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26 March 2023

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False

The claim is demonstrably false. The photo/video has been doctored. Stories investigate factual validity of the claim and/or the authenticity of photo/video.

Analysis False Misleading 

Analysis: An array of misinformation about earthquakes in Turkey

24 March 2023 8 min read

Annie Lab examined some popular social media content posted after the devastating quakes in Turkey and Syria.

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False 

False: This Tiananmen Square video does not show China’s COVID-19 protests

10 January 202311 January 2023 4 min read

The video was taken during the National Day celebration on Oct. 1, 2022. The audio track of chanting voices was added from an unrelated military training video shot in 2021 in Tianjin.

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20221101_elonmuskdouyin_1
False 

False: Elon Musk’s ‘buying TikTok’ tweet was created by modifying HTML

25 November 202214 January 2023 2 min read

The user who created the fake tweet says it was made by changing HTML codes.

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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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False 

False: This image of Greta Thunberg’s ‘weight gain’ is also doctored

3 November 20222 November 2022 2 min read

The new viral photo manipulated a picture uploaded four years ago. Various recent news photos do not show any major changes in her appearance.

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False 

False: This video was not shot in Iran; it shows old protest footage in Ukraine and Hong Kong

2 November 2022 2 min read

It is a composite of different footage featuring protesters hurling Molotov cocktails with slingshots in Ukraine in 2014 and in Hong Kong in 2019.

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False 

False: This video shows ongoing protests in Iran, not celebrations over Khamenei’s ‘death’

1 November 2022 2 min read

Protesters chanted, “death to the dictator.” It does not connote the supreme leader’s death, as implied in the tweet. Khamenei is alive and made speeches in public after the post.

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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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False 

False: This marching soldier has nothing to do with Putin’s call-up of reservists

21 October 20222 November 2022 2 min read

The earliest version of the same video we found was posted in 2019, three years before Russia announced drafting 300,000 more reservists in the ongoing war with Ukraine in late September.

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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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False 

False: Video of violence against woman is unrelated to human trafficking in Cambodia

23 August 202225 August 2022 2 min read

The clip shows a woman repeatedly beaten up by three men in Brazil. Local media said she was attacked in a dispute over drugs.

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False 

False: Photo shows a Thai woman killed in 2019, not a Taiwanese victim of human trafficking

23 August 202224 August 2022 2 min read

The Thai woman was reportedly murdered by a serial killer. The images have nothing to do with the victims of recent employment scams in Southeast Asia.

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False 

False: Japan did not warn China of retaliation over missile landing

16 August 202224 August 2022 1 min read

The “statement” shared on Chinese social media is not official. It originates from a Japanese tweet that simply expressed the user’s view on the incident.

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False 

False: Photo of Chinese and Russian soldiers taken in 2014 in Jordan, not Ukraine in 2022

12 August 202226 August 2022 2 min read

The two participated in the Annual Warrior Competition held by the Jordanian Armed Forces in Amman in 2014.

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False 

False: Video shows dead fish found in Huizhou in 2021, not in Taiwan after China’s military drills

8 August 202226 August 2022 2 min read

The fish kill reportedly took place at Shuangyue Bay in Guangdong in November 2021. It has nothing to do with the recent Chinese military exercise near Taiwan.

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COVID-19 False 

False: Monkeypox has nothing to do with Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines

28 July 20228 August 2022 3 min read

Monkeypox has been reported in 77 countries including India, Russia, and Venezuela where the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is not available. Experts say there is no link between the two.

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False 

False: Japan’s ex-PM Abe did not ‘answer a phone call’ in ambulance

21 July 202226 July 2022 2 min read

Shinzo Abe collapsed shortly after he was shot and fell unconscious. The misleading social media posts in Chinese appear to stem from inaccurate translations of a local news report.

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"FALSE" stamped on screenshots of Twitter and Instagram posts
COVID-19 False 

False: Japan’s Abe did not oversee vaccine rollout or distribute ivermectin

18 July 202222 July 2022 4 min read

A widely shared conspiracy theory suggested Japan’s former prime minister was assassinated because he disobeyed the World Economic Forum. Annie Lab looked into three specific claims and found all of them unsubstantiated.

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False 

False: Images of ‘smiling’ newscasters announcing Shinzo Abe’s death are doctored

15 July 202223 August 2022 5 min read

Annie Lab obtained the videos of original broadcast and can confirm the two anchors were not smiling. The doctored images were created by a photo editing app for mobile devices called FaceApp.

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False 

False: Polish president did not recently indicate changing or reversing the anti-abortion law

7 July 202215 July 2022 3 min read

The last time the Polish president indicated making any changes to the abortion law was almost two years ago.

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False 

False: Water in container does not prove Chinese astronauts are not in space

5 July 20228 July 2022 4 min read

Experts say it is possible for water to remain inside a container in space because of surface tension. It is also possible to fill a container with water in a space station.

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False 

False: This headshot does not show a ‘19-year-old’ Tangshan victim

25 June 202228 June 2022 2 min read

The image was uploaded on a photo-sharing platform in 2019. The blogger refuted the rumor on her social media account.

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COVID-19 False 

False: This video in China shows anti-pandemic drama, not a staged ‘fake’ tragedy

21 June 202230 June 2022 4 min read

The clip has been traced to a Douyin account of one of the actors in the drama, posted in 2020.

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False 

False: Video of public death penalty trial shows Myanmar, not China

7 June 202210 June 2022 2 min read

The public hearing and execution took place in Wa Self-Administered Region in Myanmar where authorities also speak Mandarin Chinese.

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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 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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False 

False: Video of man punching banana tree was filmed in Indonesia last year, not Tonga in 2022

18 January 20225 March 2022 3 min read

The video was posted in December 2021 and shows the tidal bore in Kampar river in Indonesia.

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Featured image
COVID-19 False In-depth Investigation 

False: COVID-19 vaccines did not kill 29,939 people in Europe

7 January 20222 March 2022 5 min read

There is no established causal relationship between these deaths and vaccination.

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COVID-19 False 

False: This video does not show China using livestock transport trucks to move people to quarantine

23 November 2021 3 min read

The misleading video has been edited. A longer version shows the truck was evacuating people out of flooded roads.

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