Your weekly fact-checks
4th of November - November 11th, 2022
#Ukraine
Pants on fire: President Joe Biden and Democrats "send a fortune to Ukraine but nothing for our children.
On a largely bipartisan basis, Congress has approved about $66 billion in assistance to Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia in February 2022. Proposals supported by President Joe Biden that won the support of only Democrats in Congress allocated $482 billion on behalf of U.S. children in 2021. One of the efforts from Democrats — an expansion of the child tax credit that was included in Biden’s American Rescue Plan of 2021 — paid out $92 billion to U.S. families with children, or 1.5 times the amount that the U.S. has spent so far on Ukraine.
(Source: Politifact)
False: Ukraine and Russia were already at war when Labor made its election promise to reduce electricity bills by $275
Peter Dutton’s claim the Ukraine war started before Labor announced its policy to cut household electricity bills by $275 is incorrect. Labor announced the policy on December 3, 2021. Russia invaded Ukraine 84 days later, on February 24, 2022.
(Source: Aap)
#Inflation
Missing context: No evidence Federal Reserve building is barricaded due to rising interest rates
A photograph showing the Federal Reserve building in Washington, DC is circulating online with claims that suggest the building is preparing for repercussions following rising interest rates. However, the building is undergoing renovations, according to a Fed statement.
(Source: Reuters)
Incorrect: The 2023 budget is illegal because it violated the Fiscal Responsibility Act on the deficit-to-GDP ratio.
It’s not illegal, but such a high debt level is bad for the economy, especially as much of the borrowed money will pay recurring bills and controversial fuel subsidies, according to an economics expert.While this clearly exceeds 3%, this does not violate the fiscal responsibility
(Source: Africacheck)
#Nordics
Falsk: Den grønlandske indlandsis er slet ikke ved at smelte. Tværtimod er den blevet tykkere de seneste år.
Som bevis for påstandene deler brugerne bag facebookopslagene også et billede af Grønland. Ifølge opslagene er det et satellitbillede, der er udgivet af den amerikanske rumfartsorganisation NASA.
Billedet er rigtignok udgivet af NASA, men det er ikke et satellitbillede. I stedet er der tale om et modelfoto fra 2015, hvor rumfartsorganisationen for første gang lavede et 3D-kort over islagene på Grønland.
Statistikkerne slår faktisk fast, at isen i Grønland svinder ind. Over de seneste 20 år er 5.000 gigaton is forsvundet.
(Source: Tjekdet)
Det stemmer ikke: Norge har flere omsorgsovertakelser enn andre sammenlignbare land
Når norsk barnevern diskuteres på sosiale medier, trekkes det ofte frem påstander om at det det er flere omsorgsovertakelser i Norge enn i andre sammenlignbare land.
Vi ligger noe under Sverige og Finland, som det er naturlig å sammenligne oss med.
I det norske system er alle omsorgsovertakelser som har vært oppe i nemndene definert som tvangsbeslutninger, selv om foreldrene samtykker.
Samarbeid med VG Gjennom flere år har Faktisk.no sett hvordan rykter og påstander om barnevernet får stor spredning på sosiale medier.
Det samme er hets og trusler mot offentlig ansatte.
(Source: Faktisk)
#US midterm elections
False: A Pennsylvania judge ruled that ballots received up until Nov. 14 will count in the 2022 midterm elections.
As voters went to the polls on Tuesday, misleading information about Pennsylvania’s vote-counting deadlines was picking up traction on social media.
(Source: apnews)
False: Using a Sharpie when voting can invalidate a ballot
The claim that ballots marked with Sharpies will be invalidated has been debunked repeatedly since the 2020 US election, but videos targeting midterm voters claim machines in Pennsylvania will not be able to process marks from the felt-tip pens. This is false; election officials and a cybersecurity expert said the votes will be accurately recorded -- and if they result in adjudication, that process is not associated with fraud.
(Source: AFP Factcheck)
#Portuguese
False: Was Elon Musks Twitter page suspended by one of his fired employees?
The rumor emerged on Twitter, whose new owner, Elon Musk, says he wants to turn it into the "most reliable source of information in the world". After having advanced with the dismissal of about half of the company's employees, one of the "dismissed" suspended the boss's account on the social network, shortly before leaving office. Another "fake-news story", don't be fooled.
(Source: Poligrafo SAPO)
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