In mid-December 2025, a meme circulated online featuring text that claimed U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon had announced a new department policy making “their,” “there” and “they’re” mean the same thing.
For example, on Dec. 13, a Facebook user posted the graphic in a group called Gavin Newsom 2028 (archived). The meme included a photo of McMahon, a breaking news banner, the Fox News logo and text that read:
DEPT. OF EDUCATION’S MCMAHON UNVEILS NEW SPELLING GUIDELINESÂ
“THEIR/THERE/THEY’RE ARE NOW THE SAME THING.”
“WE SHOULD OF DID THIS YEARS AGO!”
(Facebook user @Maria Ceban)
The image spread on Threads (archived), Instagram (archived) and elsewhere on Facebook (archived). Snopes readers also contacted us regarding the rumor in the graphic.
Some people seemed to interpret the meme’s claim as factual. However, there was no evidence of McMahon making any announcement about the use of “their,” “there” or “they’re.”
A Google search (archived) and Google News search (archived) of the keywords “Linda McMahon,” “there,” “their,” “they’re” and “Department of Education” mostly uncovered social media posts featuring the image but produced no evidence that McMahon made such an announcement. If the story were true, credible news media outlets would have likely reported on it.
A Google reverse image search showed that the meme appeared on social media as early as Dec. 10. The earliest iterations Snopes found were posted first on Facebook (archived) and then on Reddit (archived) within the space of roughly 22 minutes. We contacted Facebook user Brian Thomas Auker and Reddit user u/parenthetical_phrase to ask whether they created the graphic.
Auker’s Facebook caption said the post was “satire, allegedly,” while Parenthetical Phrase’s Reddit caption read: “their so dumb.”
Despite the Facebook post appearing first, there were numerous suggestions the Reddit user created the meme. The bio read (archived), “Almost All Original Content…I just think watermarks are tacky…” and the replies to other people on the platform appeared to show the user taking credit for it (archived, archived, archived). Parenthetical Phrase also posted similar graphics with corresponding features, such as the breaking news banner and the Fox News logo, on Dec. 10 and Dec. 11 (archived, archived).
Additionally, the Reddit user posted the McMahon meme in another subreddit with the caption, “SATIRE, for now.” That post included a “satire” label (archived).
Whether Auker or Parenthetical Phrase posted the image first, both users labeled the content as satire and it was not possible to find any earlier iterations of the meme. Therefore, we concluded that the claim originated as satire.
A Google search (archived) of the keywords “www.foxnews.com,” “Linda McMahon,” “there,” “their” and “they’re” also produced no evidence Fox News had reported such a story, while a Google News search (archived) returned zero results.
Snopes has addressed numerous rumors about McMahon in the past, including a story that she was interrupted by circus music at a conservative conference in August 2025 and a fact check on her claim that 70% of 8th-graders “can’t read proficiently.”
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.
