Thread by @mediawise

There's probably a lot of talk about the #AmazonRainforest flooding your timelines and we're here to set the record straight. People are saying the Amazon rainforest is on fire and no one is talking about this….well here we are talking about it ☺️

There's a lot of claims to keep track of, but here's a few that have been circulating. Check out this tweet:

https://twitter.com/negativiq/status/1164040361032859648?s=20

..and this one...

https://twitter.com/rrjohnson93_/status/1164246042369581060?s=20

and this one too.

https://twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano/status/1164584194439180288?s=20

Over here at @Mediawise one of our favorite fact-checking tools is Reverse Google Image Search. We searched the photos in that first linked tweet and they didn't quite check out 🥴

This is a photo uploaded to the @USDA @Flickr account taken in 2013 of the Stanislaus National Forest in California. Sooo definitely not the #AmazonRainforest

@USDA @Flickr It's worth taking a look at this CNN article that dives into the origin of a lot of these "Amazon Rainforest" photos you're seeing. Most are either not photos of the Amazon at all, or were taken years and years ago. cnn.com/2019/08/22/us/…

@USDA @Flickr Now you're wondering, "Is the rainforest actually on fire?" According to evidence we found in our keyword search, it looks like it is. Here's a pic from a NASA satellite. The smoke from the fires can be seen from space.

https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1164302110244126720

@USDA @Flickr According to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, it's a record-breaking year for fires in the #AmazonForest. .@Reuters reported there have been 72,843 fires detected so far, but the number continues to rise on the Institute's website.
reuters.com/article/us-bra…

@USDA @Flickr @Reuters Now to wrap things up, we had trouble nailing down a solid source to confirm or deny whether the #AmazonRainforest provides 20% of the world's oxygen. If you find a legit source on this, tag us!

@USDA @Flickr @Reuters TL;DR YES, the #AmazonRainforest is on fire. Most of the photos you've seen are fake/out of context. It is getting media coverage, quite a bit actually. Use caution before sharing posts with misleading elements!