Your hourly fact checks

All English Fact Checks

Old Conspiracy: Conservatives believe that there is a conspiracy to create chemical rainbows near the ground Old ConspiracyAre conservatives or Republicans now taking issue with "manufactured" rainbows that appear when there is water spray from a fountain? No, that's not true: This viral 2007 video of unscientific musings about rainbows was mashed up and posted to mock conservative Repu (Source: Lead Stories)

Private: Only 7 People Showed Up For Trump in Iowa PrivateDid seven people show up for former President Donald Trump in Iowa as the 2024 election season began? No, that's missing context: The video of Trump with seven people was taken inside a radio station office where he was recording an interview -- it was not an event open to (Source: Lead Stories)

Misleading: Prayut Chan O-Cha will lead Thailand's development until 2027 After opposition parties dominated general elections in Thailand, social media posts misleadingly claimed incumbent Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha would retain control over any future government as he had been appointed to lead the kingdom's development until at least 2027. But the role of chair of the National Strategy Committee goes to whomever is prime minister at the time -- not specifically Prayut. The Thai government has refuted the claim, and political analysts also told AFP that Thailand's prime minister chairs the committee by virtue of their position. (Source: Agence France-Presse - AFP)

False: Video shows a bus crash in India's Meghalaya state Dramatic footage of a bus hurtling down a slope has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in social media posts that falsely claim the incident happened in the mountainous state of Meghalaya in northeastern India. The crash shown in the clip, however, took place in Indonesia's Central Java province. (Source: Agence France-Presse - AFP)

Millions of Britons...: Millions of Britons voted to end the jurisdiction of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In a recent letter to the Prime Minister, Andrea Jenkyns MP claimed that millions of people had voted for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The letter, which the Conservative MP shared on Twitter on 17 May, claimed that the "overwhelming majo (Source: Full Fact)

Altered: Audio translation of Emmanuel Macron’s 2022 UN speech is altered Fabricated audio has been added to a video of French President Emmanuel Macron giving a speech to the United Nations General Assembly to make it appear that he apologized to African nations for wrongs they suffered during France’s colonial past. The actual speech and its official (Source: Reuters)

False: The European Union is now advising that pregnant women should not receive COVID-19 vaccines because of the risk of infertility and miscarriage. There isno evidencethe vaccines cause fertility issues in men or women. But spurious claims about the vaccines continue to swirl online, more than two years since their December 2020 debut. (Source: Associated Press - AP News)

Debunked: Confusion...: Debunked: Confusion over news article helps spread baseless claims about Pandemic Treaty (Source: TheJournal.ie)

Pants-Fire: The blue, pink, and white colors in the progress pride flag represent pedophiles The light blue, pink and white colors featured in the new and popular progress pride flag represent the transgender community whose flag features the same color. The colors do not represent people who are attracted to children or virgins. (Source: PolitiFact)

Misleading: Ethiopian religfious TV station licence was revoked A post shared on Facebook claims that the licence of Mahibere Kidusan TV, a religious broadcaster in Ethiopia, has been permanently revoked and the station shut down. However, this is misleading: at the time this post was published, the country’s media regulatory body, the Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA), had only suspended the station’s licence pending a review. It has since been restored. (Source: Agence France-Presse - AFP)

False: An autistic boy named Brandon Smith is missing with his dog Hank in Doncaster, Whaley Bridge and Gateshead. A number of posts in local Facebook groups across England falsely claim that an autistic child named Brandon Smith has gone missing with his dog Hank. Full Fact has found near-identical versions of the posts, which all use the same picture of a young girl and boy sitting on a log (Source: Full Fact)

False: There was a plane crash at Nairobi airport Twitter posts featuring photos of a plane on fire claimed that an aircraft crashed at Nairobi’s international airport. However, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) clarified there was an emergency drill at the airport, not an accident. AFP Fact Check also found that one of the photos shared online shows a 2019 Russian plane crash. (Source: Agence France-Presse - AFP)

False: Nails hidden inside capsules manufactured in India. Authors Ishwarachandra B G Kushel HM Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker. Pankaj Menon Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out  (Source: Newschecker)

Debunked: Fake Tommy...: Debunked: Fake Tommy Tiernan interview with Eamon Ryan is part of a cryptocurrency fraud network (Source: TheJournal.ie)

False: Chick-fil-A 'just hired' a new vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion Chick-fil-A diversity executive was hired over a year ago | Fact checkShow Caption Hide Caption Chick-Fil-A unveils new menu item: A plant-based cauliflower sandwich Chick-Fil-A customers will be excited to know a new plant-based item is coming to the menu, the Cauliflower Sandwich. Anthony Jackson, USA TODAYThe claim: Chick-fil-A 'just hired' a new vice president of diversity, equity and inclusionA May 31 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a screenshot of a tweet about fast food restaurant Chick-fil-A. "Chick Fil-A just hired a VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion," reads the tweet. Vice president isn't new hireThe webpage linked in the original tweet features a photo of Erick McReynolds, the vice president in question, alongside a statement from him about respect in the workplace. Both reports identify him as the company's vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion. (Source: USA Today)

Missing Context: A US Air Force-trained artificial intelligence (AI) powered drone "attacked" its human operators and communications towers during a simulation. Claims that a US Air Force-trained artificial intelligence (AI) powered drone "attacked" its human operators and communication towers when it was supposed to target enemy weapons have been shared widely on social media. One tweet , shared hundreds of times, says: "The Air Force t (Source: Full Fact)

Altered: Video of John Kirby leaving press conference after reporter’s question is altered White House national security spokesperson John Kirby did not ignore a question from a reporter regarding the U.S. House investigation on the Biden family business dealings. A video purporting to show this has been altered to crop Kirby’s response on the May 31st press conference (Source: Reuters)

All German Fact Checks

Frei Erfunden: Andrea Nahles, Vorstandsvorsitzende der Bundesagentur für Arbeit, habe in einem Twitter-Beitrag geschrieben: „Habe wegen fußballbedingter Straßensperrungen 30 Minuten im Stau gestanden und erwarte morgen Razzien bei allen großen Clubs!“ „Habe wegen fußballbedingter Straßensperrungen 30 Minuten im Stau gestanden und erwarte morgen Razzien bei allen großen Clubs!“, heißt es in einemBeitragvom 27. Mai, der angeblich von der  ehemaligen Bundesarbeitsministerin und Vorstandsvorsitzenden der Bundesagentur für Arbeit,  (Source: Correctiv)