U.S. Black Friday Online Sales Hit Record $11.8 Billion

The assessment is "likely_true" with high confidence based on strong, corroborating evidence from multiple high-authority sources. Two separate articles from Reuters, a highly credible news agency, directly and explicitly support the statement, quoting the exact figure of "$11.8 billion" for U.S. online Black Friday sales and attributing it to Adobe Analytics, the recognized primary source for this data. There is one significant piece of conflicting evidence from another Reuters article, which cites a figure of "$8.6 billion" from the same data provider, Adobe Analytics. However, the weight of the evidence favors the $11.8 billion figure, as it is independently repeated in two separate reports. This repetition makes it more likely that the $8.6 billion figure is an outlier, potentially due to a typographical error, a preliminary figure that was later updated, or data from a different year. Other sources provide relevant context, confirming that Adobe Analytics is the standard source for this type of data and that multi-billion dollar sales figures are typical for the event. While the single contradiction prevents a definitive conclusion, the strong, repeated confirmation from a top-tier news organization makes the original statement highly probable.