All posts tagged: Fact-checking

Hackers did not project the Soviet Victory banner on Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate this week

Hackers did not project the Soviet Victory banner on Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate this week

Published by José

[ad_1] CLAIM: Images show the Soviet Victory banner projected by hackers onto the east side of Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Tuesday night, prior to annual festivities celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The images were fabricated. Berlin police and the company that manages the Brandenburg Gate confirmed to The Associated Press that the Soviet Victory banner did not appear this week on the monument, one of Germany’s most significant landmarks. THE FACTS: Social media users shared photos and videos that made it appear the banner was being projected onto the Brandenburg Gate ahead of this week’s commemorative celebrations. “Last night, hackers breached the projection on the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and put the Soviet Victory Banner,” reads one X post that had received approximately 21,000 likes and more than 5,300 shares as of Friday. A TikTok video viewed more than 198,000 times was similarly captioned: “Last night, hackers hacked the projection on the Brandenburg Gate and reminded authorities of who once defeated them, German police have launched an investigation.” …

No, France did not deploy troops to fight with Ukraine against Russia

No, France did not deploy troops to fight with Ukraine against Russia

Published by José

[ad_1] CLAIM: France sent troops to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement on X that France has not deployed troops to Ukraine, calling the claim “disinformation.” Reports of the deployment cited a May 3 blog post by Stephen Bryen, a deputy undersecretary for the Department of Defense during the Reagan administration. THE FACTS: Social media users are pointing to the blog post as proof that French troops have been sent to fight Russia alongside Ukraine as the war continues in its third year. “France has sent its first troops officially to Ukraine,” the blog post reads. “They have been deployed in support of the Ukrainian 54th Independent Mechanized Brigade in Slavyansk. The French soldiers are drawn from France’s 3rd Infantry Regiment, which is one of the main elements of France’s Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère).” It adds that 100 French troops out of an expected 1,500 have arrived so far. Many social media posts included a screenshot of the blog post as it appeared republished on …

Posts share fake New York Post story saying a bill would make it illegal to question 9/11

Posts share fake New York Post story saying a bill would make it illegal to question 9/11

Published by José

[ad_1] CLAIM: The New York Post published a story with the headline, “Congress to Vote on Bill That Would Criminalize Questioning the Events Surrounding 9/11.” AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. No such article was published, a New York Post spokesperson told The Associated Press. An image made to look like a screenshot of a New York Post article was fabricated and shared on social media. THE FACTS: Social media users are sharing the false image to erroneously allege that the U.S. government is considering limits on what people can say about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The image mimics how an article would look if viewed on the New York Post’s website from a mobile device. It includes the outlet’s logo, below which appears a series of social media icons. But it is also inconsistent with the appearance of actual New York Post stories. For example, the text of the headline is centered, uses a different font and is capitalized in its entirety. There is also no tag above the headline indicating the article’s section. “With strong support …

Video shows Robert De Niro rehearsing for a Netflix series, not yelling at anti-Israel protesters

Video shows Robert De Niro rehearsing for a Netflix series, not yelling at anti-Israel protesters

Published by José

[ad_1] CLAIM: Actor Robert De Niro was captured on video yelling at anti-Israel protesters in New York City. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. De Niro was rehearsing a scene for his upcoming Netflix series “Zero Day” while the production was filming on a street in New York City, a Netflix spokesperson told The Associated Press. His comments are part of the script and had nothing to do with the Israel-Hamas war or protests around it. THE FACTS: As police crack down on college protests across the country, social media users are misrepresenting the video of De Niro, claiming that it shows him expressing support for Israel. One prominent version of the video is labeled, “Robert De Niro Stands with Israel!” It shows the two-time Oscar winner speaking passionately in a crowd of people. “This is not a movie,” he says. “This is not a movie, this is real.” He tells the crowd that they need to listen and let people get their jobs done. He encourages people to offer their support, but to stay behind barricades. “You …

Posts misrepresent Green Party candidate’s comment on a Jewish homeland

Posts misrepresent Green Party candidate’s comment on a Jewish homeland

Published by José

[ad_1] CLAIM: A clip shows Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein saying that “the Jewish people have a homeland in Poland” during an exchange with a man outside of Columbia University. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Stein says that “the Jewish people have homeland” and does not mention the Eastern European country. A caption on the clip, which comes from a longer video first posted to Stein’s social media accounts, was incorrectly autogenerated to read, “the Jewish people have Poland,” according to a spokesperson for the candidate. Stein later posted another video of the exchange with the caption corrected. She further clarified her comment during an appearance in Columbia, Missouri, on Sunday. THE FACTS: As tensions rise on college campuses over protests about the Israel-Hamas war, social media users are misrepresenting what Stein said at the Ivy League university about a Jewish homeland. The clip shows Stein, who is Jewish, speaking outside an entrance to Columbia against Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. After a man standing behind her, who identifies himself as Jewish, says that “the …

National Guard soldiers were not called to address Israel-Hamas war protest at Texas university

