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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: Photo shows a Muslim man carrying a corpse on his bike. An image of a man carrying a wrapped mannequin on his bike in Egypt is circulating on social media platforms with a false communal claim that the photo shows a Muslim man carrying a corpse on a bike.BOOM found that the incident took place in Egypt when a passerby clicked the phot (Source: BOOM Live)

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)

Newly released video...: Newly released video shows election officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County illegally conducting “secret” voting equipment tests ahead of last November’s contested midterms. The video comes from the county’slive broadcastof the election process last fall and isn’t new footage. Election officials say it shows the installation and testing of new memory cards on ballot counting machines just days prior to the November election. But social media users are falsely suggesting the video is new evidence of ballot rigging in the contested November election in the county, which covers the Phoenix area. The video shows a small group of election staffers working on vote tabulation machines in a large warehouse-like space. “New (asterisk)video evidence(asterisk) of Maricopa election officials illegally breaking into sealed election machines after they were tested, reprogramming memory cards,” wrote one Twitter user in a post that’s been liked or shared more than 133,000 times as of Thursday. “This is the story of a sabotage,” tweeted the campaign of Kari Lake, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for Arizona governor, sharing the video. But there’s nothing new about the clip and it doesn’t show anything clandestine, say election officials and experts. Matt Roberts, a spokesperson for Maricopa County Election Department, said the video clips are from the county’s own livestream of its ballot tabulation center on Oct. 14, 17 and 18. He said workers in the video are installing new memory cards into the machines and then running test ballots to make sure the system is operating properly, a process that happens before every election. The county governmentalso respondedto the claims on Twitter, noting the idea that voting machines were secretly tested prior to the election came up in Lake’s lawsuit challenging the election, and that the judge found it “unconvincing.” Lake’s campaign argued in alegal filingearlier this month that 260 of the 446 vote center tabulators registered errors during this purportedly secret testing process, foreshadowing problems that would occur on Election Day, leading her to lose the governor’s office by some 17,000 votes. “They know they’re in hot water, the county’s own system logs tell the true story,” the campaign wrote in an email to the AP, referencing the argument. But the county, in a response filed in the court case, argued that Lake was misinterpreting the machine logs, assuming every instance when they noted a “ballot misread” or “paper jam” error represented a serious malfunction. The county said a range of situations could lead to the error messages, such as a ballot that’s inserted slightly askew. “These entries do not indicate failure; rather, they are a normal part of both testing tabulators and voting on them,” the countywrote in its filing. Weeks later, Maricopa County Superior Court judgedismissed Lake’s suitand affirmed the election of Democrat Katie Hobbs as governor,writing that“the evidence presented falls far below what is needed to establish a basis for fraud.” Paul Smith-Leonard, a spokesperson for the Arizona Secretary of State’s office, which oversees elections statewide, confirmed that the county’s description of its pre-election preparations was accurate. Tammy Patrick, CEO of programs at the National Association of Election Officials and a former officer in the Maricopa County Elections Department, agreed, stressing there’s nothing secret about the ballot counting process. “The live feed starts with the initial logic and accuracy testing and remains up until equipment is tested post-election,” Patrick explained in an email. “It is live for weeks in advance, 24X7, has been that way for every election, for YEARS.” (Source: Associated Press - AP News)

False: The Arc de Triomphe in Paris has been adorned with a giant rainbow installation to celebrate Pride month. As Pride month commences and conservative campaigns onlinebrew backlashto pro-LGBTQ+ messaging, some social media users are expressing outrage over a video appearing to show a huge rainbow installation enveloping afamed French monument. (Source: Associated Press - AP News)

False: Satanic-themed shirts and pins from a London-based designer are part of Target’s line of merchandise celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. Social media users are claiming Target is selling LGBTQ+ pride apparel with a decidedly satanic vibe. (Source: Associated Press - AP News)

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)

