No, you can’t get free baby formula by calling a number on the can if stores are out

Despite what people are claiming on social media, companies say they aren’t shipping free baby formula to anyone.

All the posts on social media contain roughly the same message.

“For parents who cannot find formula in stores for their babies right now grab the can of formula that you do have,” one reads. “Call the number on the back and they will send you a whole case during this time!”

No, they will not send you a whole case. One baby formula company says its focus is making sure formula is available to everyone.

“Contrary to rumors in some online social networks, we are not distributing free cases of formula,” Enfamil said in a post on its website.

That didn’t stop the message from being spread extensively on Facebook.

“Idk if this is true or not,” one post reads. “But could help if it is.”

Except it didn’t help — and the disinformation actually hurt.

A single post received more than 11,000 shares before it was updated to say it was wrong. Another was shared more than 3,400 times.

People can still share the false information on Facebook because false information isn’t against the company’s Community Standards.

Instead, Facebook warns people that post it along with users that see the post, that the post contains false information, citing third-party fact checkers.

Some of the baby formula posts now bear a false information warning. But despite that, the posts are still being shared on Facebook.