Fact-Checking: Minnesota Flag Rumors Linking To Somalia Debunked

Another day, another national news media organization has fact-checked the "Minnesota's New Flag is Based on the Somali Flag" theory.

This time, Reuters wrote:

"Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s selection as the Democratic vice-presidential contender spurred false suggestions on social media, that he changed the state’s flag to resemble that of Somalia."

The wire service and global news gatherer found the claim false, quoting the flag's designer and a flag expert adviser on the redesign.

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Reuters joins a long list of fact-checks on this particular theory:

-- Snopes.com found the claim that "Governor Tim Walz changed the state flag of Minnesota closesly resemble the national flag of Somalia" to be FALSE.

The post goes on to explain how Minnesota's old flag -- with the Indian on horseback and the settler with a gun nearby -- was found to be offensive to indigenous Minnesotans. So a state flag and state emblem redesign contest was held.

There were over 2,500 entries -- some serious, some not.

Finalists were named.

But in the end, the end product was a revamped version of an entry from Andrew Prekker of Luverne, Minnesota.

Snopes notes there are over 60,000 Somali Americans living in Minnesota -- the largest Somali concentration in the nation.

But they also find while the new Minnesota flag and the national flag of Somalia both have stars and fields of blue, that's where the similarities end.

-- The Minnesota Star Tribune says despite claims on the Joe Rogan podcast, Governor Walz did not redesign the flag the look like the Somali national flag.

-- The Associated Press also found social media claims FALSE, quoting designer Prekker as saying "Walz had nothing to do with the creation of the flag, and Somalia had nothing to do with the flag design."