Fact-checking

CLAIM: A photo shows former German Chancellor Angela Merkel in handcuffs.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: Altered photo. A press photo of Merkel was edited to add the handcuffs around her wrists.

CLAIM: Military ballot numbers in Wisconsin mysteriously decreased from 9,876 in 2020 to 1,573 in 2022, an unusually large discrepancy.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: Partly false.

CLAIM: On his second day in office, President Joe Biden rescinded former President Donald Trump’s “executive order that helped combat child sex trafficking.”

CLAIM: Jennifer Lopez told Time that she will perform a Whitney Houston tribute at the 2023 Grammy Awards, saying Houston’s songs “fit my vocal range very well.”

CLAIM: A photo shows a police booking photo of U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock following an arrest two decades ago. 

AP’S ASSESSMENT: Altered photo. The image has been manipulated to place Warnock’s face in the police booking photo.

CLAIM: New figures from the United Kingdom’s Office for National Statistics shows that three of the country’s largest cities, London, Manchester and Birmingham, are now all “minority white.”

CLAIM: Climate activists have vowed to kill millions of dogs in an effort to “reduce their carbon pawprint.”

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Environmental and animal rights organizations told The Associated Press that they had not heard of any initiative to kill dogs in the name of environmental activism.

CLAIM: Election equipment in Arizona was not certified by an accredited testing lab before it was used in the midterm election.

CLAIM: Messenger RNA, or mRNA, is “an existential threat to humanity.”

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. mRNA is part of human existence and occurs naturally in everyone, carrying information for cells and allowing for proteins to be created.

CLAIM: A video shows a stadium of soccer fans singing in support of Palestine and against Israel during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. 

CLAIM: Apple CEO Tim Cook fired back a sarcastic tweet after Twitter owner Elon Musk accused the company of limiting advertising on the social media platform. 

CLAIM: A photo shows Lotta Volkova, the top designer for luxury fashion brand Balenciaga, dressed in a devil-like outfit while holding two red dolls.

CLAIM: Images showing a litter-strewn room are of “Japan’s dressing room after Costa Rica match” in this year’s World Cup.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False.

CLAIM: The plane carrying Germany’s national soccer team, which has a logo stating “Diversity Wins,” was forced to land in Oman because Qatar refused it entry for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. 

CLAIM: Over 40 million people in the United States have voted early in the 2022 election, surpassing 2018 and 2020, which means the ballots could be fake or fraudulent.

CLAIM: A proposal on the ballot in Michigan at the 2022 midterm election would give inmates the right to vote from prison.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Proposal 2 would make significant changes to the state’s voting laws, but it doesn’t propose making any changes to the voting rights of felons, experts told The Associated Press.

CLAIM: U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff said the Jan. 6 committee will “scrub” evidence before the Republicans take control of the House next year.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: Missing context.

CLAIM: A photo shows beer cans disguised as Pepsi that were smuggled into Qatar for the World Cup. 

CLAIM: Arizona’s Maricopa County announced that more than 540,000 voters visited voting centers on Election Day. It also announced that only 248,000 Election Day ballots were counted.

CLAIM: Video shows attendees of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar converting to Islam.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The video was not taken at the World Cup this month.

CLAIM: Images show black bags full of ballots being deposited at a tabulation center in Arizona’s Maricopa County in order to manipulate vote totals. 

CLAIM: Yavapai and Gila counties in Arizona are delaying the certification of their midterm election results.

CLAIM: A video shows a giant crocodile in a lake in Maine.

CLAIM: Canada is mandating psychiatric medication for those who refuse COVID-19 vaccines.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Canada has issued no guidance related to psychiatric medication and COVID-19 vaccines, according to the country’s public health agency.

CLAIM: A Time magazine cover from 1977 featured a photo of a penguin with the headline, “How To Survive The Coming Ice Age.”

AP’S ASSESSMENT: Altered photo.

CLAIM: The Respect for Marriage Act would allow the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the tax-exempt status of churches that only support marriage between a man and a woman.

CLAIM: A photo of a man in a black hoodie shows Anderson Lee Aldrich, who was identified by police as the gunman in a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs on Saturday.

CLAIM: Florida has halted COVID-19 mRNA vaccines for men ages 18-39.

CLAIM: A video shows billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates telling world leaders at the 2022 G-20 summit that “death panels” will soon be required.

CLAIM: The CEO of the bankrupt cryptocurrency firm FTX is the daughter of the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

CLAIM: A photo shows a large demonstration in Brasília, Brazil, on Republic Day to “protest the stolen elections.” 

CLAIM: Florida’s ability to report election results quickly during the 2022 midterms means states that have taken longer, such as Arizona and Nevada, are engaged in fraud.

CLAIM: A photo shows people in Brazil protesting “election fraud.”

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The photo, published by The Associated Press, was taken in March 2016 and shows people demonstrating against then-president Dilma Rousseff over allegations of corruption.

CLAIM: A legal filing shows that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, are involved with an Oklahoma diamond mining business.

CLAIM: U.S. aid to Ukraine was laundered back to the Democratic Party through the failed cryptocurrency exchange firm FTX.

AP’S ASSESSMENT:  False.

As Republican Kari Lake lost her gubernatorial bid to Democrat Katie Hobbs in Arizona on Monday, social media users baselessly suggested that the fact that incumbent state treasurer Kimberly Yee garnered more votes than Lake was a sign of manipulation.

CLAIM: Photos show Detroit election workers illegally delivering thousands of completed ballots for counting long after polls closed on Election Day.

CLAIM: Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan received 1,100 votes in a New Hampshire town with only 700 residents, suggesting fraud.

CLAIM: Video shows President Joe Biden wearing an outfit in the style of Communist authoritarian leader Mao Zedong to a diplomatic meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday.

CLAIM: Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates admitted that tens of thousands of early ballots dropped off on Election Day were mishandled when he said during a CNN interview, “We do not know where these are from.” 

CLAIM: Video shows an election worker in 2022 committing fraud in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, by filling out blank ballots and stamping them.

CLAIM: A graphic aired by Right Side Broadcasting Network showing inaccurate vote counts in Pennsylvania's gubernatorial race is evidence of election fraud. 

CLAIM: Only voting sites in conservative areas in Arizona’s Maricopa County experienced issues with tabulating ballots on Election Day.

CLAIM: Sexual assailants in the area around Texas A&M University are marking future targets’ homes by affixing zip ties to trash cans.

CLAIM: An image shows Arizona Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs in a ballot tabulation room a day after the midterm elections.

CLAIM: A new 10-foot wall in front of the Federal Reserve building in Washington is a sign that the building is preparing for protests in response to rising interest rates.

CLAIM: A clip of Sunny Hostin, co-host of the talk show “The View,” shows her admitting to illegally voting on behalf of her son during the 2022 midterm election.

CLAIM: A candidate winning an election with a majority of mailed ballots is proof of fraud.

CLAIM: Voters in Detroit were prevented from casting ballots on Election Day after officials mistakenly said they’d already voted by absentee ballot.