Social media claims about New Jersey drones are out of this world

Absent definitive answers from the government about mysterious drone sightings in New Jersey and elsewhere in the Northeast, many social media users really want to believe aliens are to blame.

"The Pentagon has confirmed that the mysterious drones appearing across the globe are NOT of earthly origin," a Dec. 15 Instagram post said.

The Instagram post by The Daily Loud, a self-described news and media website that shares hip-hop and "viral news," paraphrased a quote from a Pentagon spokesperson, writing, "These are not US military drones and these are not drones coming from a foreign entity or adversary."

The post’s caption said, "They are not foreign adversaries—these #UFOs are operating freely across our skies, even hovering over military bases and nuclear sites."

The video led with a short clip of Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh speaking at a Dec. 11 news briefing. It also included clips of news reports and a portion of a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing about the drones.

We found multiple social media posts using the same language and sharing the same video clip on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, TikTok and X. A British social media influencer shared the video and similar language on X, receiving 4.5 million views by Dec. 16.

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

Although Singh ruled out that the drones are not from the U.S. military or a foreign country, a transcript and video of Singh’s press briefing show she did not say they are alien aircraft or "not of earthly origin," as the Instagram post claimed. As of Dec. 16, the Pentagon and other federal officials hadn’t determined the aircrafts’ source.

(Screenshot from Instagram)

A reporter asked about the Pentagon’s role in the drone investigation.

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Threads posts

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said “if every member of Congress had to resign for doing what Matt Gaetz has been accused of, Democrats would have a supermajority.’"

Singh replied, "So at this time — so aware of those drone sightings that have been reported. At this time, we have no evidence that these activities are coming from a foreign entity or the work of an adversary. We're going to continue to monitor what is happening. But you know, at no point were our installations threatened when this activity was occurring."

The reporter followed up by asking whether Singh could rule out that the drones are American or U.S. military drones.

Singh said, "These are not U.S. military drones. Again, this is being investigated by local law enforcement. What our initial assessment here is that these are not drones or activities coming from a foreign entity or adversary."

On Dec. 14, officials from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration and the Pentagon’s Joint Staff held a background call with reporters; no officials on that call said the drones were "not of earthly origin."

A Defense Department report about the call quoted a military spokesperson saying, "We have not been able to locate or identify the operators or the points of origin." In a Dec. 16 email, a  Defense Department spokesperson told PolitiFact that the Pentagon did not confirm that the reported sightings were not of earthly origin.

Social media claims that the Pentagon confirmed that the drones were extraterrestrial distort what a spokesperson said. We rate those claims Pants on Fire!