France

Claim: A video and photograph show Southport stabbing suspect.   Fact: The video and photo actually depict an attacker who knifed toddlers in the French mountain town of Annecy in June 2023.   Content Warning: Some posts linked in this article include graphic images of children which some readers may find distressing.   In the […]

Claim: A 17-year-old asylum seeker who came to the UK by boat in 2023 was responsible for the mass stabbing that left 3 young girls dead in Southport. Fact: The prime suspect is not an asylum seeker and was born in Cardiff, Wales.  On 29 July 2024, social media was abuzz with widespread misinformation about […]

Claim: A video shows Muslims praying on the streets in France after the left-wing parties won the most seats in the July 2024 elections. Fact: The video actually shows Muslims praying on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr at the Moscow Cathedral Mosque, in May 2022. On 8 July 2024, Threads user @tweetnewsofficial posted (archived) a video […]

Claim: A picture shows a car on fire amid riots in Belgium over the June 2023 police killing of Nahel M in Paris, France. Fact: The picture is unrelated to the June 2023 France protests and is, in fact, from football fans engaging in arson in Amsterdam following Morocco’s win over Belgium in the 2022 […]

Claim: A video shows Algerians atop the Monument à la République in Paris as riots erupted in France over the killing of an Algerian teenager in June 2023. Fact: The video is unrelated to the June 2023 protests in France and is actually from the 2019 pro-democracy demonstrations against former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. On […]

Claim: A video shows a Muslim rioter stationed as a sniper on top of a building in Paris amid the recent France riots that erupted over the police killing of an Algerian teenage boy. Fact: The video has no link to the 2023 France riots; it was first posted in 2022. On 30 June 2023, […]

Claim: A video shows French President Emmanuel Macron dancing with his wife Brigitte Macron, 30 years ago.  Fact: The clip features ballroom dancers Jenna Johnson and Jake Monreal’s performance in an American reality television dance competition show “So You Think You Can Dance”.  Fact or Fiction? On 14 January 2023, Facebook user Kh M Khwaja […]

Claim: Photos depict French President Emmanuel Macron after an 8 March 2022 call with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the invasion of Ukraine.  Fact: The photos do depict Emmanuel Macron but were not taken on 8 March 2022.  Fact or Fiction? On 8 March 2022, Visegrád 24 tweeted photos of French President Emmanuel Macron, claiming […]

Claim: European countries stopped using the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine after cases of blood clots were reported. Fact: Some European countries temporarily paused the use of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s vaccine. At least 18 of these countries have now removed the pause. Thromboembolic Events with Blood Clots During the first three weeks of March, countries across Europe temporarily paused […]