Misleading: These videos have nothing to do with recent wildfires or climate change
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: Video does not show celebrations after Italian PM’s resignation
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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Misleading: Video does not show fire in Vatican City
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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Misleading: Image sequence reversed to make watermelons appear stolen from Abe’s memorial
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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Analysis: Viral social media posts about Dutch farmers’ protests
Annie Lab investigated two images used in misleading social media posts about the ongoing farmers’ protests in the Netherlands.
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Misleading: Pope Francis was not holding a Ukrainian flag with Nazi symbol
The flag shows the symbol of the uprising in Kyiv in 2014 known as the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine.
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False: Zelenskyy did not say he uses cocaine in this interview
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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False: Woman protesting against Zelenskyy on Ukrainian TV is a digital mashup
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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Misleading: Photo in Malaysia was used to illustrate Swatch craze in Hong Kong
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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Misleading: ‘Shirtless Putin on a panda’ image was not used by the Economist
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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Misleading: WHO asked Ukraine to destroy pathogens in public health labs, not bioweapons
WHO routinely collaborates with member states on the safety and security of labs. Bioweapon allegations have been debunked by scientists.
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Misleading: This video shows a climate protest, not corpses in Ukraine
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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False: Putin was not holding a picture of the late King Bhumibol of Thailand
The image is manipulated. The original shows Putin holding his father’s portrait in 2015.
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Misleading: Photo of dog disposal not related to Beijing Olympics
The photo shows a dog cull in Yunnan Province in April 2006.
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Misleading: Video shows missile drill in China; not Russian attack on Ukraine
The GIF is a clip from a 2017 CCTV video about China’s People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force.
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Misleading: People handcuffed outside hospital are suspected illegal immigrants
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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Misleading: This discussion on ‘China’s plot to weaken US troops with vaccines’ is not organized by the Communist Party but by US website
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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False: Image of white man with ‘Black Lives Matter’ flag standing on the back of two Black people is digitally manipulated
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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False: This video does not show Chinese police ‘kidnapping’ a Uyghur girl in Xinjiang
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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Just in case: ‘Vaccination robot’ in this video is 3D computer graphics :)
The CGI video was originally posted on May 30, 2021, by a TikTok creator specializing in visual effects.
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