Your weekly fact-checks
#TrumpCheck
Snopes
False: An image shared online in 2025 shows an authentic copy of a letter depicting a nude woman that Donald Trump sent to Jeffrey Epstein as a 50th birthday message.
A viral image claiming to show Donald Trump’s alleged birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein is fake, as it does not match The Wall Street Journal’s description of the original letter in layout, text, or illustration. Snopes found multiple inconsistencies, including differences in text placement and drawing details, and confirmed that the image circulating online is not the authentic letter.
Snopes
True: U.S. President Donald Trump said, "I never had the privilege of going to his [Jeffrey Epstein's] island."
U.S. President Donald Trump did say he had “never had the privilege of going to” Jeffrey Epstein’s island, making the viral quote correctly attributed. He made the remark during a July 28, 2025, press conference with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Trump Turnberry in Scotland, as confirmed by footage from major news outlets.
#Politics
Africa Check
False: Former Nigerian governor Ayodele Fayose didn't said opposition leader Peter Obi would win 2027 presidential election.
According to some Facebook posts, Nigerian politician Ayodele Fayose has thrown his weight behind opposition leader Peter Obi ahead of the country’s 2027 presidential election. But Fayose says the quote attributed to him is “fake news”.
Newsmeter
False: Maldives displays PM Modi’s portrait on the newly constructed Defence Ministry building with a message of “surrender”.
The image has been digitally altered. Original images do not show the word “surrender” above the portrait.
Newsmeter
False: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee says that she wants the people to remain poor.
A viral video claiming West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said she wants people to remain poor is misleading, as her comments were actually directed at AITC party leaders and workers, urging them to avoid greed and live modestly. Full footage from the July 21, 2024, Martyrs’ Day rally and contemporaneous reports confirm she was advising her party members, not mocking the public.
Snopes
True: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said, "I was on Jeffrey Epstein's jet two times."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he flew on Epstein’s jet once in 1993 and again one or two years later "before anybody knew about Jeffrey Epstein's nefarious issues" regarding sex offenses with girls. He said he was traveling with his family on both occasions.
#Economy
PolitiFact
Mostly-True: “America had a trade surplus in ice cream in 2020 under President Trump's leadership, but that surplus turned into a trade deficit of $40.6 million under President Biden's watch.”
The U.S. ice cream trade surplus largely diminished in 2021 under former President Joe Biden and turned to a deficit in 2022. The change was driven mostly by a jump in imports, primarily from Italy. Exports have remained largely unchanged since 2020.In general, the U.S. produces far more ice cream than it imports or exports. In 2024, U.S. traditional dairy-based ice cream imports equaled less than 1% of domestic production and exports equaled slightly more than 1%.
#Healthcare
Agence France-Presse - AFP
False: Having an abortion increases a woman's risk of breast cancer.
Reproductive history plays a role in how likely a person is to develop breast cancer, but induced abortions have not been shown to increase the chances, contrary to claims made on a US podcast. Leading cancer and gynecological organizations say studies of health outcomes for participants tracked over many years concluded the procedure does not contribute to subsequent disease risk.
#PopCulture
Snopes
False: Megan Byron, wife of former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron, whose alleged affair was revealed by a kiss cam display during a Coldplay concert in July 2025, released a statement vowing the CEO would “feel” his actions.
A viral statement allegedly written by Megan Kerrigan Byron, the wife of former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron, mocked her husband after he was seen on a Coldplay concert “kiss cam” with HR executive Kristin Cabot, but Snopes found no evidence it was authentic. The post contained factual and spelling errors, lacked credible sourcing, and appeared to originate from fake social media accounts created after the incident.
#Conflicts
Newschecker
False: Viral incident shows an Israeli soldier who died by suicide.
A viral photo claiming to show an Israeli soldier who died by suicide actually depicts UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting, as confirmed through reverse image search and official UK Parliament sources. Fact-checkers concluded that the widely shared claim is false and the image was misused.
#Nordics
Faktisk
Feil: 96 prosent av alle førsteklassinger er på skolen til kl. 16.30.
Dette er ikke sant. Bare de som har en heltidplass på SFO kan i teorien være på skolen til kl. 16.30 hver dag. Ifølge grunnskoleinformasjonssystemet (GSI) har 62 prosent av førsteklassingene en slik plass.
#WTF?! What The Fact of the week
Snopes
True: A cereal company once offered 'Atomic Bomb Ring' with radioactive material as a promotion.
The promotion was real — for 15 cents and a Kix cereal box top, one could receive a ring containing polonium-210, the same deadly radioactive material used decades later to kill former Russian intelligence official Alexander Litvinenko. However, according to Paul Frame, the founder of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity, the ring did not contain enough polonium-210 to be harmful.
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