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This message was self-deleted by its author (angrychair) on Fri May 30, 2025, 01:30 PM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.
synni
(777 posts)Thank you.
Celerity
(54,405 posts)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/fact-check-no-trump-admin-182300513.html

A rumor circulating online in early February 2025 claimed U.S. President Donald Trump's administration replaced the standard 50-star U.S. flag with a nine-star flag on government websites. This matter specifically concerned the very top portion of some .gov websites displaying a small, icon-sized American flag with the words, "An official website of the United States government."
For example, one Snopes reader's email read, "Has the American flag on usa.gov website been changed to have 9 stars instead of 50?" Another reader inquired if the flag appeared after Trump took office in January 2025.
Numerous users shared this rumor on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok and X. Several of the users spreading the claim said the flag originated with the Confederacy and the U.S. Civil War, referencing it as the Confederate First National Flag, United Confederate Veterans Flag or Confederate Veterans Flag, among other names. According to some users, the nine stars represented the first nine states to secede from the Union in the early 1860s.
https://www.tiktok.com/@olivia67rae/video/7467169195600448810
However, the rumor the second Trump administration replaced the present-day, 50-star flag with a nine-star flag was false. While the small flag icon possibly first appeared during Trump's first term in 2017, the image remained visible throughout the entirety of former President Joe Biden's time in office. The icon-sized flag image has remained part of the U.S. Web Design System's government website resource on digital.gov (upper left corner) for at least several years, and simply existed as part of a banner to alert users to websites' official government affiliation.
Our evidence.................
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Response to angrychair (Original post)
Celerity This message was self-deleted by its author.
rsdsharp
(12,002 posts)The first flag was the Stars and Bars three stripes, alternating red and white, not 13, with the number of stars beginning at seven, and increasing to represent the current number of Confederate states.
In battle, that was deemed to be too close to the US flag, and therefore confusing. It was abandoned for the Stainless Banner, and later the Blood Stained Banner.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-the-Confederate-States-of-America
Snopes rates the rumor that Trump was using a nine star flag on government web sites as false.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-us-flag-9-stars/