THREAD: Despite an internet shutdown, mass protests are continuing in Iran tonight. Follow this thread for verified videos.

A protester sprays "Long live the Shah" on a billboard in Punak Square, west Tehran.

Video: @Vahid

Location: maps.app.goo.gl/pSUhpjEM8jqy5D…

@GeoConfirmed x.com/Shayan86/statu… A protester in Kaj Square in the Saadat Abad district of west Tehran holds up a picture of Reza Pahlavi, exiled son of the late Shah.

Video: @FardadFarahzad

Location:

Verified by: @GhonchehAzad

@GeoConfirmed maps.app.goo.gl/BD7boiKhhjpC2H…

THREAD: Huge protests have broken out in Iran tonight after a call by Reza Pahlavi, exiled son of the late Shah. Follow this thread for verified videos.

A large crowd of protesters on Kashani Blvd, west Tehran

Location:

Video: @Negaarsh

@GeoConfirmed maps.app.goo.gl/BzdCwy2sAS9Pyc… A large crowd of protesters marches down 17 Shahrivar Street in the north-wrstern cito of Tabriz on day 12 of protests in Iran.

Video: @Vahid

Location:

@GeoConfirmed maps.app.goo.gl/29GFinEH5SpMSq…

THREAD: As the US launches military strikes on Venezuela, I'll fact-check all the viral misinformation in this thread

This video claims to show US strikes on the Fort Tiuna military site in Venezuela.

In fact, it shows Iranian missile strikes on Israel during the 12-day war.
This video falsely claims to show US strikes on a port in the Venezuelan capital Caracas tonight.

But the clip dates back to October 2024, and shows Iranian missile strikes on the Nevatim air base in Israel.

THREAD: Verified videos of anti-establishment protests in Iran on 2 January

Security forces grab a young woman off the street as another protester rushes to help her, filmed near Haft Hoz Square in east Tehran.

Video: @Vahid

Location:

@GeoConfirmedmaps.app.goo.gl/yBLaoxH545NYTY… Protesters gather outside a local police station in the southern city of Marvdasht as the sound of gunshots is heard in the background on the sixth day of protests in Iran.

Video: @bbcpersian

Location:

@GeoConfirmed maps.app.goo.gl/G4XYBd6VXN4T7T…

THREAD: There have been questions about this video published by Iranian media today, which shows a deadly Israeli strikes on Tehran's Tajrish district on 15 June, with claims that the video is AI-generated and fake.

But the video is real and can be corroborated. Here's why. First of all, the version that first went viral was very low-res and grainy, and that was the reason for some inconsistencies that could be seen in the footage.

The higher-resolution version, published later, looks more authentic.

But how can we confirm the strike happened?

THREAD: New high-res satellite images released by Maxar Technologies on 24 June show new signs of damage at the Fordo nuclear site following an attack by Israel a day after the US bombed the facility.

New craters are visible at tunnel openings and buildings have been destroyed.

https://twitter.com/Shayan86/status/1936814814397091974

At Iran's Natanz enrichment facility, two craters right above the undergound buildings housing centrifuges that were visible after US strikes on 22 June have now been covered with dirt.

Before: 22 June
After: 24 June

📷@Maxar

THREAD: Misinformation about Los Angeles protests

The claim in this viral tweet that US Marines have arrested the chief master sergeant of the California National Guard for opposing President Trump's orders is baseless and false.

RealRawNews is a notorious fake news website. This video has racked up millions of views and been shared by Texas Senator Ted Cruz and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

While there's very real footage of LA protesters setting multiple vehicles on fire on Sunday, this particular video is from the George Floyd protests in 2020.

THREAD: What we know about Elias Rodriguez

A LinkedIn profile in Rodriguez's name suggests he’s based in Chicago and has been working at the American Osteopathic Information Association since 2024.

The profile photo bears a resemblance to the suspect arrested at the scene.
Prior to that, Rodriguez appeared to work as a researcher at HistoryMakers, a research and educational institution based in Chicago that aims to preserve the African-American historical record.

This matches his staff information page on the HistoryMakers website.

THREAD: As India launches strikes against Pakistan tonight, misinformation is rapidly spreading online. I'll fact-check viral falsehoods in this thread.

This video, viewed over 160,000 times, shows Israeli air strikes on Gaza in October 2023. It's unrelated to tonight's strikes.
Be wary of online accounts using tonight's events for engagement farming by posting unrelated yet dramatic images and videos and falsely linking them to Indian strikes.

This video shows the Beirut explosion in 2020. It's unrelated to tensions between India and Pakistan.

While Elon Musk recommends sending around X posts so people can "learn the truth", here's a thread of viral misinformation on X about Hurricane Milton.

Alex Jones baselessly claims hurricanes Milton and Helene were deliberately started by the US government as "weather weapons".

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1843538784325083265

This post by one of X's most prominent conspiracy theorists, viewed 4.8 million times, suggests without any evidence that Hurricane Milton is a result of geo-engineering.

A Russia-based disinformation network run by a former Florida cop has published a new fabricated story on a fake news website called "Seattle Tribune".

