Dataset Preview
The full dataset viewer is not available (click to read why). Only showing a preview of the rows.
The dataset generation failed
Error code: DatasetGenerationError
Exception: ArrowInvalid
Message: Failed to parse string: '3 days ago' as a scalar of type timestamp[s]
Traceback: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1831, in _prepare_split_single
writer.write_table(table)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/arrow_writer.py", line 714, in write_table
pa_table = table_cast(pa_table, self._schema)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/table.py", line 2272, in table_cast
return cast_table_to_schema(table, schema)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/table.py", line 2224, in cast_table_to_schema
cast_array_to_feature(
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/table.py", line 1795, in wrapper
return pa.chunked_array([func(chunk, *args, **kwargs) for chunk in array.chunks])
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/table.py", line 2086, in cast_array_to_feature
return array_cast(
^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/table.py", line 1797, in wrapper
return func(array, *args, **kwargs)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/table.py", line 1949, in array_cast
return array.cast(pa_type)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "pyarrow/array.pxi", line 1135, in pyarrow.lib.Array.cast
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pyarrow/compute.py", line 412, in cast
return call_function("cast", [arr], options, memory_pool)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "pyarrow/_compute.pyx", line 604, in pyarrow._compute.call_function
File "pyarrow/_compute.pyx", line 399, in pyarrow._compute.Function.call
File "pyarrow/error.pxi", line 155, in pyarrow.lib.pyarrow_internal_check_status
File "pyarrow/error.pxi", line 92, in pyarrow.lib.check_status
pyarrow.lib.ArrowInvalid: Failed to parse string: '3 days ago' as a scalar of type timestamp[s]
The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/src/services/worker/src/worker/job_runners/config/parquet_and_info.py", line 1455, in compute_config_parquet_and_info_response
parquet_operations = convert_to_parquet(builder)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/src/services/worker/src/worker/job_runners/config/parquet_and_info.py", line 1054, in convert_to_parquet
builder.download_and_prepare(
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 894, in download_and_prepare
self._download_and_prepare(
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 970, in _download_and_prepare
self._prepare_split(split_generator, **prepare_split_kwargs)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1702, in _prepare_split
for job_id, done, content in self._prepare_split_single(
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1858, in _prepare_split_single
raise DatasetGenerationError("An error occurred while generating the dataset") from e
datasets.exceptions.DatasetGenerationError: An error occurred while generating the datasetNeed help to make the dataset viewer work? Make sure to review how to configure the dataset viewer, and open a discussion for direct support.
Source_Url
string | Claim
string | Author
string | Date
timestamp[us] | Summary
list | Article
string | Topic
list | Image
list | Evidence
list | Label
string |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/klanbake-kkk-march-1924-dnc/
|
No, the KKK Didn't March at 1924 Democratic National Convention
|
David Emery
| 2024-08-19T00:00:00
|
[
"Internet memes falsely claimed that the Ku-Klux Klan marched in full regalia at the 1924 Democratic Convention in New York City, but there is no credible evidence of this occurrence."
] |
About this rating The anticipated opening of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19, 2024, prompted the revival of misinformative internet memes claiming that 100 years earlier, the Ku Klux Klan marched outside the 1924 Democratic convention in New York City in full, hooded regalia to make their white-supremacist presence known. This example was posted on X on Aug. 17: (@its_The_Dr / X) "The Democrat National Convention of 1924 that ran from June 24 - July 9 was referred to as the 'Klanbake,'" the caption of a photo of Klansmen burning a cross outdoors read. "The reason for the name was over half of those attending were Ku Klux Klan members. Another reminder of what party are the true racists." Another example was posted on Aug. 18: (@Lillibullero11 / X) Although very loosely based on real historical events, however, these memes were largely false, beginning with the images, neither of which had anything to do with the 1924 Democratic convention in New York. One shows an unrelated KKK event that took place in Chicago three years earlier; the other shows KKK members marching in a funeral parade in Madison, Wisconsin. Though historians confirm there was a strong Klan presence among the delegates at the 1924 convention (more about which below), it is not true that the KKK marched or held a rally at the convention. And though it's also true that a lone newspaper columnist jokingly labeled the convention the "Klanbake," the label didn't stick until 75 years later when retrospective articles about the convention began appearing in the early 2000s. What Happened at the 1924 Democratic