blatantlydumbor malicious posts on social media? Tell us all about it in the comments!

Meghan Markle’s Tell-All Opportunity Blocked by Prince Harry — Source

Sator Tenet February 13, 2026

Meghan Marklehas reportedly been striving to release a tell-all memoir, but her husband,Prince Harry, has allegedly been blocking that opportunity. He wishes to reconcile with the royal family. Publishers have reportedly approached the Duchess of Sussex repeatedly for a book, which will chronicle her side of the story after the departure from royal life in the UK, alongside her husband. However, the idea of the memoir is allegedly not sitting well with the Duke of Sussex, who reportedly "fears" that it would hamper his chance of reconciliation with his family.

Meghan Markle sees tell-all memoir as 'reclaiming her story,' per source

ForMeghan Markle, the opportunity to drop a tell-all memoir is reportedly a means to "reclaim her story." As reported byRadarOnline, a source told them that the Duchess of Sussex "feels an intense pull to put her own account on record." The person continued, "In her view, there are entire chapters of her life – particularly during her time within the royal institution." The person also added, "That has either been misunderstood, distorted, or told solely through other people's perspectives."

In the meantime, the insider further said to the news outlet that Markle "believes a memoir would finally allow her to speak without filters." The person continued, "And clarify the narrative in her own words." The insider then explained, "From a publishing standpoint, the appetite for a Meghan memoir is enormous." "And that only reinforces her sense that now is the moment," he added. They then said, "She doesn't see it as stirring the pot for the sake of drama." But, "she sees it as reclaiming her story."

Meanwhile, the source also claimed that thePrince"is pushing back with everything he has," to block his wife, Markle, from releasing a tell-all memoir. The person explained, "In his mind, it wouldn't just reopen old wounds." "It could permanently close the door on any hope of reconciliation with his family," added the source.

The postMeghan Markle's Tell-All Opportunity Blocked by Prince Harry — Sourceappeared first onReality Tea.

What to Make of Social Media’s ‘Chinese Era’

Sator Tenet February 13, 2026

Credit - Getty Images

As the Lunar New Year approaches, Sherry Zhu, a 23-year-old Chinese American living in New Jersey, has begun sharing Chinese cultural practices to an unusual audience.

"First Chinese New Year kinda nervous," one person commented. Another proclaimed that "as a newly Chinese baddie," February was no longer about Valentine's Day, but about the Lunar New Year, which begins on Feb. 17 and is the biggest annual multi-day period of festivities celebrated in China and other countries in Asia as well as by Chinese diasporic communities around the world.

It's also—as of a new trend—going to be celebrated by a new cohort of self-identifying "Chinese" non-Chinese social media users, primarily from the U.S., who have embraced the moment as their "Chinese era" or are "Chinamaxxing."

Observers tell TIME that the trend reflects a growing fascination with China as the countryopens upand rises in soft power. For Americans that are disillusioned by a state of affairs marked byaggressive immigration crackdowns,fractured domestic politics, andcontroversial foreign policy, observers say it also reflects a desire for an alternative model to the U.S.

"China feels much more present in everyday American life than it did even a decade ago," says Caroline Ouellette, a researcher at University of California, Los Angeles. "China looks different in the American imagination than it did in previous generations," in large part, she adds, because social media has made information about and from China more accessible. "Online, you see sleek public transit, walkable cities, aunties dancing in parks, bustling night markets—everyday scenes that complicate older stereotypes."

The Chinese government has alsomade a concerted effortto disseminatemore positive portrayalsof China over social media. And China's Foreign Ministryendorsedthe "becoming Chinese" trend, with spokesperson Lin Jian noting that flights to China for the festive Chinese New Year period have dramatically increased this year.

Participants in the trend are "engaging with a hyperreal China, a symbolic version that absorbs everything Americans fear that they're losing: community, structure, competence, limits, cultural continuity and care for elders," Ouellette said in avideofor anthropology channel AnthroDorphins. By contrast, today's China "feels contemporary, dynamic, even aspirational in certain ways," she adds to TIME.

Memes related to the trend have been circulating for nearly a year, but they've grown in intensity in recent months.

Zhu has gone viral since December for her TikTok videos in which she teaches presumably non-Chinese, often non-Asian viewers how to embody their "Chinese baddie" selves using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)-based practices, like boiling apples to produce a digestion-aiding tea and wearing house slippers to avoid placing your bare feet on a cold floor. But Zhu's viewers aren't just adopting Chinese lifestyle habits, they're "turning Chinese," shedeclaredin a clip at the start of January.

