Misleading: Beige sea surface near Fukushima nuclear plant is unrelated to treated wastewater
Tritiated water is colorless. The shoreline discoloration is likely caused by stirred-up sediment that was observed even before the discharge.
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annie lab
@HKU Journalism | IFCN Signatory
Misleading
The claim is accompanied by non-altered evidence but it is used out of context or in a demonstrably misleading way. The key evidence may be fact-based, but the claim and information associated with the evidence are not true.
Misleading: This video does not show French daredevil falling to death in Hong Kong
It actually shows a third-year high school student in Qinyang in Henan province who accidentally fell from a building in 2019.
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Misleading: This video shows Yacyretá Dam in South America, not China’s Three Gorges Dam
The clip shows the Yacyretá Dam on the border between Argentina and Paraguay during a severe flood in 2014. It is not related to super typhoon Doksuri or the Three Gorges Dam.
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Misleading: Videos of clashing guards and crying man falsely linked to Niger’s coup
One shows the secret police clashing with prison officials in Nigeria; another features a sobbing ex-justice minister in Niger in 2021. They are unrelated to the recent political crisis.
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Misleading: Pope Francis did not call for universal legalization of homosexuality
The Pope condemns laws that criminalized gays, saying same-sex activity is a sin but not a crime.
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Misleading: Black police officers in this photo are not employed by China’s law enforcement
The senior officers were from Ivory Coast. They visited Hongshan in 2018 as part of a cross-border training.
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Misleading: Video shows man falling to death in Germany, not ‘angry husband’ in China
The German man who fell from a building was a suspect in a hostage situation in Dresden; he was attempting to flee from the police.
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Misleading: Woman posing with indigenous men is not ex-head of Shandong University
The picture shows an Indonesian travel blogger visiting a tribe in the province of Papua. It was first posted in 2007.
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Misleading: These bizarre fish photos are unrelated to water near Fukushima
One photo was taken before the nuclear accident; one is doctored, one shows a freshwater fish and the other was initially tied to domestic wastewater far away from Fukushima.
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A series of misleading claims about recent natural disasters in China
Annie Lab found inaccurate news reports, irrelevant images, and a manipulated video about flooding and landslides in China
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Misleading: This Beijing air pollution image is old and digitally manipulated
A manipulated version of a 2008 sandstorm photo was falsely linked to a bad air day in Beijing on March 10
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Misleading: Idea of discouraging rural children from attending university was raised 12 years ago
The old remarks by a delegate of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference were falsely associated with this year’s parliamentary sessions.
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Misleading: This image is six years old; Zhu Rongji did clap for Xi Jinping at the 2017 party congress
A misleading tweet implied Zhu did not applaud Xi at the annual assembly in March, although Zhu has not been seen at any major party functions for more than five years. Also, the image was taken after Zhu stopped clapping in 2017.
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Misleading: These Weibo GIFs do not show Russia dropping a ‘small nuclear bomb’
A Chinese blogger posted images that have nothing to do with the Russian attack on Bakhmut, Ukraine. Annie Lab found no evidence of FAB-3000 dropped on the city.
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Misleading: Video of prominent factories closure in China includes plants that are still in business
Two of the four factories are still operating, while the other two were reportedly shut down for losses incurred before the pandemic.
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Misleading: This trash mountain is located in Indonesia, not China
The viral video shows one of the world’s largest landfills in Bantar Gebang in Bekasi on the outskirts of Jakarta in Indonesia.
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Misleading: This video uses green screen; it does not show ‘Chinese military suits’
A five-year-old “invisibility cloak” video was falsely linked to some “new technologies” developed in China or Japan, but it actually shows a simple chroma key post-production effect.
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An array of misinformation about earthquakes in Turkey
Annie Lab examined some popular social media content posted after the devastating quakes in Turkey and Syria.
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Misleading: Photo does not show unidentified flying object reportedly spotted in China
The picture was taken in the U.K. in 2008. It has nothing to do with the news report on the UFO spotted in Shandong in February.
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Misleading: South Korean rocket mistaken for UFO in Poland
Misleading social media posts claiming a UFO was spotted and shot down by Polish Air Force came with a video that showed a South Korean rocket test in December 2022.
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Misleading: Fireworks spectators’ video falsely linked to Wuhan protest and Turkey earthquake
Annie Lab sourced the original video to a WeChat user and geolocated it at Yanshi district, of Henan province’s Luoyang city. The crowds that spilled into traffic were actually gathering for a Lantern Festival public fireworks show, according to the WeChat user.
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Misleading: Japanese study on mask hygiene does not support dropping mask mandate
The 2022 study by researchers at an Osaka-based university actually recommends the hygienic use of masks and cautions people, especially those with immune issues, against repeated use of the same masks to avoid potentially pathogenic microbes that can grow on the surface.
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Misleading: These images of street sign and police are not related to China’s COVID-19 protests
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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Misleading: Group singing of ‘The Internationale’ was performed in 2021 as celebration, not protest
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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Misleading: Liaison Office photo was taken months before Jiang Zemin’s death
The viral photo is a screen capture of a TV news report in April. Many people in Hong Kong also lined up and offered flowers to the deceased former Chinese president outside the Liaison Office on Dec. 1.
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Misleading: Video shows Chengdu Marathon, not people taking PCR tests in China
The video actually shows marathon participants waiting for the start on Nov. 20, 2022.
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Misleading: Video shows Yiwu market in Shenzhen, not Zhejiang’s world’s largest wholesale market
The video has nothing to do with the famous Yiwu International Trade City in Zhejiang, also known as the Yiwu market, which was locked down only for 10 days in mid-August.
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Misleading: Image of peacocks wrapped in cardboard has nothing to do with COVID-19 test
This photo was posted in March 2019, months before the pandemic began, when the birds were brought to the Yunnan Arts University in China.
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Misleading: Kids spacesuit is for celebrating China’s space mission, not for preventing COVID-19
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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Misleading: This ‘eerie’ video does not show people following China’s strict COVID rules
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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