Fabricated image of Hurricane Helene flooding spreads online
WEB3 days ago — After Hurricane Helene devastated the southeastern United States with high winds and flooding in late September 2024, social media posts said an image showed a ruined city in Tennessee. The claim is false; the photo was fabricated using artificial intelligence, and officials in the affected area said they were spared the worst of the storm.
Fact-checking the 2024 US vice presidential debate
WEB5 days ago — The Department of Homeland Security estimated in an April report that as of January 2022, there were 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the US (archived here).. Several immigration groups have arrived at similar estimates, including the Migration Policy Institute, which put the number at approximately 11.3 million in mid-2022 (archived here).
False claims about 'aspirational' UN pact spread online
WEB5 days ago — The UN General Assembly has adopted the Pact for the Future, a 56-point blueprint for tackling issues such as climate change, artificial intelligence and peacekeeping. Online claims that the document will implement a global digital identification system and punish the spread of misinformation are false; multiple experts told AFP the document …
Posts falsely claim to show attack on US forces in Baghdad
WEB4 days ago — A facility housing US personnel in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad came under fire September 30, 2024 as the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah escalated. However, photos shared online do not show the strike -- they were taken years ago in the United States and the Gaza Strip and have repeatedly been used …
Posts circulating in Ethiopia make misleading claims about ...
WEB3 days ago — Tensions are increasing in the Horn of Africa where a dispute between Ethiopia and Somalia over access to the Red Sea has brought Egypt and its military might into the frame. Facebook posts in Ethiopia are adding to the sabre-rattling by circulating videos in misleading contexts. One post talks about the “destruction” of Egypt by …
Trump amplifies cherry-picked US migrant crime data
WEB6 days ago — Amid intense debate over illegal immigration in the US election, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his supporters claim the Biden administration allowed some 425,000 migrants with criminal records, including 13,000 with murder convictions, to enter the country without detaining them. This is false; the figures refer to …
Posts falsely blame HAARP research project for Hurricane ...
WEB5 days ago — As a massive hurricane thrashed the southeastern United States in late September 2024, social media posts claimed Democrats used the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) to create the storm to prevent Republicans from voting in the upcoming presidential election. This is false; scientists have repeatedly refuted the …