Your weekly fact-checks
#Elections2025
This week's election: 2025 Gabonese general election
Africa News
Election Date: 12/04/2025
Gabon will hold its presidential election on 12 April 2025, the first since the 2023 military coup that ended 56 years of Bongo family rule. The election follows the adoption of a new constitution in November 2024, which introduced term limits, abolished the prime minister’s role, and reformed candidacy requirements. While the presidential vote is confirmed, the date for legislative elections has yet to be announced, leaving the full transition timeline uncertain.
#Politics
Snopes
True: Donald Trump placed reciprocal tariffs on a group of uninhabited islands occupied only by penguins and other wildlife.
Penguins are the most abundant birds on the Heard Island and McDonald Islands group. The islands are also home to other animals, including seals, flying birds, and invertebrates — but no humans.
AP News
False: Democrats are suing the Trump administration to allow noncitizens to vote in U.S. elections.
This misrepresents a lawsuit that has been filed against the trump administration. The lawsuit asks that President Donald Trump’s executive order to overhaul elections in the U.S. be blocked on the grounds that a president does not have the authority to dictate election rules. It also asserts that the order could disenfranchise legal voters. Casting a ballot as a noncitizen in federal elections is already illegal.
Lead Stories
False: BBC published a video report about Olena Zelenska's "failed escape attempt".
In a statement to Lead Stories, a BBC spokesperson refuted the claim, referring to the viral video as "fabricated content that impersonates the BBC." No credible media organization ever reported the purported news.
Snopes
False: U.S. President Donald Trump sold $2.3 billion worth of his Truth Social stock the day before his "Liberation Day" tariffs announcement on April 2, 2025.
There was no evidence, such as mandatory public filings or credible news coverage, that U.S. President Donald Trump sold his Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) shares before his April 2, 2025, tariffs announcement. However, on April 1, TMTG did reregister for sale shares belonging to Trump and several other shareholders, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). At the close of the market on April 1, Trump's 114,750,000 shares would have been worth roughly $2.3 billion.
#Conflicts
Reuters
Mostly False: NATO troops in Estonia for military escalations with Russia.
There are online posts claiming that NATO troops recently arrived in Estonia amid rising tensions with Russia is misleading. NATO and British officials confirmed the footage shows British troops participating in Estonia's Independence Day celebrations on February 24, 2025, and the military vehicles seen had already been in the country since at least 2024.
#Economy
Check Your Fact
False: Ford is moving four of its factories back to the US as a result of Trump’s recent tariffs.
A viral claim that Ford is moving four factories back to the U.S. due to Trump’s tariffs is false and originated from a satirical Facebook page called “America’s Last Line of Defense.” No credible sources or official statements support the claim, and fact-checkers like Snopes and Check Your Fact have debunked it.
Full Fact
False: A group of MPs have signed a letter calling for the UK to fund the construction of an airport in Pakistan.
This is misleading. Twenty UK MPs and peers did sign a letter to Pakistan’s Prime Minister calling on him to deliver on a promise to build an airport in Mirpur, but the letter does not mention the UK paying for this, and there’s no evidence this has been suggested.
#Healthcare
PolitiFact
False: Says Cleveland Clinic said, “Millions of COVID-vaxxed will die within ‘5 years.’”
A viral Facebook post falsely claimed the Cleveland Clinic warned that millions who received COVID-19 vaccines would die within five years. The claim originated from the unreliable site "Slay News" and misrepresented information about myocarditis; the Cleveland Clinic has refuted the claim, stating there is no scientific basis and that COVID-19 itself poses a greater risk for heart complications than the vaccine.
#Climate
AFP
False: AI-generated report disproves climate change.
A widely shared paper claiming to use Elon Musk's Grok 3 AI to challenge human-caused climate change has been debunked by experts and fact-checkers. The paper, promoted by climate change deniers, contains scientifically contested references and was published through a questionable review process. Experts warn that using AI in this way can falsely imply objectivity, especially when the AI itself, Grok, later disavowed authorship and called the paper "scientifically unsound." The journal that published the paper is not recognized by major ethical review bodies, and critics say the study repackages old, debunked arguments under the guise of AI neutrality.
#Climate
Tjekdet
Falsk: Tusindvis af kroner samlet ind til dreng, der ikke kan få kræftbehandling i Danmark.
En viral indsamlingskampagne, der hævder at samle penge ind til en femårig dreng ved navn Niklas, der lider af leukæmi, er et fupnummer. Den følelsesladede appel, der blev spredt på Facebook i Danmark og også blev set i Finland og Estland under forskellige navne, bruger AI-redigerede billeder og en falsk amerikansk baseret velgørenhedsorganisation ved navn »Life's Hope«. Eksperter har bekræftet, at drengen ikke findes, og at hjemmesiden og dens ledelse er helt opdigtet.
#WTF?! What The Fact of the week
Snopes
True: 'Mania' Patients in the 1800s spun around on a big chair to calm them down.
In the 19th century, psychiatric patients in the U.K. and Europe were sometimes treated for mania using a rotating swing or chair, designed to calm them through induced vertigo and exhaustion. This method, developed by figures like English physician Joseph Mason Cox and American physician Benjamin Rush, was believed to have soothing effects but often caused nausea, vomiting, and other adverse reactions. Though it fell out of favor over time, modern researchers have revisited the technique for its potential connection between the vestibular system and emotional regulation.
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