Category Fact checks / debunkings

Fabricated story falsely claims Vladimir Putin destroyed an adrenochrome lab in Ukraine

This story was fabricated. It appeared on Real Raw News, a site that regularly publishes false, fantastical stories authored by someone using a pseudonym.

Real Raw News stories are authored by someone using a pseudonym and the site has a disclaimer saying it contains "humor, parody and satire," though the author has defended his stories as truth.

We found no credible news reports or other sources to corroborate the claims in this post.

QAnon promotes a number of conspiracy theories that invoke pedophilia and a Democratic cabal. QAnon adherents were present during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. These ideas also infiltrated political discourse as recently as the 2022 midterm elections.

We rate this claim Pants on Fire!

Fake: Posters in Stuttgart Airport Calling on German Government Not to Send Tanks to…

A doctored image is being circulated online. According to the Stuttgart
Airport press service, the monitor featured in the doctored image only
broadcasts commercial advertisements or periodic notifications to
passengers about security checks and operational changes.

How Russia is broadcasting fake Polish TV reports to scare their citizens

Did a Polish news channel really broadcast a weather map showing Poland expanding into Ukrainian territory? Or the TV report on how the Polish army was creating an LGBT paramilitary unit? Both of these video reports do feature the logo of a Polish public broadcaster. But there are a lot of clues that make it pretty clear that these 'reports' are fake.

January 23, 2023
Coordinated disinformation Fact checks / debunkings International community Misconceptions Poland Russia Russian propaganda Ukraine

Fake: The West Not Only Sending Weapons to Ukraine, But Also Manpower

The Washington Post has not written that the West is sending soldiers to
Ukraine. On the contrary, the article Russian media refer to focuses on
International Legion foreign fighters who voluntarily go to war - each for
his own reasons. None of the countries that are currently providing
military aid to Ukraine have expressed readiness to send troops to
participate in hostilities, nor has Ukraine ever asked that they do.

Fake: Ukrainian Linguistic Russophobia: Common Hare No Longer to be Called Rusak

A doctored video is circulating online making an outrageous linguistic
claim against Ukrainians. StopFake analyzed the video and found it to be
doctored. Russian propagandists edited a false claim into the ticker of a
legitimate news story from Ukrainian television.

January 23, 2023
Coordinated disinformation Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings Misconceptions Russia Russian propaganda Ukraine

Fake: Ukrainians Calling Russian Children in Gas Hoax

An audio recording is being circulated online as "evidence" of Ukrainian
"sabotage", however the recording first surfaced online at least in 2018
when it was widely circulated in Kazakhstan.

Fake: Draft Notices Handed Out to Minors in Ukraine

The document being circulated online purported to be a Ukrainian draft notice is a fake. This document does not bear any similarity to an official Ukrainian draft notice, it contains the wrong category names and does not contain pertinent information that is part of a genuine draft notice. The term military commissariat is repeatedly used in the fake document. However, as of 2021 Ukrainian enlistment centers are called Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers. An analysis of the seal used in the document in question also shows that it was doctored and is not the seal of the Bila Tserkva Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center.

Fake: Ukrainian Authorities Draining Dnipro River to Deploy Armed Forces to Left Bank

Russian media are claiming that water levels in Ukraine's main river, the
Dnipro, have fallen because Ukraine is draining the river in order to
deploy troops to the left bank. In fact, the drop in the Dnipro water level
is not connected to any Ukrainian activities, but is the result of Russian
shelling which damaged the shut-off valves at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric
Power Station.

January 22, 2023
Coordinated disinformation Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings Misconceptions Russia Russian propaganda Ukraine

Fake weather forecast accuses Poland of swallowing Ukrainian territory – Truth or Fake

Purported images of Polish state television have circulated on Twitter showing a national map of Poland's borders, but overpowering much of Ukraine's territory. The channel itself and the country's secretary of state have slammed this as the "Russian propaganda machine" trying to destroy Ukraine's positive relationship with Warsaw. We take a closer look in this edition of Truth or Fake, with Vedika Bahl.

January 20, 2023
Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings Faked news reports International community Media taken out of context Methods Misconceptions Poland Ukraine

Debunking an alleged anti-Ukraine poster in Paris metro station – Truth or Fake

Russian media and Telegram accounts have been sharing an edited anti-Ukraine poster, allegedly located in the middle of a Parisian metro station. Pro-Russian channels claims the poster shows French people telling Ukrainian refugees that they've overstayed their welcome. We debunk these claims in this edition of Truth or Fake.

January 19, 2023
Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings France International community Misconceptions Ukraine