A woman cries as she prepares to evacuate from Kherson. Weeks after liberation, Kherson and surrounding villages are bombarded daily by Russian troops. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto/Getty Images.)Advocates for a hasty peace are wrong to think Russia w
The Dispatch→ The FTC’s Misguided Case Against Meta
FTC Commissioner Lina Khan. (Photo by Graeme Jennings/AFP/Getty Images.)Its attempt to block the acquisition of a virtual-reality app maker is more about going after Big Tech than about protecting consumers.The post The FTC’s Misguided Case Against
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Dramatic Lenticular Cloud Layers Do NOT Signal End Of World Or Even Storm
Does this short video of a dramatic layered cloud demonstrate "what the end of the world looks like" -- is it an impending scary natural disaster? No, that's not true: While we can't predict what the end of the world will look like, the c
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover Did NOT Trigger Removal Of 44,000 Child Sexual Exploitation Pages ‘In Just India Alone’
Did Twitter remove "over 44,000 Twitter pages involved with child sexual exploitation -- in just India alone" since Elon Musk took over the company? No, that's not true: Such large numbers came from global totals, not from India alone. Al
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Elon Musk Did NOT Buy Donald Trump’s Truth Social
Did Twitter CEO Elon Musk purchase former President Donald Trump's Truth Social in December 2022? No, that's not true: A video shared on Facebook claimed in the headline that Musk had bought the social media platform, but a voiceover narr
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Chick-fil-A Did NOT Just Donate ‘Another $1.8 Million To Anti-LGBTQ Groups’
Did Chick-fil-A just donate "another $1.8 million to anti-LGBTQ groups"? No, that's not true: The claim is a copy of a headline first published in 2019. The old story reported the fast food chain donated a combined $1.8 million to the Fel
Truth or Fiction?→ Vintage Union Christmas Cartoon
On December 22 2022, an Imgur account shared the following image of what appeared to be a vintage Christmas cartoon illustrating benefits offered by unions to working class Americans: No contextual information was supplied alongside the image, which
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show ‘Human Clone Robot Factory’
Does a video shared on social media show an authentic "human clone robot factory"? No, that's not true: The video shared on Instagram and Facebook in December 2022 showed a prosthetics studio used in the making of props for television and
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Tesla Has NOT Launched New Cryptocurrency
Did Tesla launch a new cryptocurrency that will rapidly turn a £200 ($240) investment into thousands in just days? No, that's not true: This deceptive ad is not associated with Tesla. Although Tesla has invested in cryptocurrency, and Do
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Elon Musk Did NOT Tweet That Tesla Was Forced To Recall Its Entire Fleet
Did Twitter CEO Elon Musk tweet that Tesla, his electric-vehicle and sustainable-energy company, was forced to recall its entire fleet? No, that's not true: The tweet was posted by a parody account impersonating Musk, the CEO of Tesla. Th
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Almond Milk Does NOT Contain Dangerous Levels Of Cyanide
Do almonds and almond milk contain dangerous amounts of the poisonous chemical compound cyanide? No, that's not true: Both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a professor of bioproducts and biosystems engineering told Lead Stories
Full Fact→ Nasal flu vaccines don’t contain ‘mice bred streptococcal bacteria’
A Facebook post claims that the nasal flu vaccine contains strep bacteria and aluminium, that Covid-19 tests cause cancer and masks cause deoxygenation. None of these are true.
Full Fact→ Misleading post suggests vaccinating babies involves injecting them with ‘neurotoxins’
Childhood vaccines do not contain dangerous levels of harmful substances.
Full Fact→ No evidence ‘trails’ are deliberately put into the sky by planes
A post on Instagram claims to show trails from planes turning the sky cloudy.
Logically→ Deepika Padukone was present at the FIFA World Cup trophy unveiling because of her film Pathaan’s connections to Qatar.
Deepika Padukone unveiled the FIFA World Cup 2022 trophy in her capacity as a brand ambassador of Louis Vuitton, who made the travel case for the cup.
Logically→ Soursop is a fruit that can cure cancer.
Soursop has not been tested in human trials. There is no evidence it is able to treat cancer in human patients.
Full Fact→ Is the NHS Pay Review Body ‘independent’?
With many NHS workers on strike, some unions have challenged the independence of its pay review body. We take a look at the facts behind some of the main claims.
Logically→ Video shows chief guest Shah Rukh Khan at the FIFA World Cup 2022 closing ceremony.
The video is from 2018, when the actor inaugurated showrooms for a jewelry brand. Khan was not a chief guest for the final match at the World Cup.
Full Fact→ Near-identical posts about a missing child called Tyler are fake
Several of the posts feature almost identical text, with the name of the child and the accompanying image changed.
Logically→ The Bharat Jodo Yatra will be halted from December 24 to January 2 as Rahul Gandhi is going on an international trip to celebrate Christmas and the new year.
The yatra is being halted for maintenance work of containers that house the participants, according to the INC. Gandhi is scheduled to stay in Delhi.
Logically→ Fans celebrated Argentina’s victory outside Messi’s grandmother’s house in Rosario.
A resident of Rosaria named Olga was misidentified as Messi's grandmother in the viral video. His grandmother is not alive.
