Your weekly fact-checks
#Elections2025
This week's election: 2025 Micronesian parliamentary election
Pacific Daily News
Election Date: 04/03/2025
General elections in the Federated States of Micronesia are scheduled for 4 March 2025, to elect ten of the fourteen members of the Congress for a two-year term. The elections are held using a first-past-the-post system, with all candidates running as independents in single-member constituencies. The Federated States of Micronesia is a sovereign country in the Pacific Ocean, consisting of four states: Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae.
#Politics
PolitiFact
False: Zero votes for 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in Rockland County, New York, precinct proves Elon Musk hacked 2024 presidential election.
In Ramapo 35, a Rockland County, New York, voting precinct, President Donald Trump beat Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, 552 to 0. In the same precinct, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., easily beat her opponent. Harris received zero votes in four of Rockland County’s 122 precincts and was trounced by Trump in several others. Experts said it’s not evidence of election hacking, as Ramapo has a large Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish population that often votes in blocs in support of their rabbis’ endorsed candidates.
USA Today
False: Listening devices were found in the Oval Office in February 2025
A Feb. 23 Threads post claims surveillance devices were uncovered in the White House. There's no evidence listening devices were discovered in the Oval Office though. A similar version of the claim previously shared online cites fabricated sources.
Snopes
True: U.S. President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated video showing "Trump Gaza" that included a clip of himself and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sunbathing together.
On Feb. 25, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump posted a video on Truth Social that appeared to be AI-generated, showing a fictional vision of "Trump Gaza," including surreal imagery of Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu. The video's source remains unclear, with AI detection models suggesting it was likely created using AI, though no engine or creator has been definitively identified.
USA Today
False: Image shows Elon Musk post saying protesting 'brats' should be jailed
A Feb. 17 Threads post includes what appears to be a screenshot of an X post from billionaire Elon Musk. "Spoiled crybabies across the country are protesting against America's golden age," the supposed post from Musk reads. "Brats like them should go to prison." The image, however, is a fabrication. There's no record of the post on Musk's X profile.
PolitiFact
False: Stacey Abrams stole $2 billion from taxpayers.
Power Forward Communities, a coalition of housing and energy groups, received a $2 billion grant from the Inflation Reduction Act to make nationwide energy efficient home improvements. Abrams was a senior counsel for Rewiring America, one of the five groups that made up the coalition, until the end of 2024. Abrams did not work for Power Forward Communities, and there’s no evidence she received any money from the grant or engaged in any illegal activity.
#Conflicts
Reuters
False: USAID funded ‘information warfare’ in Ukraine
This image has been altered. A Fox News story was altered to say USAID sent $140,000,000 each month to the Psychological and Information Warfare Center of Ukraine.
Snopes
False: In early 2025, Ukraine and Russia had reached a peace deal in their years-long war.
Claims of a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia actually repeat key parts of a proposed U.S.-Ukraine agreement for sharing revenue from Ukraine's natural assets, including minerals. This agreement is not a peace deal but would bring Americans to Ukraine and give the U.S. a vested interest in peace in the country.
#Economy
PolitiFact
Barely-True: Republicans have introduced legislation to increase bank fees.
A Republican-backed joint resolution would overturn a regulation set to take effect Oct. 1 that would cap overdraft fees at large banks. If the regulation goes into effect, overdraft fees would be capped at lower levels than what some banks typically charge now. Conversely, if the Republican legislation passes, overdraft fees at some banks would not decrease as they would have if the regulation took effect. The Republican proposal would not increase current overdraft fees.
Snopes
True: A 1990s advertisement authentically read, in part: "They say in thirty years a burger & fries could cost $16, a vacation $12,500, and a basic car $64,000."
Snopes was unable to determine when and where the advertisement first appeared. However, The New Yorker published it in 1994 and 1995 issues of its printed magazine, according to the publication's archives.
#Healthcare
Africa Check
False: Herbal capsules won't cure asthma.
Several Facebook posts advertise what they call Asthma Relief herbal capsules, claiming that they can cure asthma. However, there is no cure for asthma; it can only be managed.
#Nordics
Tjekdet
Det er forkert: Over 80 procent af din indkomst går til skat.
En TikTok-video hævdede, at danskerne betaler 81% af deres indkomst i skat, inklusive moms og afgifter, men eksperter kritiserede denne beregning som urealistisk og påpegede fejl i antagelser om ejendomsskat og moms. Den faktiske gennemsnitlige skattebyrde er meget lavere, omkring 41 %, og nogle skøn når op på 51,8 % for visse indkomstniveauer, hvilket er langt under tallet på 81 %.
#WTF?! What The Fact of the week
Snopes
True: Allied and resistance women wore red lipstick because Hitler hated it.
The claim that women in Allied and Resistance countries wore red lipstick during World War II to defy Adolf Hitler’s dislike of it is true. Red lipstick had long been a symbol of defiance, with women in the early 20th century adopting it during suffrage movements, and during WWII, it became a powerful symbol of resistance, with Allied women using it to oppose Nazi ideals and even prompting the U.S. Army to issue special red lipstick for female troops.
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