National Convention The 1924 Democratic National Convention, which lasted an unheard-of 16 days and required 103 ballots for delegates to agree on a nominee, holds the record as the longest continuous presidential nominating convention in United States history. It was also one of the most controversial. The Democratic Party was deeply divided, with one of its two main candidates — New York's Irish Catholic Gov. Alfred E. Smith — representing the so-called "urban" faction of the party and the other, former U.S. Treasury Secretary William McAdoo, representing rural interests. McAdoo's constituency was anti-League of Nations, pro-Prohibition, anti-immigrant and pro-Ku Klux Klan. Smith's was the opposite. Attesting to the growing influence of the KKK in American politics at the time, a platform plank favored by Smith supporters that condemned the Ku Klux Klan by name went down to defeat after a raucous debate that degenerated into fisticuffs. On the 103rd ballot, the delegates finally nominated a dark-horse candidate named John W. Davis, who, in contrast to his GOP counterpart, Calvin Coolidge, would take a strong stand against the KKK during the presidential campaign (and Coolidge would win the election by a landslide). Despite the fact that the Klan had sunk its tendrils just as deeply into Republican Party politics (an anti-KKK platform plank similar to the one rejected by Democrats met the same fate at that year's Republican convention), the extent of the organization's control over that year's Democratic convention came to be exaggerated over time. Did the Klan actually hold a march or rally at the 1924 Democratic convention? There's no credible evidence that they did. It's well documented that Klan members were present inside the convention (as many as 300 delegates were card-carrying Klansmen, according to Arnold S. Rice's The Ku Klux Klan in American Politics) and aimed to influence its outcome, but Snopes found no mention of Klan marches or rallies at or near Madison Square Garden in contemporaneous press coverage, or in history books recounting the event. There is another version of events holding that a large KKK rally was held not in New York, but in New Jersey, to celebrate the defeat of the anti-Klan platform plank: In Madison Square Garden, New York City, from June 24 to July 9, a dispute during came up revolving around an attempt by non-Klan delegates, led by Forney Johnston of Alabama, to condemn the organization for its violence in the Democratic Party's platform. But Klan delegates defeated the platform plank in a series of floor debates. To celebrate, tens of thousands of hooded Klansmen rallied in a field in New Jersey, across the river from New York City. This event, known subsequently as the "Klanbake", was also attended by hundreds of Klan delegates to the convention, who burned crosses, urged violence and intimidation against African Americans and Catholics, and attacked effigies of Smith. In Madison Square Garden, New York City, from June 24 to July 9, a dispute during came up revolving around an attempt by non-Klan delegates, led by Forney Johnston of Alabama, to condemn the organization for its violence in the Democratic Party's platform. There's a grain of truth to this less dramatic version of events, according to which the Klan held a rally in New Jersey that was in some way connected with the convention. The city of Long Branch (which is not "across the river," but further down the shore from New York City) was indeed the site of a massive, multistate Ku Klux Klan gathering scheduled for the Fourth of July. In fact, it was billed as the largest Klan gathering ever, though actual attendance fell short of the projected 50,000 Klansmen and family members. Although attendees were kept abreast of the political drama unfolding at Madison Square Garden, the "Tru-State Klorero" wasn't convened for that purpose, according to The New York Times: Twenty thousand members of the Ku Klux Klan and their relatives celebrated Independence Day here with demonstrations against Governor Smith of New York and his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President. The event which drew men, women and children of the hooded order from all New Jersey and Delaware and from Eastern Pennsylvania had been announced as a Tri-State Klorero, the purpose of which was to demonstrate the patriotism of the Klansmen and their devotion to the cause of good government. Before the day's program had proceeded an hour, however, scores of men and women, and many children encouraged by their elders, had pounded to a battered pulp an effigy of Governor Smith, which the Kloreans were invited to attack at three baseballs for a nickel. Twenty thousand members of the Ku Klux Klan and their relatives celebrated Independence Day here with demonstrations against Governor Smith of New York and his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President. Anti-Smith outbursts aside, the July 4 Klan event was "largely a picnic," the Times reported, "with no features of unusual importance." Indeed, most of the day, leading up to the obligatory cross-burning ceremony after dark, was dedicated to standard KKK activities: There were speeches, Klan weddings and baptisms, and a parade through the streets of Long Branch of 4,000 hooded men and women, who were escorted through the city by two motorcycle