It baselessly claims Ukrainain President Zelensky has secretly purchased a Mercedes 770 used by Hitler. It's nonsense.

https://twitter.com/Shayan86/status/1808308436477923676

The story refers to this doctored picture of a Mercedes 770 near the presidential office in Kyiv, posted on Telegram.

But that Telegram channel has never posted the pic, and the Mercedes in it has been lifted from the image on the right. Note the same reflections on both cars.

Thread: A viral story claims Kamala Harris was involved in a 2011 hit-and-run that left a 13-year-old named Alicia Brown paralyzed.

But the story is fake, and is most likely part of a pro-Kremlin disinformation operation run by an ex-Florida cop we've previously reported on.

https://twitter.com/Shayan86/status/1808308436477923676

The source of the story is an obscure website called KBSF-San Francisco News. The domain was set up on 20 August.

The website has all the hallmarks of a network of AI-powered fake news websites set up by Moscow-based former Florida cop John Mark Dougan.

Immediately after the Southport attack, baseless rumours began spreading online.

The main source of rumours has been a report by an obscure US "news" website that falsely claims the suspect is an "asylum seeker" named "Ali Al-Shakati", who "arrived in the UK by boat last year". Merseyside Police has confirmed that the suspect was born in Cardiff, and has yet to identify the 17-year-old.

The report also adds that the suspect was "on MI6 watch list", despite the fact that it is MI5, not MI6, that deals with domestic counter-terrorism cases.

THREAD: Fact-checking the Trump-Biden CNN debate

Trump said that Biden "inherited no inflation" when he came into office.

Inflation stood at 1.4% in January 2021. It rose significantly during Biden's presidency, hitting a peak of 9.1% in 2022. It was 3.3% in May. Biden claimed he's the only president in the last decade who doesn’t have "any troops dying anywhere in the world".

Three US troops were killed in a drone attack in Jordan in January.

During the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021, 13 US troops were killed in a suicide attack.

Thread: Baltimore Bridge collapse misinformation

Pro-Kremlin influencers claim the captain of the Dali ship is a Ukrainian.

But online records show a Ukrainian man was the Dali's captain from March to July 2016. The ship that hit the bridge reportedly had an all-Indian crew.





Claims by influencers such as Alex Jones and Andrew Tate that the Baltimore Bridge collapsed due to a "cyber-attack" have been viewed millions of times.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore has said the early investigation points to an accident, with "no evidence of a terrorist attack".

DC Weekly, a website founded by a former US Marine now living in Russia, has fuelled disinformation stories about Zelensky and Ukraine, including a fake story that he bought two luxury yachts with US aid money, later repeated by some members of Congress.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-… These are just a few of the disinformation stories published by DC Weekly about Zelensky and Ukraine recently.

They all follow the same pattern: an obscure YouTube video featuring false claims, an article on DC Weekly referring to that video, and viral posts on social media.

A vast Russian influence operation on TikTok involving 12,800 fake accounts spreading disinformation about the war in Ukraine to millions of users in Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Israel and Ukraine, has been uncovered by BBC Verify and @DFRLab.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-eur… Back in the summer, this video, featuing an AI-generated voice, racked up millions of views on TikTok and later on Twitter.

It falsely accused Ukraine's former defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov and his daughter Anastasiya Shteinhauz of buying a a €7m villa in Cannes, France.

The meme shared by Elon Musk about the pizzagate conspiracy theory is itself based on the completely false claim that James Gordon Meek, a journalist who recently pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography, had debunked pizzagate. Meek never reported on pizzagate.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1729511790638145918

The completely false claim that James Gordon Meek had debunked pizzagate was spread back in the summer by QAnon followers, like this blue tick account.

The New York Post has never published such a story about Meek. It's a totally fake image and a made up headline.

Thread: Israel-Hamas war misinformation - Day 45

This video, viewed over 3 million times, claims to show an Israeli settler run over protesters.

The video's from 9 September, during a protest in Tel Aviv against the government's judicial reforms, and involves no settlers.



This video claims to show two "terrorist" Palestinian journalists reporting near a rocket launcher.

The two are in fact Syrian journalists and the video is from 7 October. They reported retaliatory strikes against the Syrian government, after it killed 65 civilians in Idlib.

Thread: Israel-Hamas war misinformation - Day 40

Hannah Abutbul, an Israeli influencer, is being falsely doxxed as the woman in the misleading video of a supposed nurse at Al-Shifa hospital speaking out against Hamas.

I spoke to Hannah earlier. She's not the woman in the video.



This digitally altered video, viewed 13 million times, falsely claims to show an advertising in New York in which "support Ukraine" is replaced by "support Israel".

No such ad exists. The real ad right now is about the upcoming Trolls film, via @macrinawang @RitornellaNYC.

Thread: Israel-Hamas war misinformation - Day 37

A digitally altered image of Israeli actress Gal Gadot holding a sign against Zionism has been viewed a million times.

The original image shows her holding a "we remember" sign for Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2018.

This video, viewed over 7 million times, claims to show a nurse at Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital speak out against Hamas.

The woman in the video doesn't appear to have an accent from Gaza, the sound of explosions seems fake, and real staff at Al-Shifa don't seem to know her.