"Since you're a Chinese baddie, how are you celebrating Chinese New Year?" Zhu asked in avideoearlier this month, anticipating the upcoming holiday. Wear red for luck, avoid cutting your hair for a month after the first day of the Chinese New Year, and exchange red packets filled with money with family, she has advised. In her comments, one person shared the red manicure design they planned to get for the occasion, while another posted photos of red paper lanterns and banner decorations they put up around their home. "Cousin Sherry," some have asked, adopting a familial tone with Zhu, "what are we doing for Chinese New Year?"

Other non-Chinese users have made videos showing themselveswearing red for good luck,marking Feb. 17 on their calendars, and discussing their Chinese zodiac forecasts for the "Year of the Horse." Meanwhile, bothChinese Americanson TikTok andChinese userson RedNote have shared more tips on what to do and not to do over the Chinese New Year.

"Found out I was Chinese a few days ago," one TikTok user captioned aJan. 14 video, "so OUR new year is coming up."

'There's pride, but there's also memory'

Zhu often gets comments asking if wearing house slippers or eating hot pot can make someone Chinese, to which she enthusiastically replies in the affirmative. But not everyone is as supportive of the trend.

Vanessa Li, a 26-year-old Chinese Australian content creator who haswrittenandspokenabout the "becoming Chinese" memes, says criticism of the trend tends to stem from a fear that Chinese culture is being appropriated and treated as little more than an internet fad.

Li says the meme has coincided with other aspects of Chinese culture going viral but being decontextualized from their Chinese origin or history, like theTang jacketwhich has been refashioned by Adidas.

But many like Zhu are happy for Chinese identity to be held up as an ideal among Americans, when it often hasn't been. They just hope it lasts.

Ouellette tells TIME that growing up in the Midwest as a half-Chinese person, she was no stranger to being told her lunch smelled strange or that her eyes looked weird. And in mainstream entertainment, aspects of Chinese culture or identity were often turned into the butt of the joke.

"When there's a sudden 180-degree shift and the same cultural markers become trendy, it can feel jarring," Ouellette says. "There's pride, but there's also memory."

The recent history ofanti-Asian racism,sinophobia, andviolenceduring the COVID-19 pandemic remains at the top of many Asian Americans' minds, says Kathy Pham, a 23-year-old Vietnamese American artist from Colorado.

Phamsees the memeas a form of "eating the other," a reference to anessayby feminist author bell hooks on how dominant groups "consume" marginalized cultures, reinforcing existing power structures. Especially against the backdrop ofdeepening political polarizationin the U.S., Americans may be participating in the trend in order to distance themselves from a politic that they disagree with, Pham tells TIME.

"The over-riding fear is that cultural, ethnic, and racial differences will be continually commodified and offered up as new dishes to enhance the white palate—that the Other will be eaten, consumed, and forgotten," hooks writes in the essay.

Pointing out that many of the aspects of Chinese culture that have been popularized have been bite-sized, easily digestible pieces like—if not literally food—wellness habits or fashion items, Li says she tries to instead emphasize the deeper, at times less glamorous parts of the Chinese experience, like observing filial piety.

There's "thousands of years of history that led the culture to what it is today" that risks being commodified or reduced to a passing trend, Li says.

The trend is ultimately rooted in humor: from Zhu's obviously hyperbolic declarations that her viewers have turned Chinese overnight to the underlying dissonance of non-Chinese Americans eagerly calling themselves Chinese even as the U.S. and China remain locked as geopolitical rivals.

"For some people, especially those who consume a steady stream of geopolitical messaging, China is primarily understood through competition—trade, tech, national security," says Ouellette. But, she adds, "it almost feels like the humor works because of the tension—like they're aware of the rivalry and playing with it rather than taking it at face value."

There's a sense of irony, Ouellette says, "but there's also genuine curiosity and appreciation."

"For some people, it's not just aesthetic imitation; it's an attempt to engage with something that feels new or different from what they grew up with," she adds.

Zhu observed that shift among her viewers. She tells TIME that what started as a lighthearted joke and a way to share a culture she is proud of has turned into people following her tips on a daily basis and asking her questions to make sure they're correctly understanding the practices.

"The videos that I create don't necessarily erase a lot of the past hurt that a lot of Asian Americans and Chinese Americans have faced before, but I think that it leads to more visible conversations," Zhu says. "I think for future generations it will create a more welcoming and accepting society."

'A credible alternative'

While drinking hot water in the morning and keeping your neck warm may be the most visible parts of the trend, the desire to embody a kind of Chineseness has been brewing on the internet over the past year.

"You met me at a very chinese time in my life," one personpostedon X in April, a spin on a line from the 1999 filmFight Club. It spawned a number of other posts with the same phrase as well as the "Chinese era" shorthand.

In some posts, often in response to the latest Chinese technological advancement or controversial U.S. political news, social media users have framed their embrace of this "Chinese era" in opposition to anAmerican "century of humiliation," a term that borrows the name often used to describe the decline of the Qing Dynasty and applies it to the present U.S., which is suffering from adramatic fall in global perceptionsince Donald Trump returned to the presidency last year.

