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All English Fact Checks
Misleading: Video of Yazidi women being auctioned by Islamic State group. A clip has been viewed hundreds of times in social media posts that misleadingly claim it shows Kurdish-speaking Yazidi women being auctioned off by the Islamic State group in Syria. While Yazidi women were sold into sexual slavery or as jihadists' "wives", the clip in fact shows a piece of performance art in Iraq. Its director, Aryan Rafiq, told AFP the performance was held in Arbil market in Iraq in March 2023. (Source: Agence France-Presse - AFP)
Altered Image: Billboards have encouraged Africans to have marriages and children in China Chinese social media platforms have shared a screenshot of a doctored billboard that appears to show a message encouraging African men to marry Chinese women and have many children. Text on the advertisement has been edited to suggest that rape in China would go unpunished. But the original signboard was part of a campaign by aid group Doctors Without Borders Belgium (MSF) in Liberia from at least 2006 which encouraged victims of sexual violence to seek help. (Source: Agence France-Presse - AFP)
Misleading: Taking non-paracetamol medications for fever will be deadly Facebook posts in Sri Lanka have widely shared misleading medical advice warning that administering any non-paracetamol drugs for fever could "result in death". Medical experts told AFP that while certain non-paracetamol medications could have fatal consequences if administered without a proper diagnosis, this does not imply that administering them after ruling out specific conditions was fatal. (Source: Agence France-Presse - AFP)
False: Video shows funeral of supporters of former Pakistani PM Imran Khan A video of coffins being carried through a crowd of people has been shared thousands of times in posts that falsely claim it shows people mourning those who were killed while protesting against the arrest of former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan in May 2023. But the video in fact shows mourners at a funeral for Shiite Muslims gunned down in a sectarian attack at a school in northwestern Pakistan. (Source: Agence France-Presse - AFP)
Recycled Rumor: Commander In Chief Of The Armed Forces Of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhnyy has disappeared Recycled RumorDid Commander In Chief Of The Armed Forces Of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhnyy disappear during the battle of Bakhmut in May 2023 or on June 3, 2023, as the country was moving forward with its counteroffensive plans? No, that's not true: The claim reused an already debunke (Source: Lead Stories)
Just Photos: Royal Families Elite Gender Inversion Just PhotosDo photos of members of European royal families prove that they are transgender and part of a purported "Elite Gender Inversion"? No, that's not true: There is no publicly available evidence that the monarchs of various European countries are transgender men or women a (Source: Lead Stories)
False: Image does not show photo captured by the James Webb telescope An image showing dark grey clouds and small specks of light on Jupiter is an illustration created using data from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Jupiter mission ‘Juno’, and not a photograph captured by the James Webb Space Telescope as being claim (Source: Reuters)
Misleading: Pregnancy ultrasound does not cause the DNA damage of ‘250 chest x-rays’ Ultrasound examinations during pregnancy are considered safe, with no evidence of harm to fetuses when used correctly, contrary to an online claim of DNA damage based on a 40-year-old test-tube study of mouse cells. The text in one post sharing the claim (here) reads, “A Single E (Source: Reuters)
Altered: Photo of former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie altered to exaggerate body size A photograph of former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie speaking at a 2012 public event has been edited to increase the width of his arms and torso, leaving some social media users confused about his actual appearance. Examples of Facebook users sharing the photo as if it were (Source: Reuters)