National Guard soldiers were not called to address Israel-Hamas war protest at Texas university

Published by José

[ad_1] CLAIM: The National Guard was sent in on Wednesday to address war protesters at the University of Texas at Austin. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The National Guard was not called to the university in response to the demonstration against the Israel-Hamas war, the Texas Military Department and a university spokesperson told The Associated Press. Texas state troopers responded at the request of university officials and Gov. Greg Abbott, according to a Texas Department of Public safety spokesperson. Local police were also on the scene. THE FACTS: Amid student protests on an increasing number of college campuses, social media users falsely claimed that a demonstration at UT-Austin was met by the National Guard. “We send the national guard for kids protesting at college but not the open border?” reads one X post that shared a clip from a Fox News report showing officers marching on the university’s campus. It had received approximately 24,000 likes and 6,300 shares as of Thursday. Another X post captioned a clip of protestors clashing with officers, “Texas University demonstration confronting National …

‘Anti-trans narratives’ see Unherd put on advertising blacklist

‘Anti-trans narratives’ see Unherd put on advertising blacklist

Published by skeptic

[ad_1] Unherd accused by Global Disinformation Index of anti-trans narratives Comment-based current affairs website Unherd has found itself boycotted by many online advertisers after publishing three articles seen as containing “anti-trans narratives”. It has been placed on the Dynamic Exclusion List operated by UK-based non-profit company the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) which provides data for online advertisers about websites it considers to be unsafe for brands to appear on. GDI receives funding from the UK government and Unherd chief executive and editor-in-chief Freddie Sayers is campaigning for this to halt. He also wants advertisers to stop using a service which he sees as a threat to freedom of expression. GDI meanwhile sees its work as a counter-balance to the spread of toxic misinformation online which has been fuelled by programmatic advertising and algorithm-driven content discovery on social media and search. Sayers said the low rating from GDI means his site can only achieve between 2% and 6% of what it could expect to earn if it had been given a brand-safe rating. Thanks for subscribing. …

India’s election overshadowed by the rise of online misinformation

India’s election overshadowed by the rise of online misinformation

Published by skeptic

[ad_1] As India kicks off the world’s biggest election, which starts on April 19 and runs through June 1, the electoral landscape is overshadowed by misinformation. The country — which has more than 830 million internet users and is home to the largest user base for social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram — is already at the highest risk of misinformation and disinformation, according to the World Economic Forum. AI has complicated the situation further, including deepfakes created with generative AI. Misinformation is not just a problem for election fairness — it can have deadly effects, including violence on the ground and increase hatred for minorities. Pratik Sinha, the co-founder of the Indian non-profit fact-checking website Alt News, says there’s been an increase in the deliberate creation of misinformation to polarize society. “Ever since social media has been thriving, there is a new trend where you use misinformation to target communities,” he said. The country’s vast diversity in language and culture also make it particularly hard for fact-checkers to review and filter out misleading …

Fact-checker on China’s Weibo targets US Embassy, Russian state media

Fact-checker on China’s Weibo targets US Embassy, Russian state media

Published by skeptic

[ad_1] washington —  This month, when a story claiming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had secretly purchased a $24 million castle from the British royal family went viral on China’s Weibo social media platform, something interesting happened. A fake-news function on the platform debunked it as misinformation. Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Chinese social media platforms have been full of pro-Russia false claims and conspiracy theories, some of which the Chinese government has endorsed. Influential Chinese nationalist bloggers, as well as Russia’s state media RT, regularly post and spread misinformation on Weibo. Less than 20 hours after RT posted the misinformation about Zelenskyy, Weibo attached a fact-checking note to the post. Public criticism of Russian state media is rare in China, but the fact-check function is part of Weibo’s latest effort to regulate misinformation on the site. Weibo rolled out the feature, called Side Note, last August. Side Note allows qualified users to submit fact-checking notes on others’ posts for Weibo to review. Over the past few months, users have added …

Israeli PM announced plans to rebuild areas near Gaza border, not build inside the territory

Israeli PM announced plans to rebuild areas near Gaza border, not build inside the territory

Published by José

[ad_1] CLAIM: A video shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing in Hebrew plans to build settlements in the Gaza Strip, with a $5 billion investment from the U.S. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Netanyahu’s comments were translated incorrectly in English captions added to the video. He was referencing a five-year, $5 billion plan approved by the Israeli government on Wednesday to rebuild communities near the Gaza border, in the country’s Western Negev region. Netanyahu does not mention a U.S. investment. THE FACTS: Social media users are using the miscaptioned video of Netanyahu speaking at the start of an Israeli Cabinet meeting on Wednesday to make erroneous claims about the alleged settlement plans. The captions read in part: “Today the Cabinet will approve a plan to rebuild the settlements of the Gaza Strip. We will invest a very large sum of 19 billion shekels to make the settlements of the Gaza Strip available to generations.” “BREAKING: Why did Israel commit the genocide in Gaza?” asks one X post that shared the video. Following an emoji of a …