Your weekly fact-checks
#Elections2025
This week's election: 2025 Italian local elections
ANSA.it
Election Date: 09/06/2026
The 2025 Italian local elections were held across 468 municipalities, with the first rounds occurring between April and May, and run-offs on 8–9 June, alongside five national referendums. Voting dates varied by region, with exceptions in areas like Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Aosta Valley, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and municipalities that last voted in 2020 will hold elections in 2026 due to COVID-related postponements.
#TrumpCheck
Snopes
True: Tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted on X that U.S. President Donald Trump "is in the [Jeffrey] Epstein files," and that, "That is the real reason they have not been made public."
The post, which lacked supporting evidence, followed a political dispute between Musk and Trump over a proposed bill. Musk had criticized Trump’s legislation as a “disgusting abomination,” while Trump responded by suggesting the U.S. terminate Musk’s government subsidies. Trump later posted a vague rebuttal without directly addressing Musk’s allegation. Photos and videos of Trump with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell had previously been verified as authentic.
Lead Stories
False: President Trump posted on his Truth Social account on June 5, 2025, that Elon Musk always high on ketamine and should go back to Africa.
There is no evidence the post ever appeared on Trump's Truth Social account. Fake posts attributed to Trump and Musk spread across social platforms as their feud boiled over on Thursday, June 5, 2025.
Snopes
False: U.S. President Donald Trump is demanding people to "stop calling me names" and listing nicknames he "will not tolerate being called."
On May 31, 2025, a fake screenshot circulated on social media claiming Donald Trump posted on Truth Social demanding people stop calling him nicknames like "TACO" and "Don the Con," ending with, "Don't make me throw ketchup at the wall." However, no such post exists on Trump's official Truth Social account or archives, and there's no evidence he ever made the statement. The screenshot was fabricated, likely using an online generator.
#Politics
Snopes
True: Elon Musk posted a poll on X asking whether it’s time to create a new, third political party in the U.S. that would represent the "80% in the middle."
The post is real and publicly visible. The poll was posted and pinned to the top of Musk's verified account @elonmusk. Within two hours, it had received more than 1.3 million votes with 82.3% voting "Yes" to his question.
Agence France-Presse - AFP
False: CNN comments on the Kenya-Tanzania diplomatic dispute.
Activists and politicians from Kenya and Uganda recently travelled to Tanzania to show solidarity with opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who is facing treason charges. However, several of them were detained and deported, and two of the activists accused authorities of torture and sexual assault. A video published on social media claims to show CNN’s Fareed Zakaria weighing in on the events. But the clip is altered; the audio is AI-generated, and CNN confirmed it did not publish the video.
PolitiFact
False: Rep. Maxine Waters calls for the United States to grant citizenship to every undocumented protester in Los Angeles” 2025 protests.
The Los Angeles protests against immigration raids started June 6, leading to more than 150 arrests. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said in a June 8 video at the Metropolitan Detention Center that immigrants in general should have due process, be given an opportunity to present their cases and then be considered for U.S. citizenship. No evidence was found that Waters said all "undocumented" protesters in Los Angeles should be granted citizenship.
#Healthcare
Snopes
True: 15 doctors on a flight to Orlando, Florida, helped save a 67-year-old woman’s life after she had a heart attack while in the air.
In November 2003, 67-year-old Dorothy Fletcher suffered a heart attack on a flight to Florida and was saved by several cardiologists on board who were en route to an American Heart Association conference in Orlando. The story, confirmed by multiple archived news sources and the AHA, resurfaced on social media in 2025 and is true.
PolitiFact
Barely-True: One out of every $5 or $6 in Medicaid (payments) is improper.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported in 2024 that Medicaid’s improper payment rate over the previous three years was less than 5.1%.A health policy analyst who worked for the White House during President Donald Trump’s first term has said methodological shortcomings in the agency’s analysis could mean the rate is as high as 25%. But this is speculative. The vast majority of improper payments stem from documentation mistakes and do not fit the definition of waste, fraud or abuse. They also typically stem from health care providers’ actions, not beneficiaries’ abuse.
#Conflicts
Newschecker
False: Photo claiming to show climate activist Greta Thunberg donning a keffiyeh, which is a traditional Arab headdress, while sipping a cocktail, aboard the Gaza-bound aid ship that was intercepted by Israel.
Israeli forces reportedly seized the British-flagged aid ship Madleen, carrying 12 crew members including Greta Thunberg, after it attempted to break the Gaza naval blockade, prompting claims of interception in international waters. However, a photo shared by Israel’s foreign ministry showing Thunberg "safe and in good spirits" was found to be AI-generated, with tools like Hive Moderation and SightEngine confirming a high likelihood of it being fake.
#Economy
Agence France-Presse - AFP
False: IMF ranked Nigeria as fourth fastest-growing economy in 2025.
Posts on social media falsely claim that the IMF has projected Nigeria to be the fourth fastest-growing economy in the world in 2025. While Nigeria faces a cost-of-living crisis due to recent economic reforms, including fuel subsidy removal and currency devaluation, the IMF’s latest data shows many countries are expected to grow faster. The chart shared in these posts is misleading and based on selectively chosen data.
#Nordics
Tjekdet
Falsk: Et gjennomsnittlig 3F-medlem blir bare 61 år.
SF-leder Pia Olsen Dyhr hevdet feilaktig i en podkast at 3F-medlemmer har en gjennomsnittlig levealder på bare 61 år, og forklarte senere at hun hadde forvekslet dette med gjennomsnittlig pensjonsalder. Faktasjekker viser at 3Fere som fortsatt er i jobb som 60-åringer, typisk pensjonerer seg ved 66,9 år og har en forventet levealder langt opp i 80-årene, selv om de som går ut av arbeidslivet tidligere, ikke er med i noen analyser.
#WTF?! What The Fact of the week
Snopes
True: In 1956, a man landed a plane in a New York Street based on a bar bet.
In 1956, Thomas Fitzpatrick, after a drunken bet in a New York City bar, stole a plane from New Jersey and impressively landed it on a Manhattan street, later claiming engine trouble; he was fined only $100 as the plane's owner declined to press charges. Two years later, to prove the story to a skeptical bar patron, Fitzpatrick repeated the stunt, again flying from Teterboro Airport to Manhattan and landing on a city street, this time receiving a six-month jail sentence. Contemporary news reports and eyewitness accounts support the core events, though some details, like the exact nature of the bet, remain unclear.
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