While authentic footage and images shared by journalists and local residents documented Russia's invasion of Ukraine (see: reut.rs/3vk9mx3), @ReutersFacts also identified mislabeled imagery
A video first uploaded to social media in Jan. 2022 showing lightning strike at a power plant is being shared online with misleading captions relating to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reut.rs/3t1JTpm
An old video of a large explosion at an undisclosed location has been shared online as evidence of a major development in Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine reut.rs/3LTFUnr
A video of a Russian flag flying in Odessa was not filmed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 reut.rs/34XXCFL
A video showing hundreds of paratroopers descending to the ground dates to at least September 2016 and is unrelated to the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine reut.rs/3vfhPBh
A video showing aircraft flying in formation over tall buildings has been falsely linked to the 2022 Ukraine crisis reut.rs/3sfEc7M
A photograph of a aircraft in flames which dates to a 1993 collision at the RAF Fairford airshow in the UK and has no link to 2022 Ukraine crisis was widely recirculated reut.rs/3HjqPrD
A clip of a nighttime explosion in a built-up area falsely linked to the 2022 Ukraine crisis was filmed in 2015 in a storage facility in the port city of Tianjin, China reut.rs/3K8CWK7
A video of a plane being shot down by Libyan rebels in Benghazi in 2011 has been shared by some social media users who claim it shows a Russian jet attacked by Ukrainian forces reut.rs/3HhEZJG
Footage of aircraft flying amid nighttime artillery fire was created with 3D animation and is not related to the conflict in Ukraine, despite claims on social media reut.rs/34Z0vpL
A clip being shared on social media that appears to show soldiers in a field under heavy incoming fire can be found online since 2018, predating the Russian attack on Ukraine reut.rs/3hgnCi6
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that despite being the "number one target" he plans to stay in Kyiv in the face of the Russian attack. However, photos of him in military garb being shared on social media were taken in December 2021 reut.rs/3hg5DrM
Some social media users are sharing the video of an explosion at a Ukrainian ammunition warehouse. The footage, however, dates to at least March 2017 and is unconnected to the Russian invasion of Ukraine reut.rs/3vhXpI1
A clip from the videogame Digital Combat Simulator has been miscaptioned online, with social media users claiming it shows a Ukrainian fighter jet shooting down a Russian plane reut.rs/3snw0lW
A clip of artillery fire from what looks like a military camp in low light is unrelated to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and dates to at least 2019, despite the clip being shared widely by social media users reut.rs/3M6eevm
Drone footage of armored vehicles involved in a conflict is being shared online with claims it shows Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The video, however, does not relate to the offensive and was filmed at least as early as March 2020 reut.rs/35vHRW4
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THREAD🧵: @ReutersFacts detected several unrelated and old videos and images falsely linked to the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6. Here are some examples of how misinformation often spreads online following a catastrophe:
A clip of a red wooden cabin being swept away by a storm surge was filmed in Greenland in 2017, not Turkey reut.rs/3JR3JgV
A video of a condominium building collapsing in Florida’s Miami-Dade County in 2021 was falsely shared as showing the impact of the Turkey-Syria earthquake reut.rs/3YwpvL1
Unfounded and debunked claims that the results of the 2020 U.S. general election, when Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump, saw significant voter fraud continue to circulate online as the country gears up for midterm elections scheduled for November reut.rs/3aw6lRH
This article provides information and context on how voter fraud in the U.S. is not a “widespread” issue as some online commentators claim, but made exceedingly rare by existing safeguards reut.rs/3aw6lRH
Ahead of the 2020 presidential election and afterwards, Reuters addressed multiple allegations by social media users claiming to show evidence of voter fraud. These cases, however, had logical explanations, such as miscaptioned imagery and footage taken out of context
Contrary to claims online, the WHO is not planning to strip member states of their sovereignty by implementing a ‘pandemic treaty’ during an annual meeting in May 2022 reut.rs/3wI2nya
A WHO spokesperson told Reuters that it’s up to the 194 member states to make “sovereign decisions”; it’s “the WHO’s role to support these countries in taking actions to protect and promote their citizens’ health”.
Users are also falsely claiming that the United States’ proposed amendments to the current International Health Regulations (IHR) would transfer U.S. sovereign authority to the WHO.
Users on social media have miscaptioned videos and photos claiming to show the "Freedom Convoy" protest in Canada over the government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for truckers. The thread below includes some examples.
One video actually shows footage from the “United We Roll" convoy in Ottawa in 2019, where people protested the federal government’s energy and environmental policies reut.rs/3L1uM7B
A clip of a truck convoy in Brazil is not recent, but dates back to May 2021 and was filmed during a rally in support of the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro reut.rs/3u4MGQB
The Metropolitan Police told @ReutersFacts that it has not launched a criminal investigation into Britain’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, nor are officers shutting down vaccination centres as a result reut.rs/3nKrrzD (1/5)
A crime reference number – CRN 6029679/21 - was issued after a complaint of an alleged crime regarding vaccine rollouts. A Met spokesman said that a CRN being issued does not automatically indicate a probe has been opened – nor does it mean that a crime has been committed (2/5)
Speculation was also fuelled by a separate video clip of a phone call recording with a Met call handler about the same CRN. However, a Met spokesman confirmed to Reuters that no investigation had been opened - and said the call handler had misspoken reut.rs/3fH0etg (3/5)