Your weekly fact-checks
#Elections2025
This week's election: Turks and Caicos Islands Parliament
St Vincent Times
Election Date: 07/02/2025
The Turks and Caicos Islands will hold general elections on 7 February 2025 under a reformed system that expands Parliament to 19 elected members, including nine at-large MPs. The ruling Progressive National Party (PNP), led by Premier Washington Misick, is campaigning on economic growth and wage increases, while the opposition People's Democratic Movement (PDM) is focusing on crime and cost-of-living issues. A major controversy arose after the PDM leader called a recent double murder "a message from God," prompting a reprimand from the Governor.
#Politics
Politifact
False: The Trump administration is giving each and every adult in America $18,000.
President Donald Trump has not announced, and Congress has not passed, any new stimulus checks for Americans. The post refers people to the website "findhelp.org," which is not an official federal government site. There was no information on the site about a federal government program giving out $18,000 checks.
Lead Stories
False: USAID funded financier and noted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein via the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc.
A claim circulating online on social media actually lists "Jeffrey E Epstein," a different person who is a director at Kaiser Permanente. Several of his online profiles show he sometimes goes by the name of "Jeff Epstein" but his biographical data and pictures are clearly different from the Jeffrey Epstein who passed away in 2019.
Africa Check
False: US President Trump has targeted African leaders with an executive order to sell their jets and deport their children in the US.
A viral claim alleges that US President Donald Trump ordered the sale of African leaders' private jets and luxury properties in the US and the deportation of their children studying there. However, this claim is false, as similar misinformation has been debunked, and no such executive order exists.
Politifact
Mostly true: California has given more to the recovery of other states than any other state in the union.
California paid $83.1 billion more in federal taxes than it received from the federal government — more than any other state — in 2022. When the state’s population is considered, California paid $2,129 more per capita in federal taxes than it received — which is more than all but three other states.
#Economy
Lead Stories
False: Mexico imposed a 50 percent retaliatory tariff on Tesla cars sold in Mexico.
No credible media or government reports confirm that the Mexican government stated this. U.S. President Donald Trump said on February 3, 2025, that he and the President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo had talked, and planned U.S. tariffs on Mexican goods were on put on hold for 30 days.
#Disasters
Lead Stories
False: Trans woman identified as the helicopter pilot in Washington plane crash.
False claims circulating online allege that a trans woman named Jo Ellis was the pilot of the Black Hawk helicopter involved in the fatal crash over Washington DC. However, the confirmed pilot was Capt Rebecca Lobach, and Ellis has publicly stated she was not involved, urging people to stop spreading misinformation.
Snopes
False: Former U.S. President Barack Obama was on the military helicopter that crashed into an American Airlines passenger jet in January 2025.
Official statements have confirmed the three individuals in the helicopter were soldiers. Furthermore, had Obama indeed been on the flight, it would have made major headline news.
PolitiFact
False: CNN reported on the Potomac River plane and helicopter crash “hours before it happened.”
There’s no evidence that CNN reported on the Jan. 29 fatal collision between a commercial flight and a U.S. Army helicopter hours before the event took place. Social media users claimed that screenshots of a CNN headline about the incident that showed publication dates of several "hours ago" proved the incident was planned or a false flag attack. CNN began reporting on the crash after it happened, according to available report time stamps and a CNN spokesperson’s statement.
#Conflicts
Reuters
False: The US spent $50 million on condoms for Gaza.
There is no evidence that the U.S. earmarked $50 million in condoms to Gaza, or that it has recently spent $50 million on condoms in Gaza. On X, a State Department spokesperson said the freeze stopped $100 million in funding to Gaza which included money for contraception. The International Medical Corps in Gaza, which according to information the State Department provided multiple news outlets, would have received that aid, stated it has not used any U.S. funding for condoms in Gaza.
#Healthcare
Africa Check
False: Herbal mixture can cure 'stubborn and recurring' sexually transmitted diseases.
A number of Facebook posts encourage users to buy a herbal mixture that can supposedly cure several forms of sexually transmitted infections. But there's no evidence for these claims and an infectious disease expert advises the afflicted with these symptoms to see a doctor.
PolitiFact
False: Pfizer just released its list of side effects of its COVID-19 vaccine.
The list of health conditions is not newly released; it’s from a 2021 Pfizer report submitted to the Food and Drug Administration. The list shows adverse events, not side effects, following COVID-19 vaccination in the first three months after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was authorized in December 2020. Adverse events are any health incidents reported following vaccination and do not mean that the vaccine caused the incident. Side effects are incidents caused by the vaccine.
#Nordics
Tjekdet
Falsk: Danmark øger tolden på Ozempic-eksporten til USA med 500 procent.
En viral påstand på de sociale medier om, at Danmark indfører en told på 500 % på eksport af Ozempic til USA, er falsk og stammer fra et satirisk LinkedIn-opslag af Robert Lendvai, som blev misfortolket som en rigtig nyhed. Selvom opslaget var ment som en joke, blev påstanden spredt vidt og bredt på trods af, at der ikke var nogen officielle udmeldinger eller beviser, der understøttede den.
#WTF?! What The Fact of the week
Snopes
True: A Great Dane named Juliana received a medal during World War II for defusing a bomb by urinating on it.
A Great Dane named Juliana was awarded the Blue Cross Medal twice during World War II—first in 1941 for allegedly extinguishing an incendiary bomb by urinating on it and again in 1944 for alerting people to a fire in her owner's shop. The medals were issued by the U.K. animal welfare charity Blue Cross, not the Ministry of Defence, as confirmed in a 2025 Freedom of Information request. Juliana's story resurfaced in 2013 when her medal and portrait were discovered during a house clearance in Bristol and later sold at auction.
Sign up to test the new release of the Factiverse AI Editor
Factiverse is planning to release a new version of our AI editor in the coming months and we are looking for feedback from dedicated users.
Sign up here to access the beta and help enhance real-time fact-checking!
Check out the Factiverse Blog
Want to know more about the world of misinformation and fact-checking? If so, make sure to out the Factiverse Blog! We explore these topics to give our readers a better understanding of these topics while also giving guidelines on how organisations can protect themselves. Click here to look at our list of posts.