I woke up this morning to see #JFKJRRETURN trending in the US and #PizzaGate trending over here in the UK. The QAnon movement is slowly taking over the internet. 25,000 tweets with #PizzaGate and 12,400 with #JFKJRRETURN (RTs included). So why are they trending? Let's have a look
If you're unfamiliar with Q terminology, JFK, Reagan and Trump are the only three presidents Q approves of. There's been a long-standing conspiracy in the movement that JKF Jr (who died in a plane crash in 1999) is alive and secretly working with Mr Trump against "deep state"
Some even believe JFK JR might be Q himeself - although this is disputed by some other followers - and spent some time "researching" this. They identified a guy who appeared in some of Mr Trump's rallies as JFK Jr. The man in questions is actually called Vincent Fusca
Here are some other words and hashtags that appeared alongside tweets with either #PizzaGate or #JFKJRRETURN Pretty clear which type of people are tweeting the hashtags. PizzaGate is the 2016 conspiracy that linked the basement of a DC pizzeria with "elite child abusers"
The JFK Jr hashtag was only trending in the US, while the PizzaGate one appeared in both the US and the UK. You might wonder why South Korea is there. It's because K-pop accounts have been "hijacking" right-wing hashtags for just over a week now
Anyway, the reason JFK Jr was trending is because a fake account under his name appeared and some Q followers went into a "told you so" frenzy. The account got tens of thousands of followers and then disabled/deleted itself. It's been coming and going regularly for months
Whoever's behind the account will probably continue reappearing occasionally to keep the conspiracy alive. For now, it's gone again. Needless to say, JFK Jr is DEAD. And he ain't coming back
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This video posted by the official Persian account of the Israeli government claims to show a member of the Basij paramilitary force on the streets of Tehran being targeted by a strike.
But it's AI-generated. Follow this thread to find out how we can verify that it's AI.
Through a reverse search, we can find this video (left) which was shared by @mamlekate on 15 March. It shows a Basij member near a number of tents on a street in east Tehran.
Once put side by side, we can clearly see that both clips show the same location and setting.
Next, we need to find the precise location of the video.
It was filmed at the 2nd roundabout in Tehranpars district, in front of a Melli Bank branch.
Location: 35.735354, 51.529137
We can see the same blue wall and adjacent brown building in the video in a Google image.
BBC Verify has pieced together verified videos, satellite imagery and expert views after a deadly attack near a primary school in Minab, souther Iran, which suggest the area was hit more than once "by multiple simultaneous or near-simultaneous strikes".
Satellite imagery by @planet shows at least five buildings with visible craters and black scorch marks in the area.
"[It] seems it was intentional to hit the area," a satellite analyst said, adding: "But we don't know what they intended to strike."
@planet Two videos filmed in the immediate aftermath of the attack show multiple plumes of smoke within an IRGC base and medical clinic near the school, as well as the school's top floor.
The location of smoke plumes in videos correspond to visible damage in satellite imagery.
THREAD: Misinformation in the Iran/US/Israel war - 28 February
This video, viewed over five million times, claims to show Iranian ballisitic missiles over Dubai.
But the clip is old. It was filmed in October 2024, showing Iranian missiles fired towards Tel Aviv at the time.
This viral video, viewed 4.5 million times, claims to show a location on fire in Saudi Arabia during the exchange of fire between Iran, Israel and the US.
But the video is from July 2024, and shows Israeli strikes on Yemen's Hudaydah port.
This video, viewed over a million times, claims to show a building in Tel Aviv on fire after Iranian strikes.
In reality, it dates back to October 2024 and shows a building on Korkidi Street in Tel Aviv engulfed in flames.
A group of pro-regime Basiji students attack student protesters sheltering inside the school of engineering at the Univeristy of Tehran during campus protests.
@anjmotahed @GeoConfirmed Violent clashes break out between students and pro-regime Basij members who attack protesters inside Tehran's Amirkabir University of Technology.