Your weekly fact-checks
#Elections2025
This week's election: Norwegian National Elections
The Guardian
Election Date: 08/09/2025
The 2025 Norwegian parliamentary election held on 8 September resulted in the Labour Party, led by Jonas Gahr Støre, winning the most seats and the red-green bloc securing a majority of 88 seats, allowing Støre to continue as Prime Minister in a minority government. The Conservative Party fell to third place for the first time since 2009, while the right-wing populist Progress Party gained seats and became the largest opposition party under Sylvi Listhaug's leadership, with key election issues including wealth taxes, immigration and healthcare.
#TrumpCheck
Lead Stories
Mostly False: Trump won his appeal against the 34 felony counts and got his money back.
A New York appeals court on Aug. 21, 2025, threw out a $500 million penalty against Trump but upheld the fraud finding that he overstated his wealth. This ruling was separate from his conviction on 34 felony counts for falsifying business records related to hush money payments to Stormy Daniels.
Snopes
True: Donald Trump shared a meme with the caption, "I love the smell of deportations in the morning. Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR."
In September 2025, President Donald Trump posted a meme on his official Truth Social account depicting himself as Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore from "Apocalypse Now" with the caption, "I love the smell of deportations in the morning. Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR." The post sparked controversy and condemnation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, though Trump and his officials clarified that the statement referred to efforts against crime and immigration enforcement, not an actual war on Chicago.
#Politics
Snopes
True: Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's sex abuse held a news conference in Washington, D.C.
Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse held a confirmed news conference in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 3, 2025, alongside Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna to demand passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Eight survivors, including Marina Lacerda speaking publicly for the first time, and family members of Virginia Giuffre urged lawmakers to release Epstein-related files, while Massie moved to force a vote on the bill.
#Healthcare
Snopes
True: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's acting director, Jim O'Neill, said: "There are plenty of healthy, spare kidneys walking around unused."
O'Neill made the quote in a 2009 speech in which he argued that people should be compensated for organ donation to incentivize the practice.
PolitiFact
Barely-True: “Everybody can get” the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Food and Drug Administration recently approved COVID-19 vaccines for anyone age 65 and older and any person 6 months and older who has at least one underlying health condition that increases their risk of severe COVID-19 infection. People who are not in those categories aren’t banned from getting the shot, but they are likely to face additional barriers, such as getting a doctor’s prescription or paying for the vaccine out of pocket. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine panel has not issued recommendations for the vaccine. Its guidance may affect insurance coverage and over-the-counter access.
Snopes
False: In September 2025, Switzerland banned mammograms – a method of screening for breast cancer – citing radiation risks, false positives and other dangers.
Viral posts in 2025 falsely claimed that Switzerland banned mammograms, citing radiation risks and false positives, but Swiss health officials confirmed the procedure is not banned. Mammogram screening programs remain available across most Swiss cantons, with ongoing plans to expand access.
#Economy
PolitiFact
Half-True: “Groceries are down. Energy is way down. ... Was $4 and $5 for a gallon of gas.”
Under President Donald Trump’s administration, prices for some food items like eggs, bread, and fruit have declined, and overall energy prices fell by 2.6%. However, groceries at home rose just under 1% from December 2024 to July 2025, with increases in meats, coffee, dairy, and sweets, while electricity costs rose and gasoline prices remained about the same.
#Science
PolitiFact
False: Wind and solar energy infrastructure is essentially worthless when it is dark outside, and when the wind is not blowing.
Wind energy infrastructure doesn’t produce power if the air isn’t moving, and solar doesn’t generate power if the sun’s not out. But that doesn’t mean that either source of energy is "worthless" during those periods. Once produced, energy generated from wind and solar can be stored in batteries or in larger pieces of infrastructure such as reservoirs. Even without storage, wind or solar power is able to handle electricity demand in real time, adding to the power mix in states as diverse as Texas, California and Iowa.
#Conflicts
Agence France-Presse - AFP
False: Chinese fighter jet J-36 was observed flying above US fleet near Venezuela.
A digitally created video has been falsely presented online as genuine footage of a Chinese warplane flying over US fighter jets off Venezuela's coast as tensions soared between the South American nation and the United States. The clip contains visual errors and was originally posted in a Facebook account that publishes computer-generated military visuals.
Lead Stories
False: A Russian Su-27 jet intercepted a NATO F-15 trying to get closer to a Tu22m3 bomber over Ukraine.
The footage which was widely copied to other social networks carried the watermark of a TikTok channel that publishes aviation videos. The caption under that video claimed it was created in the "War Thunder" video game. However, older, mirrored copies of the video found online place the incident over the Baltic Sea in 2019 and did not involve a bomber at all.
#Nordics
Faktisk
Halvt sant: De siste fire årene (2021–24) har Norge opplevd en dramatisk negativ utvikling i ungdomskriminaliteten.
Ungdomskriminaliteten i Norge har økt de siste årene, spesielt voldelige lovbrudd blant personer under 18 år, og antall saker i Oslo har doblet seg siden 2022. Noen nyere data tyder imidlertid på en svak nedgang i rapportert ungdomsvold, men generelt sett er problemet fortsatt alvorlig, særlig for barn under 15 år som begår gjentatte eller alvorlige lovbrudd.
#WTF?! What The Fact of the week
Snopes
True: FBI visited 12-year-old who achieved nuclear fusion at home.
In 2018, 12-year-old Jackson Oswalt from Memphis achieved nuclear fusion at home, becoming the youngest person to do so, a feat verified by Guinness World Records. Following his accomplishment, the FBI visited his home to conduct a safety sweep with a Geiger counter, but there was no raid, and Jackson humorously confirmed he "remained a free man" after their visit. His project and success have since gone viral several times, often exaggerated in social media posts.
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