A 2022 Reddit Myth Still Shapes How Major News Outlets Cover a Recurring Sunlight Alignment

On July 8, 2026, roughly 99% of Earth's population experiences daylight or twilight simultaneously — a real geographic fact driven by where humans cluster. But this alignment repeats daily from mid-May through mid-July, not July 8 alone. Time and Date fact-checked this in 2022; yet National Geographic, The Washington Post, and now Al Jazeera keep anchoring their coverage to the single date, recycling a viral Reddit claim despite years of corrections.