By labeling it "false" though, that's a denial of what an ME is... MEs are indeed real memories. They aren't invented. They aren't imagined. You can't prove that somebody "made up" a memory. In fact, you can actually prove the opposite, in that people pass polygraphs indicating that they absolutely believe that their memory is real. Whether or not what we now perceive as "reality" matches up with said memory, it doesn't make it an invented memory. Thr fact that so many people will attest to having the same memory, elimates the possibility of hallucination or delusion, as there's simply not such thing as mass hallucination... by definition, a delusion or hallucination is unique to the individual.

Now, if we want to venture into Derren Brown land, a la the Assassin experiment, that's an interesting possible explanation, albeit the reverse happening. Instead of the subject not remembering an event (due to being in an unconscious hypnosis trance), they actually do remember an "event" occuring that only they were exposed to. Their memory isn't false. Whatever it was took place, they saw it heard it, read it, experience it etc. BUT perhaps because of that experience and their ability to retain that memory, they never noticed that the "real" way was never that way? For example, imagine that a person's first exposure to Kit-Kat was them being shown the logo as "Kit-Kat." That memory was pressed so deep into their brain, that whenever they saw "Kit Kat", their mind was telling them they were seeing "Kit-Kat" because that's their more deeply rooted memory... but after it's been pointed out that it's "Kit Kat", they are forced to question whether they really did have that memory of "Kit-Kat"... more often than not, it would appear that most people still insist their memory was indeed authentic, because it was.

Also, just because there's "no evidence" of something "now" doesn't mean that there never was... just means the original has been lost. Interestingly, in many cases, the evidence is the continued memory is passed down via replication. For instance, cover songs, or parodies (Lucy, got some splain' to do)... that's evidence. Arguing that somebody, somewhere should have a copy of I Love Lucy that has that scene, is based on an assumption that all video or DVD collections were produced unedited from what viewers originally saw on TV. What if the collections produced for consumer access, were edited cuts or didn't contain all of the episodes? Why assume that the original should be found somewhere? Original couldn't have been lost or destroyed?

These theories may seem crazy, but given the insane advances and capabilities of technology, plus the absolute fuckery in this world when it comes to control over what people are shown and not shown, I leave open the possibility for pretty much anything.

You can say I'm just imagining that I watched a YouTube video a hundred times hearing Redbone sing "HEY" in Come And Get Your Love, which I vividly remember as of 2012ish when I added it to a play list, but you'll never convince me otherwise. That's not my ego, but rather your arrogance to tell me you know my own memory better than I know myself, on the basis of only your memory and experiences, and the information available to us at present that may not be the same as was available previously...