policemen. There is no reason to suppose that the overlapping timing of the Klorero and the Democratic National Convention was anything other than coincidental. The convention began, as scheduled, on June 24. Had it lasted only the expected four days (which was, and still is, the normal length of a presidential nominating convention), it would have been over by June 28. The Klan affair had been scheduled for July 4. No one, least of all the planners of the so-called "Independence Day Klorero," could have predicted the convention would last long enough that it would coincide with the Fourth of July and beyond. Klorero aside, the record does show that the Klan was actively involved within the convention, lending apparent plausibility to the claim it was popularly known as the Klanbake. We find this asserted by many sources, including conservative author Bruce R. Bartlett, who wrote in his 2008 book, Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past: It's worth remembering that the Klan was probably at the peak of its political power within the Democratic Party in 1924. Indeed, its presidential nominating convention that year was so heavily dominated by it that historians often refer to it as the "Klanbake" convention. Origins of the 'Klanbake' That said, Klanbake isn't just a trope circulated among conservatives. The progressive magazine Mother Jones echoed the claim in 2016: 1924: Known as "the Klanbake," the longest convention in history (16 days) pits the Ku Klux Klan-backed William Gibbs McAdoo against New York's Catholic governor, Al Smith, in Manhattan. After a plank condemning the Klan is nixed from the platform, 20,000 Klansmen — including some delegates — celebrate in New Jersey by burning a cross and throwing baseballs at an effigy of Smith. And this reference is from a syndicated article published in 2012: 1924: The New York convention, also known as the "Klanbake," was the longest continuously running convention in U.S. history, with delegates taking from June 24 to July 9 to pick a candidate. The Ku Klux Klan, which was beginning to gain a foothold, had a strong presence at Madison Square Garden, which infuriated some attending Democrats. Crucially, however, not one of these references was published before 2000. In fact, during the entire 76 years between 1924, when the convention took place, and 2000, when it was first reported that the 1924 convention was popularly known as the Klanbake, there appear to have been no published mentions of that "fact" at all. Historian Peter Shulman and freelance journalist Jennifer Mendelsohn reported in The Washington Post in March 2018 that a search of all the contemporaneous press coverage of the convention they could find yielded only one instance of the word "Klanbake" — as an editorial joke — and would not used again to refer to the 1924 convention for another seven decades. They wrote: While the Klan presence at the Democratic convention was significant, it was not enough to control the proceedings. Yet members of the Invisible Empire were not exactly invisible. On June 25, 1924, the second day of the convention, a reporter for the young tabloid New York Daily News published a breezy, joking announcement from the Democratic convention hall in Madison Square Garden declaring that the "Klanbake steamed open at 12:45." An exhaustive search of contemporary newspapers, digitized and microfilmed, including papers published by the Klan itself, found not a single instance of another publication, including the Daily News, ever using this term again during their coverage of the convention or its aftermath. In the decades that followed, neither the lone book nor scholarly articles about the convention referenced this supposedly well-known "nickname," nor do any of the most-respected histories of the Klan. Yet today, this moniker has emerged as widely known shorthand for the convention — shorthand that conveys the mistaken message that Democrats were the party of the Klan in the 1920s. While the Klan presence at the Democratic convention was significant, it was not enough to control the proceedings. When the term "Klanbake" finally did reappear in print in connection with the convention (which happened for the first time in the March 8, 2000, edition of the New York Daily News, the same publication in which it had originally appeared), it was in the form of the assertion that "newspapers" (plural) had started applying the nickname while the convention was still in session. But again, we've found no evidence that the nickname was used in that context prior to 2000 in any publication other than the New York Daily News itself. In an email, Shulman told Snopes that no new evidence had come to light that lends credence to the Klanbake memes and reiterated that the memes misrepresent the extent of the Klan's influence over both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party in that era: The influence of the Klan on Republicans was much quieter but no less significant, as the 1920s Klan appealed to a much wider swath of the country than the earlier Klan of the 1860s had, or the Civil Rights Era Klan would later. Unsurprisingly, the Klan's impact on the Republican Party was also noted in press coverage of the time. Just as the Daily News had quipped that the Democratic convention was a Klanbake, Time ran a June 23, 1924, story in which the