Your weekly fact-checks
#TrumpCheck
AP
False: Trump, on cyberattacks in Minnesota: “I think that Minnesota is behind it. You know who’s behind it? Minnesota. Because they’re grossly incompetent. I think the governor is behind it.
Cyberattacks hit over 30 Minnesota water systems (later joined by Michigan) with no confirmed source, though security agencies had already warned that Iranian hackers were targeting US water infrastructure, and Trump blamed Minnesota and Governor Walz without providing evidence. Walz pushed back, arguing Trump knows who is actually responsible, blaming DOGE-driven cuts to CISA for leaving critical infrastructure exposed, and warning there's no plan for dealing with Iran.
AP
False: “The biggest thing, the worst thing that Biden did is allowing 25 million people into our country.”
The claimed figure is inflated: CBP recorded over 10.8 million arrests, not individual people, for illegal crossings from Mexico under Biden between January 2021 and December 2024. Because many people crossed repeatedly without consequence under pandemic-era asylum restrictions, the actual number of people is lower than the arrest count, a distinction Trump has repeatedly blurred while citing varying figures.
#Politics
Snopes
False: Several U.S. Senate Republicans reportedly suffered from diarrhoea in July 2026 after filming themselves eating salads to troll Dr Anthony Fauci after he criticised the party for food regulation cuts.
The rumour that Senate Republicans reportedly suffered from diarrhoea after attempting to troll Fauci originated from The Halfway Post, a publication identifying itself as satirical in nature. If salads truly had severely sickened the senators, news media outlets would have covered it, and their coverage would have appeared.
WebQoof - The Quint
False: Videos show BJP leaders commenting and supporting a crackdown on the CJP student protesters.
All the videos are AI-altered and do not show authentic footage of these BJP leaders commenting on the student protests.
#Healthcare
Snopes
True: The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump announced the end of a Medicare subsidy program aimed to help lower the cost of prescription drugs.
CMS confirmed it is ending the Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration, a programme introduced under Biden's Inflation Reduction Act to cushion prescription drug premiums, with the Trump administration framing it as ending an insurer "bailout." Reports suggest roughly 45% of enrollees could see premiums rise by $11-$20 a month, while about 25% see costs stay flat or fall and 30% face increases under $10.
Snopes
True: Skin care product line CeraVe, which belongs to French cosmetics company L'Oréal, faces six class action lawsuits because some of its products tested positive for a known carcinogen, benzene.
Six class action lawsuits, filed between March and May 2024, allege that L'Oréal's CeraVe benzoyl peroxide acne products contain unsafe levels of benzene, a known carcinogen, after independent lab Valisure found the compound degrading into benzene at body and storage temperatures. The cases were consolidated in the Southern District of New York by May 2025 and remain unresolved.
Thip Media
False: Diabetes is a psychological disorder.
Diabetes is a metabolic condition rooted in insulin production and function, not a psychological disorder; type 1 is autoimmune, while type 2 develops through insulin resistance linked to genetics, weight and inactivity. Mental health and diabetes are genuinely connected, since managing the condition takes an emotional toll and poor mental health can complicate care, but this "diabetes distress" follows the diagnosis rather than causing it.
#Economy
Agence France-Presse - AFP
False: Indonesia govt announced it would tax mobile phone users in 2027.
Indonesia faces a ballooning foreign debt that runs into hundreds of billions of dollars, but the Indonesian government has not announced a new tax on mobile phone users in the archipelago, contrary to a false claim circulating online. AFP cannot find credible government or parliamentary records on the purported tax, while a ministry spokesperson has dismissed the claim as "false".
Agence France-Presse - AFP
False: Indonesia considers a tax on bicycle ownership.
A graphic has circulated online falsely claiming to show a genuine government announcement that Indonesia plans to impose a tax on bicycle ownership. The posts feature a picture of a former transport ministry official who retired years ago. A government spokesman also rejected the claim.
#Technology
Snopes
True: Tennessee woman spends 6 months in jail after AI tool misidentified her.
In a March 2026 press conference, the Fargo Police Department insisted it charged Angela Lipps based on both the AI identification and other evidence, although the police department has not specified what that other evidence was and had already dismissed Lipps' charges months prior.
#Conflict
Misbar
Mostly false: Ukraine targeted and attacked an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea in this video.
The referenced video was actually published on June 29, 2025, and was reported by Russian media outlets as showing a fire that broke out aboard the tourist boat Merlion in the Peter the Great Gulf, off the Shkota Peninsula in Vladivostok, Russia. The claim circulated amid rising tensions between Iran and Ukraine after Kyiv claimed responsibility for targeting vessels in the Caspian Sea that it said were being used to transport military-related equipment and shipments between Russia and Iran.
#WTF?! What The Fact of the week
Snopes
True: More American soldiers died from disease than in battle during the Revolutionary War.
Historian Howard Peckham's widely cited research puts American Revolutionary War battle deaths at roughly 6,800, out of about 25,324 total deaths in service, with the remainder dying mostly of disease in camps (around 10,000) or as prisoners of war (around 8,500). This figure is now considered more accurate than the older Department of Defense/Veterans Affairs estimate of 4,435 battle deaths, which Peckham argues undercounted the toll.
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