Chinese state mediahave pointed to these memes as evidence of China's soft power rise as the country hassought to position itselfas analternative global powerto the U.S. China hasopened itself up to an unprecedented level to touristsandinternational studentsandcreated new work visasto attract foreign talent, while the U.S. under Trump hasretreated from global institutions,levied tariffsandmilitary threatsagainst allies and adversaries alike, andcracked downon both legal and illegal immigration to the country. Meanwhile,Chinese brandslikePop Mart,HaidilaoandMixueand apps likeRedNote,DeepSeek, and even a social check-in platform'Are you dead yet?'have gained a foothold in overseas markets.

RedNote, in particular, has been apoint of cultural exchangebetween Chinese and Americans. Theinitial ban of TikTokin the U.S. last Januaryled to an exodus of Americans to RedNote, some of whom have continued using the Chinese app even after TikTok was restored to U.S. app stores.

The ban "didn't kill American interest in Chinese content; it just redirected it straight to the source," says Ashley Dudarenok, who runs a consumer research consultancy in mainland China and Hong Kong. "For the first time, they had a direct, unfiltered window into the daily lives of Chinese people, bypassing Western media narratives."

As the trend of "becoming Chinese" picked up, Chinese users have dubbed foreign participants "cloud relatives" and eagerly shared tips about Chinese cooking and wellness, Dudarenok says.

"For decades, the interaction was about China explaining itself to the West," she adds. "Now, they feel the West is coming to them, and the majority are responding with a generous and open attitude."

Still, Dudarenok says it's not that people are suddenly embracing Communist theory or wanting the U.S. to follow a unitary political system. "They're embracing hot water, herbal soups, and efficient public transit," she says, and engaging with the "hyperreal China" Ouellette described.

"It's less about a sudden love for China," says Dudarenok, "and more about a search for a credible alternative to a system they feel is not delivering for them."

Contact usatletters@time.com.

Trump expected to attend Saudi FII conference in Miami, sources say

Sator Tenet February 13, 2026

DUBAI/RIYADH, Feb 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to attend Saudi Arabia's Future Investment Initiative conference in Miami, marking his second consecutive appearance at the event since ‌returning to the White House, people familiar with the matter said.

Trump is expected to attend ‌a dinner on the first day hosted by Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund PIF, two people said, asking not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. The event takes place from March 26-29.

The FII Institute, the Saudi government and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump's engagement with the FII platform underscores the importance his administration places on Gulf economic partnerships.

Saudi Arabia ‌and the U.S. finalised a series ⁠of investment and defense agreements during the crown prince's meeting with Trump in November, with Riyadh boosting its commitment to invest in the United States to $1 ⁠trillion - expanding significantly from the $600 billion in deals outlined during Trump's visit to the kingdom in May.

SAUDI ARABIA'S VISION 2030 PIVOTS TO PRIVATE SECTOR

The potential high-profile attendance comes as Saudi Arabia recalibrates its ambitious Vision 2030 economic transformation program amid a shortage of funding for mega-projects that were part of the kingdom's wider diversification ‌efforts.

Saudi officials have increasingly pivoted toward securing buy-in and collaboration from the private sector after initial plans relied heavily on government funding.

The FII Miami event would provide a platform for Saudi Arabia to court North and South American business leaders and investors at a time when the kingdom is repositioning its economic agenda.

The gathering also takes place against a backdrop of deepening rivalry between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, ‌traditionally close Gulf allies, who have increasingly found themselves at odds over regional economic competition and strategic priorities.

The two nations have been vying for position as the Middle East's premier business and financial hub, with the UAE's rapid rise in ‌sectors from finance to technology creating friction with Saudi Arabia's own ambitions under Vision 2030. FII competes with Abu Dhabi's Milken Institute Global Conference, which takes place in Los Angeles in May.

The main FII conference, usually held each fall in Riyadh and dubbed "Davos in the Desert," has become a ‌flagship event for Saudi Arabia to showcase its economic vision and attract global investment.

The organization has expanded beyond Riyadh to host events in other major cities.

(Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh and Timour Azhari; Editing by Sharon Singleton)

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Friday, February 13, 2026

54 People So Dumb You Might Feel Your IQ Drop After Reading Their Posts (New Pics)

Meghan Markle’s Tell-All Opportunity Blocked by Prince Harry — Source

Meghan Markle sees tell-all memoir as 'reclaiming her story,' per source

What to Make of Social Media’s ‘Chinese Era’

'There's pride, but there's also memory'

'A credible alternative'

Trump expected to attend Saudi FII conference in Miami, sources say

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