Missing Context: Google’s Memorial Day doodle featured the US flag and poppies Google changed its iconic logo, or doodle, to grey on Memorial Day on May 29, 2023 to honor U.S. military members who have lost their lives in service. The website often features different types of topical artwork instead or in place of its classic logo for different occasions. T (Source: Reuters)

No Evidence: No evidence online image shows Jeffrey Epstein with musical duo Island Boys Reuters found no evidence that an image circulating on social media shows disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein with the members of the hip-hop duo Island Boys as children, contrary to social media posts. Some examples on Instagram and Facebook can be seen here: (h (Source: Reuters)

False: NASA study found six to eight snake plants can provide enough oxygen for humans to survive in a sealed room Snake plants couldn't produce enough oxygen to keep humans alive in a vacuum | Fact checkShow Caption Hide Caption How to acclimate new indoor plants If you just bought some new plants, here's how to acclimate them to your house. Problem Solved, USA TODAYThe claim: NASA study found six to eight snake plants can provide enough oxygen for humans to survive in a sealed roomA May 22 Facebook video features a screenshot of an article about snake plants. "According to NASA's Clean Air Study, the Snake Plant is so effective in producing oxygen that if you were locked in a sealed room with no airflow – yikes! It would be physically impossible for snake plants to produce enough oxygen to keep humans alive in such conditions, according to experts. He calculated that our bodies consume approximately 50,000 oxygen molecules in each breathing cycle, while the snake plant in the aforementioned conditions would only emit approximately 1,600 oxygen molecules. (Source: USA Today)

False: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said that COVID-19 vaccines could have an adverse effect on female fertility. About this rating On May 31, 2023, Dr. Simone Gold, thefounder of the anti-vaccine group America's Frontline Doctors, tweeted, "BREAKING: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has admitted that COVID-19 jab can have an adverse effect on female fertility." BBC Verify journalist Shay (Source: Snopes)

False: A video shows only seven Iowans at a May 2023 Donald Trump rally Social media users are claiming a video shows only seven people at a Donald Trump rally in the US state of Iowa. This is false; the clip depicts the former president and 2024 candidate meeting a radio station crew before an interview, and he later drew larger audiences at other campaign stops. (Source: Agence France-Presse - AFP)

False: Pride rainbow installation at Arc de Triomphe is 3D animation A video showing a looping rainbow installed at Paris’ Arc de Triomphe to celebrate Pride month 2023 is a virtual animation. Some posts online, however, thought it was real and said the war monument had been “defaced” for Pride. Facebook posts sharing the digital art installation  (Source: Reuters)

False: Video shows Kuki community firing at security personnel in Manipur with weapons such as AK-47. A video which shows several people firing at each other in an open field is going viral on the internet.What are users claiming?: Those sharing the video said that it shows member of the Kuki community firing at security personnel using sophisticated weaponry in Manipur. (Source: WebQoof - The Quint)

Mostly False: Each tooth has a link to a different body part Is it true that each tooth is associated with a distinct body organ?Are there links between different body parts and each tooth?Not exactly. The concept of each tooth directly linking to a specific organ in the body lacks scientific evidence. While certain medical conditions or t (Source: Thip Media)

False: Arizona banned electronic voting machines In the wake of unproven voter fraud claims, conservative influencers say Arizona has banned electronic voting machines for the 2024 US election. This is false; state lawmakers passed a resolution requiring tabulators to meet certain specifications, but it does not have the force of law -- and the Democratic governor vetoed a related measure. (Source: Agence France-Presse - AFP)

Fake: Chick-fil-A has placed its own “Chicken-C” logo in front of a Pride flag in honor of Pride Month in June 2023. About this rating On June 1, 2023, at the beginning of Pride Month, a tweet went viral claiming to show fast-food chain Chick-fil-A's official logo placed atop a Pride flag. The tweet generated controversy because of the chief executive officer's (CEO)history of donating money to (Source: Snopes)

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)