Your weekly fact-checks
#TrumpCheck
PolitiFact
False: After U.S. vessel strikes in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, “drugs entering our country by sea are down 97%.”
From July 2025 to November 2025, Customs and Border Protection’s air and marine drug seizures dropped by 98%. The Coast Guard, which is in charge of most maritime drug interdictions, saw a 200% seizure increase in fiscal year 2025 compared with other annual averages. Drug seizures tell us only how many drugs are stopped from entering the U.S. The figures don’t show how many drugs are being sent to the U.S. or how many are making it in.
Snopes
False: U.S. President Donald Trump made 4,725 wire transfers to the late, disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for a total of $1.1 billion.
The rumor stemmed from a misunderstanding. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, said that his investigators had found 4,725 transactions to and from one of Epstein's accounts for a total of $1.1 billion, with no mention of Trump.
#Politics
Rumor Scanner
False: TIB in Bangladesh claimed that 21.4% votes were fake in the 13th Parliamentary Election
TIB said 21.4% fake votes in Bangladesh's Feb 12, 2026, election. TIB meant incidents in 21.4% of 70 sample constituencies; debunked by Rumor Scanner and TIB release.
BOOM Live
False: French President Emmanuel Macron accused the Indian Air Force of inefficiently handling Rafale jets, leading to a billion-dollar loss for France.
A deepfake video falsely shows French President Emmanuel Macron claiming PM Narendra Modi "begged" for a missile partnership and blaming Indian Air Force "inefficiency" for losing a billion-dollar Rafale deal, circulated on X with an ANI logo after Macron's February 2026 India visit.
StopFake
False: Kyrylo Budanov exposed International Olympic Committee members after an athlete’s disqualification.
Budanov has posted no such content on Facebook or any other public platform. These fakes are part of a broader effort to discredit Ukraine and its officials, casting the country as extremist and anti-democratic.
#Healthcare
PolitiFact
False: 90% of health care spending treats chronic disease.
A 2017 report calculated all health care spending on people with chronic illness, not on the cost of treating chronic illness alone. Most Americans have at least one chronic condition. Chronic illness includes any condition lasting longer than a year that requires restrictions or ongoing treatment. Some of the most common types are asthma, anxiety, depression, hypertension, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis.
Snopes
False: U.S. first lady Melania Trump and her son, Barron Trump, opened a free hospital for homeless people in early 2026.
A claim that U.S. first lady Melania Trump and her son Barron opened a free "Hope Medical Center" hospital for homeless people spread on Facebook in mid-February 2026, linking to ad-filled blogs with no credible backing. Fact-checks by Snopes, MEAWW, and Yahoo confirm it's fabricated clickbait using AI-generated images and text, part of viral hoax tales for revenue, with no major news coverage of any such facility.
#Conflicts
PolitiFact
False: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, after the killing of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
This viral image doesn’t show Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, after the killing of Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes, the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The image shows the logo of Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot. It also shows clues it was AI-generated, some buildings look distorted, and the smoke and the fire have unusual patterns; The fire is not consuming the structures and all the smoke is going in the same direction.
News Mobile
False: PM Modi admitted Pakistan shot down Rafale Jets.
The viral video claiming PM Modi admitted that Pakistan shot down Indian Rafale jets is digitally manipulated. The claim is false.
#Nordics
Tjekdet
Sandt: Minister hævder at være fortaler for dyrevelfærd, men stemmer gentagne gange imod vigtige forbedringer.
Den danske fødevareminister Jacob Jensen (V) skrev på Facebook, at SVM-regeringen overgår venstrefløjen på dyrevelfærd med 31 tiltag, men TjekDet fandt ud af, at hans parti har stemt imod alle otte oppositionsforslag om forbedringer af landbrugsdyrs velfærd siden 2022. Selvom regeringen vedtog to relaterede lovforslag og en bred aftale for 2024 (støttet af de fleste partier), bemærker kritikere, herunder eksperter, at den gentager tidligere idéer og mangler ambitioner på vigtige områder som grisungedødelighed og halekupering.
#WTF?! What The Fact of the week
Snopes
True: A dog was registered to vote by its owner, who submitted a ballot in the pet’s name in California's 2021 gubernatorial recall election.
A California woman, Laura Lee Yourex, registered her dog Maya to vote and cast a mail-in ballot in its name during the 2021 gubernatorial recall election, where the vote was successfully counted against recalling Gov. Gavin Newsom; a 2022 ballot was rejected. Orange County DA charged her with five felonies, including perjury and fraudulent voting in September 2025 after she self-reported and posted photos online.
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