In February 2022, an old quotation falsely attributed to the Hollywood star Keanu Reeves regained prominence on social media. It contained the type of generic new-age rhetoric about mental slavery, consumerism, and spirituality that has become especially popular among opponents of COVID-19-era restrictions and mandates. It typically began "Humans are about to [release themselves/break free] from the matrix" and "A war is underway that will shape the future of human existence...:"
The screed did not originate in anything Reeves actually wrote or uttered, and we are issuing a rating of "False." In reality, this came from a four-year-old article published by a notorious purveyor of fabricated nonsense.
The original source was a Feb. 2, 2018 article posted by YourNewsWire.com — a junk news website with a long track record of producing fabricated and sensationalized conspiracy theories and other nonsense:
Around 2018, the creators rebranded the site as Newspunch.com, and continue to produce inflammatory disinformation.