Health Feedback→ Medical exemptions to COVID-19 vaccines are granted for contraindications, not including history of blood clots or adverse reaction to prior vaccine
REVIEW On 11 December 2022, radio host Dan Bongino posted a
The Dispatch→ Iran’s Battle Against the Baha’is
An adherent of the Baha'i faith reads from the holy book Al-Kitab al-Aqdas. (STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)The Islamic Republic takes advantage of public unrest to crack down on the religious minority—including two grandmothers.The post Iran’s
The Dispatch→ The U.N.’s Failure in Lebanon
Lebanese soldiers gather at the site where a UNIFIL convoy came under small arms fire in the village of al-Aqbiya in south Lebanon. An was killed and three wounded. (Photo by Mahmoud Zayat/AFP/Getty Images.) The murder of an Irish soldier is just the l
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Researcher Did Find Possible Racist Origin Of ‘Jingle Bells’ — But Song Isn’t About Slave Bells, Which Did Exist
Does the song "Jingle Bells" make a hidden reference to slaves forced to wear bells so they could be easily tracked if they tried to escape under the cover of night? No, that's not true: The song "Jingle Bells," originally named "One Hors
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Doctor Did NOT Say On Video That He Manufactured AIDS As Bio Weapon — This Is A Soviet-Era Disinformation Hoax
Did an American doctor admit on video that he created the HIV and AIDS viruses in a U.S. military medical laboratory, Fort Detrick, so that they could be used as biological weapons for depopulating the world? No, that's not true: Dr. Robe
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Earth Is NOT Proven Flat By ‘Massive Underwater Wall’ From Pole To Pole — There Is No Such ‘Wall,’ It’s A Mapping Seam
Does a video of satellite imagery showing what a post describes as a "massive underwater wall" stretching from "pole to pole" prove that the Earth is flat? No, that's not true: A video of Google Earth seafloor mapping data depicted in the
Truth or Fiction?→ White House COVID-19 Chief Downplays Mask Use in ‘Confusing’ Interview
The head of the White House’s response to COVID-19, Dr. Ashish K. Jha, downplayed the importance of local mask mandates in December 2022 — going into the third year of the global pandemic — even as he claimed it was not an “eith
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: FBI Payments In ‘Twitter Files: Part 7’ Were NOT For Censoring — They Were For Providing Information
Were the FBI payments to Twitter, documented in what's known as Part 7 of the "Twitter Files", compensation for censoring? No, that's not true: The evidence provided shows the payments were reimbursement for costs associated with the comp
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: 80,000 Ukrainian Troops Have NOT Imposed A ‘Total Blockade’ On Russian Forces In The Donetsk Region
Have 80,000 Ukrainian troops totally blockaded Russian invasion forces fighting in Ukraine's semi-occupied eastern Donetsk region? No, that's not true: The post making the claim in its caption does not mention a blockade in an accompanyin
FactCheck.org→ DeSantis’ Dubious COVID-19 Vaccine Claims
While announcing a request for a grand jury probe into “crimes and wrongdoing” related to the COVID-19 vaccines, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his panel of contrarian experts repeatedly suggested the shots were too risky. But such claims are unsup
Truth or Fiction?→ Police Describe Member of Elon Musk’s Security Team as ‘Suspect’ in ‘Stalker’ Incident
On December 21 2022, an Imgur user shared a screenshot of the following tweet, asserting that a member of Elon Musk’s security team had been deemed a “suspect” in an incident Musk tweeted about earlier in December 2022: Overall, the
FactCheck.org→ Autopsy Study Doesn’t Show COVID-19 Vaccines Are Unsafe
SciCheck Digest To date, the benefits of COVID-19 mRNA vaccination outweigh the risks, which include a rare but increased risk of myocarditis, or heart inflammation. Social media posts, however, are citing a German autopsy study to misleadingly sug
Poynter→ Yes, this viral Keanu TikTok account is a deepfake
You’ve probably seen a TikTok account with videos of Keanu Reeves acting … very strange. The videos have millions of likes and comments. But has Keanu really made the jump […] The post Yes, this viral Keanu TikTok account is a deepfake appear
FactCheck.org→ The Facts Underpinning Jan. 6 Committee Criminal Referrals
After a year and a half and more than 1,000 interviews, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol released a 154-page summary of its final report on Dec. 19 that concludes former President Donald Tru
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Leonel Messi Did NOT Direct Profanity Or Criticism At Ukraine’s Zelenskyy In Instagram Post
Did Leonel Messi, an Argentinian football star who led his national team to the 2022 World Cup, swear at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Instagram, demanding that the Ukrainian leader "take [his] people and get out of Europe" a
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Image Does NOT Show Boy Who Was Found ‘Roaming Around’ — It Was Misappropriated To Promote Scam
Does this image show an unidentified boy in the care of police officers after being found "roaming around"? No, that's not true: The boy in the picture actually helped locate someone else -- an older man with Alzheimer's disease. The post
Full Fact→ Study didn’t link children’s flu vaccine to strep A infections
A 2014 study has been widely shared as alleged proof nasal flu vaccines are linked to strep A infections.
Full Fact→ Police warn against interacting with posts about missing Surrey boy
A social media post about a supposedly missing child has been shared hundreds of times.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: NO Evidence Thieves Stole U.S. Postal Service Uniforms And Are Using Them To Rob Homeowners At Gunpoint
Did thieves steal U.S. Postal Service uniforms and use them to rob homeowners at gunpoint? No, there's no evidence that's true: A local Postal Service spokesman told Lead Stories the claim "could not be substantiated." Additionally, there