Claim: Football star Cristiano Ronaldo has been sentenced to 99 lashes for hugging a woman in Iran during his recent trip to the country. Fact: Iran, via its embassy in Spain, has denied the issuance of any court ruling against any international athlete in Iran. Fact or Fiction? On 25 October 2023, X (formerly Twitter) […]
Claim: Pakistani actor Ushna Shah says Instagram is censoring pro-Palestinian news content. Fact: Meta has removed news content for users in Canada following the implementation of the Online News Act 2023, which was passed on 22 June 2023, leading to the warning shown in Shah’s screenshot. On 21 October 2023, Pakistani actor Ushna Shah took […]
Claim: A video on social media claims it shows the strike on Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. Fact: The claim is false because the video is not related to the recent attack on Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. The video is from the August 2022 escalation between Hamas and Israel. On 7 October 2023 the […]
Editor’s note: It is unfortunate that we have to investigate whether a dead body is real or not. In line with ethical reporting and out of respect for the family of the deceased, we have decided not to include raw visuals. All screenshots below are blurred at specific places. One of these visuals shows a […]
Claim: Qatar’s ruling Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has threatened to cut off the world’s natural gas supply if Israel does not stop bombing Gaza. Fact: An old clip of the Emir’s speech from the Doha Forum 2017 is being misrepresented but Thani did not issue any threats to cut off the supply […]
Claim: Videos show Hamas fighters shooting down Israeli helicopters amid the recent escalation between Israel and Palestine. Fact: The clips were shared on social media in February and October, before the escalation, and are actually from the video game Arma 3. Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, launched a “surprise attack” on Israel […]
Claim: Social media video claims it shows Israeli soldiers captured by Hamas during the recent Hamas-Israel war. Fact: The claim is misleading because the video is from 2016 in Turkey, when footage of arrested officers was broadcast on TV after a failed military coup. On 9 October 2023, a Facebook user posted a video (archived) […]
Claim: 40 babies were beheaded during the 2023 Hamas attack in Israel as tensions escalate in Gaza. Fact: The reporter who broke the story says she “believes” an account provided by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), while other journalists who visited the site of the attack said they were not shown any bodies. The Israeli […]
Claim: Hamas is holding Israeli children hostage and has kept them in cages. Fact: The video predates the recent Hamas attack; therefore, the claim is false. It is not clear if the clip is indeed from the Israel-Palestine conflict or from another region. On 8 October 2023, Voice of Europe posted a video (archive) to […]
Claim: Social media video shows thousands of people gathered in Masjid Al-Aqsa and chanting slogans of “Labaik Ya Allah” after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023. Fact: The claim is misleading because the video is old, from April 2023. The crowd shows people praying during the last nights of Ramzan in Al-Aqsa Mosque. On […]
Claim: Amartya Sen has died. Fact: Amartya Sen has not died; his daughter has denied reports. On 10 October 2023, X (formerly Twitter) user @profCGoldin announced (archive) that Amartya Sen — a renowned Indian economist and Nobel laureate — had died. “A terrible news. My dearest Professor Amartya Sen has died minutes ago. No words,” […]
Claim: A video on social media shows Hamas firing hundreds of rockets towards Israel’s airport in Tel Aviv. Fact: The claim is false because the video is not related to the recent Palestine-Israel conflict. It was originally posted in 2020 during the Turkey and Syria conflict in Idlib. On 7 October 2023, the Al Qassam […]