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26 March 2023

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Fact check

Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: These images of street sign and police are not related to China’s COVID-19 protests

28 December 202228 December 2022 4 min read

Wulumuqi Zhong Road (乌鲁木齐中路) in Shanghai was not renamed to Wu Zhong Road (乌中路). The image of a police officer holding a “white paper” comes from a two-year-old public services announcement video.

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Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: Group singing of ‘The Internationale’ was performed in 2021 as celebration, not protest

8 December 2022 1 min read

The video was produced last July to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. It has nothing to do with recent COVID-19 protests in the country.

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COVID-19 Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: Kids spacesuit is for celebrating China’s space mission, not for preventing COVID-19

21 November 202223 November 2022 3 min read

China successfully launched its Shenzhou-12 and 13 spacecraft in 2021. Many children wore spacesuit costumes at school’s sporting events that year.

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Fact check False 

False: This video shows fire in Daegu, not near Halloween crowd crush at Itaewon in Seoul

19 November 202223 November 2022 2 min read

The fire in Daegu, a city about 240 kilometers from Seoul, broke out on the same night the widely-reported crowd surge occurred at Itaewon.

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COVID-19 Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: This ‘eerie’ video does not show people following China’s strict COVID rules

18 November 202221 November 2022 3 min read

The video consists of two pieces of footage. One shows students wearing white raincoats, and the other shows construction workers building a makeshift hospital in Shanghai.

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Fact check Misleading 

False: Video shows fire in Hebei, not Beijing’s Xizhimen Hotel

7 November 20229 November 2022 2 min read

The fire occurred in the Nanxinglong residential area in the city of Chengde in Hebei province.

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Fact check False 

False: Photo shows two US aircraft carriers; neither is China’s Fujian warship

25 October 202226 October 2022 3 min read

The image shows USS Gerald R. Ford and John F. Kennedy docked in Virginia last year. It does not show China’s latest aircraft carrier launched with fanfare in June.

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Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: Graduation video is manipulated. It does not show a speech at Peking University

17 October 20221 November 2022 3 min read

The popular video combines footage of a graduation ceremony in Macau with an unrelated audio track.

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Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: ‘Reckless’ police car in China was driven by intoxicated man, not duty officer

14 October 202225 October 2022 2 min read

The police car was seized by a man after an officer tried to intervene in an altercation between the man and a woman in Jiangsu province in 2019.

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Fact check False 

False: Flag made of hair is a 2014 artwork, not a protest sign by Iranian women

12 October 202224 October 2022 2 min read

The artwork has nothing to do with the death of a 22-year-old woman in Iran that triggered international outcry and protests.

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Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: These videos have nothing to do with recent wildfires or climate change

2 August 202212 August 2022 5 min read

Annie Lab looked into two video clips claiming wildfires are manmade, which also implied climate change is not real.

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Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: Video does not show celebrations after Italian PM’s resignation

25 July 202227 July 2022 3 min read

The first half of the video shows a 2021 mass protest in Rome against a vaccine pass mandate. The second half features a taxi drivers’ demonstration against a bill related to ride-hailing services.

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Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: Video does not show fire in Vatican City

21 July 202229 July 2022 2 min read

The fire took place more than 10 kilometers away from the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. It reportedly started in an archaeological park in an area called Centocelle in eastern Rome.

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Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: Image sequence reversed to make watermelons appear stolen from Abe’s memorial

18 July 202221 July 2022 3 min read

Annie Lab reached out to a journalist who also took photos of the roadside memorial around the same time. The two slices of watermelon were placed later than the flowers on the ground.

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Fact check Misleading 

Analysis: Viral social media posts about Dutch farmers’ protests

15 July 202212 August 2022 6 min read

Annie Lab investigated two images used in misleading social media posts about the ongoing farmers’ protests in the Netherlands.

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Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: Pope Francis was not holding a Ukrainian flag with Nazi symbol

27 April 202227 April 2022 3 min read

The flag shows the symbol of the uprising in Kyiv in 2014 known as the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine.

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Claim that Ukrainian President Zelenskky admitted to using cocaine in an interview
Fact check False 

False: Zelenskyy did not say he uses cocaine in this interview

26 April 2022 2 min read

The video was doctored with stitched video frames and spliced audio track. In the original video of the full interview, he said he doesn’t use drugs but he is into coffee and gets his energy from daily exercise.

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claim that ukrainian citizen interrupted news broadcast to protest Zelenskyy is false
Fact check False 

False: Woman protesting against Zelenskyy on Ukrainian TV is a digital mashup

1 April 20227 April 2022 3 min read

The montage mixes a live news broadcast in Ukraine with an unrelated clip using green screen technology, according to the TikTok user who made it.

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Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: Photo in Malaysia was used to illustrate Swatch craze in Hong Kong

31 March 202231 March 2022 3 min read

Hundreds of people indeed waited outside the stores across the city, but the photo shows a long queue at a shopping mall in Malaysia.

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Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: ‘Shirtless Putin on a panda’ image was not used by the Economist

25 March 20228 July 2022 3 min read

The image is one of the mock-up designs explored by the magazine. The published cover features only Putin’s face overlapping the face of Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

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Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: WHO asked Ukraine to destroy pathogens in public health labs, not bioweapons

21 March 20226 April 2022 4 min read

WHO routinely collaborates with member states on the safety and security of labs. Bioweapon allegations have been debunked by scientists.

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Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: This video shows a climate protest, not corpses in Ukraine

7 March 2022 3 min read

The video shows a demonstration held by climate activists against Vienna’s climate policy on Feb. 4, not casualties in the recent conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

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Fact check False 

False: Putin was not holding a picture of the late King Bhumibol of Thailand

4 March 20225 March 2022 2 min read

The image is manipulated. The original shows Putin holding his father’s portrait in 2015.

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Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: Photo of dog disposal not related to Beijing Olympics

2 March 2022 2 min read

The photo shows a dog cull in Yunnan Province in April 2006.

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Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: Video shows missile drill in China; not Russian attack on Ukraine

22 February 202228 February 2022 2 min read

The GIF is a clip from a 2017 CCTV video about China’s People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force.

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COVID-19 Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: People handcuffed outside hospital are suspected illegal immigrants

18 February 20224 June 2022 2 min read

The police told Annie Lab that seven men and 15 women were taken to the Pok Oi Hospital for COVID-19 nucleic acid testing recently.

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Featured image
COVID-19 Fact check Misleading 

Misleading: This discussion on ‘China’s plot to weaken US troops with vaccines’ is not organized by the Communist Party but by US website

8 November 202115 November 2021 3 min read

The video is from a live broadcast of GTV, an online platform known for its anti-Communist Party stance and push for misinformation and conspiracy theories.

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Screenshot of the Reddit post and the manipulated image
Fact check False 

False: Image of white man with ‘Black Lives Matter’ flag standing on the back of two Black people is digitally manipulated

8 November 2021 3 min read

The “Black Lives Matter” flag is taken from another photo and was added to what appears to be an older tourist image.

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Fact check False 

False: This video does not show Chinese police ‘kidnapping’ a Uyghur girl in Xinjiang

8 November 20218 November 2021 4 min read

It actually shows an officer trying to protect the girl from a bike coming at her. The video was taken in Suining, Sichuan, not in Xinjiang.

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COVID-19 Fact check Just in case 

Just in case: ‘Vaccination robot’ in this video is 3D computer graphics :)

4 November 20215 November 2021 2 min read

The CGI video was originally posted on May 30, 2021, by a TikTok creator specializing in visual effects.

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