After similar versions and replicas of the initial article started circulating on the internet, many grew concerned about the matter. Some even believed it, leading to this rumor becoming as big as it is now.
This is when Reuters and Media Bias/Fact Check had to step in to deal with the traction and judge the authenticity of the source and the claims made in the article.
Media Bias/Fact Check deem News Punch, the site that first published the story, to have "zero credibility."
"Overall, we rate News Punch a Questionable source based on extreme right-wing bias and promotion of tin foil hat conspiracies," Media Bias/Fact Check's verdict reads. "This website has zero credibility due to the routine publishing of fake news."
Then, on November 16, 2021, Reuters published its report on the investigation on the matter. Their verdict — the story is false.
They identified the author's name as "a possible pseudonym for an author who has been called out for writing fake news articles" and cited sources that have done so in the past. They also found no evidence to support the claims made in the conspiracy article.
Further, Reuters said the story did not appear on any credible site and judged that the mainstream media would have widely covered a story about A-listers such as Bieber and Gomez.
"False. The story about Hollywood elites killing Justin Bieber’s unborn child originated from a now-deleted article on a website known to publish fabricated news," wrote Reuters at the end of their fact-checking article.
This isn't the first time the former couple has been embroiled in miscarriage and abortion rumors. In 2012, rumors claimed Gomez had miscarried a child, which was later denied by Gomez's close sources.
