Fact-checking

CLAIM: Video shows Dutch farmers protesting in the Netherlands in 2022. 

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The video shows farmers in Brussels protesting falling dairy prices in September 2015.

CLAIM: A new study found cardiovascular adverse effects in a third of teens who received a second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, casting doubt on its safety. 

CLAIM: A Florida law allowing military veterans without a bachelor's degree to teach in Florida also extends to their spouses.

CLAIM: Denmark has banned COVID-19 vaccines for children.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The Danish Health Authority will no longer recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for those under the age of 18, but it hasn’t placed an overall ban on the shots for that age group.

CLAIM: Video shows former President Jimmy Carter in 1978 stating: “There is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.” 

AP’S ASSESSMENT: Altered video.

CLAIM: A photo shows Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein who was convicted of sex trafficking, with U.S. Magistrate Bruce Reinhart, the judge who approved the FBI search warrant for Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

CLAIM: A news report shows that monkeypox has been detected in drinking water.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The clip comes from an Atlanta-area news broadcast explaining how wastewater — not drinking water — can be tested for evidence of monkeypox’s spread.

CLAIM: An online job ad shows that all new employees that the IRS intends to hire after a funding boost in the Inflation Reduction Act will be required to carry a firearm and use deadly force if necessary.

CLAIM: A tweet from Donald Trump Jr. asks Trump supporters to stay away from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida because “we have many important people coming through the club and need to keep it clean.”

CLAIM: A video shows Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Fox News’ “Hannity,” saying that the FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was “not a raid.”

CLAIM: A video from a movie set in Ukraine shows the country is staging Russian atrocities against civilians. 

CLAIM: Image shows a fundraising email by former President Donald Trump sharing “nuke codes,” following the federal search warrant executed at his Florida residence.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: Altered photo.

CLAIM: A video shows an 80 million-year-old shark discovered in Awashima, Japan.

AP’S ASSESSMENT:  False. The video shot in Awashima shows a rare frilled shark.

CLAIM: The Earth is spinning faster and days are getting shorter, a change that is noticeable and cause for immediate concern. 

AP’S ASSESSMENT: Missing context. On June 29, the Earth recorded its shortest day since the adoption of the atomic clock standard in 1970, at 1.59 milliseconds less than 24 hours, due to an increase in the planet’s rotational speed.

CLAIM: CBC published an article with the headline: “Canadians’ trust in the media is at an all time high, study finds.”

CLAIM: A recent image shows former U.S. President Donald Trump looking very overweight and unhealthy. 

AP’S ASSESSMENT: Altered photo.

CLAIM: Video shows World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying he isn’t vaccinated against COVID-19.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The clip is from a documentary that shows Ghebreyesus championing COVID-19 vaccines and saying, at one point, that he had waited for better global vaccine equity before receiving his own shot.

CLAIM: A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that unvaccinated COVID-19 patients remain contagious for less time than those who were vaccinated or had received booster shots. 

CLAIM: A video shows an election worker in Clark County, Washington, improperly closing a ballot drop box 30 minutes early, making a voter put their ballot in a bag instead.

CLAIM: California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill “reducing penalties for sodomy with minors.”

AP’S ASSESSMENT: Missing context. The headline being cited this week is two years old, and is being shared with no information on the purpose of the bill.

CLAIM: Video shows outgoing Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta publicly admitting that his deputy president, William Ruto, will win the presidential elections on Aug. 9.

CLAIM: Photo shows a rally for former President Donald Trump in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 5, 2022. 

CLAIM: Video shows farmers in Ukraine working in a burning field amid the war with Russia.  

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The video of the burning field was filmed in the Crystal Township in Montcalm County, Michigan.

CLAIM: Bull shark sightings have been confirmed in the Great Lakes.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Bull shark sightings have been confirmed in the Mississippi River as far north as Alton, Illinois, but reports of the sharks being found in the Great Lakes are either hearsay or hoaxes, multiple experts told The Associated Press.

CLAIM: Video shows China’s military exercise in Taiwan after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit. 

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The video was filmed in November 2020, and shows a live fire exercise carried out by the Taiwanese army in Matsu, a group of islands off the country’s coast. 

CLAIM: At the Huntington Place ballot counting site in Detroit after the Aug. 2 election, at least 50% of ballots lacked evidence of signature verification, and large bags and coolers under tables caused a security issue.

CLAIM: U.S. Border Patrol agents are giving Social Security numbers to immigrants who cross the border into the U.S. without authorization.

CLAIM: Video shows the U.S. Navy near Taiwan ahead of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit. 

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. A spokesperson for the Navy confirmed to The Associated Press that the video was filmed on Sept.

CLAIM: A photo shows Melania Trump with a shovel at Ivana Trump’s gravesite.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The image has been manipulated to combine three separate photos.

CLAIM: An Irish news site published a headline claiming, “Monkeypox can live on door handles and toilet seats for 120 years and can infect anyone from 5 miles away.”

CLAIM: Monkeypox can only be spread among gay men.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. While the overwhelming majority of cases in the current outbreak in the U.S.

CLAIM: A congressional bill to ban certain semi-automatic weapons would “turn 150 million Americans into felons overnight.”

CLAIM: A Washington Post columnist published an opinion article with the headline: “To save democracy, Biden must cancel the midterms.”

CLAIM: The Atlantic magazine published a story with the headline, “The Quiet Courage of Biden’s Negative Growth Economy.”

AP'S ASSESSMENT: False. The Atlantic did not publish such an article and an image purporting to show a screenshot of the headline has been fabricated, a spokesperson for the publication confirmed to The Associated Press. 

CLAIM: A video of a helicopter setting treetops ablaze is proof that wildfires being attributed to climate change are actually set intentionally. 

CLAIM: Three doctors at one hospital system in Canada recently died from COVID-19 vaccine shots.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The hospital system for which the doctors worked called such claims “simply not true.” Public information about the deaths indicates that two died from cancer.

CLAIM: Video shows Kenya Deputy President William Ruto saying, “I have grown my career from corruption.”

AP’S ASSESSMENT: Altered video.

CLAIM: A headline on People magazine’s website reports that Klondike’s Choco Tacos were discontinued in response to the “woke mob” and recent allegations of “cultural appropriation.”

CLAIM: Video shows Koko, a famous gorilla who learned and communicated with sign language, delivering her “last words to humanity,” which involved saying people needed to “fix,” “help,” and “protect” Earth.