Republican convention was referred to as the "Kleveland Konvention." Shulman says the unchecked spread of the Klanbake meme illustrates the perils of putting partisanship before accuracy: [I]n an age of the internet, it's really easy for a initial embellishment to snowball into both an apparent authoritative fact as well as a partisan bludgeon. We should resist that temptation, be skeptical of partisan and ideological uses of history, and correct the record whenever a story doesn't check out. Finally, there are a lot of resonances between 1920s America and the country today. We have a lot to learn from those who stood up to religious, ethnic, and national bigotry then, and a lot to learn from those who found the Klan distasteful but who kept quiet or put political aspirations above moral ones. And that isn't a partisan story. [I]n an age of the internet, it's really easy for a initial embellishment to snowball into both an apparent authoritative fact as well as a partisan bludgeon. But it's a cautionary tale worth sharing. Editorial writers dubbed the 1924 Democratic and Republican National Conventions the "Klanbake" and the "Kleveland Konvention," respectively. David Emery Published Aug. 19, 2024 By David Emery David Emery is a West Coast-based writer and editor with 25 years of experience fact-checking rumors, hoaxes, and contemporary legends. Article Tags
|
[
"politics"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2024/08/klanbake_1924_democratic_national_convention.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/200/https://media.snopes.com/2018/03/rating-false.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600?url=https://media.snopes.com/2024/08/1924_klanbake.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600?url=https://media.snopes.com/2024/08/klanbake_1924_dem_convention_meme.png",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "This example was posted on X on Aug. 17:",
"links": [
"https://archive.is/f1Obn"
]
},
{
"quote": "Another example was posted on Aug. 18:",
"links": [
"https://archive.is/BjCI0"
]
},
{
"quote": "Although very loosely based on real historical events, however, these memes were largely false, beginning with the images, neither of which had anything to do with the 1924 Democratic convention in New York. One shows an unrelated KKK event that took place in Chicago three years earlier; the other shows KKK members marching in a funeral parade in Madison, Wisconsin .",
"links": [
"https://archive.is/HWsvr",
"https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM1902"
]
},
{
"quote": "Though historians confirm there was a strong Klan presence among the delegates at the 1924 convention (more about which below), it is not true that the KKK marched or held a rally at the convention. And though it's also true that a lone newspaper columnist jokingly labeled the convention the \"Klanbake,\" the label didn't stick until 75 years later when retrospective articles about the convention began appearing in the early 2000s.",
"links": [
"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-the-1924-democratic-national-convention-was-the-longest-and-most-chaotic-of-its-kind-in-us-history-180984590/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Despite the fact that the Klan had sunk its tendrils just as deeply into Republican Party politics (an anti-KKK platform plank similar to the one rejected by Democrats met the same fate at that year's Republican convention), the extent of the organization's control over that year's Democratic convention came to be exaggerated over time.",
"links": [
"https://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/analysis/back.time/9606/21/index.shtml"
]
},
{
"quote": "It's well documented that Klan members were present inside the convention (as many as 300 delegates were card-carrying Klansmen, according to Arnold S. Rice's The Ku Klux Klan in American Politics ) and aimed to influence its outcome, but Snopes found no mention of Klan marches or rallies at or near Madison Square Garden in contemporaneous press coverage, or in history books recounting the event.",
"links": [
"https://books.google.com/books?id=bOahalX-CxQC&pg=PA211#v=onepage&q&f=false",
"https://www.amazon.com/Ku-Klux-Klan-American-Politics/dp/1500412244"
]
},
{
"quote": "There is another version of events holding that a large KKK rally was held not in New York, but in New Jersey, to celebrate the defeat of the anti-Klan platform plank:",
"links": [
"https://archive.is/QONuZ"
]
},
{
"quote": "There were speeches, Klan weddings and baptisms, and a parade through the streets of Long Branch of 4,000 hooded men and women, who were escorted through the city by two motorcycle policemen.",
"links": [
"https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rally-of-the-ku-klux-klan-in-long-branch-new-jersey-news-photo/82091547#rally-of-the-ku-klux-klan-in-long-branch-new-jersey-photograph-april-picture-id82091547"
]
},
{
"quote": "Klorero aside, the record does show that the Klan was actively involved within the convention, lending apparent plausibility to the claim it was popularly known as the Klanbake. We find this asserted by many sources, including conservative author Bruce R. Bartlett, who wrote in his 2008 book, Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past :",
"links": [
"https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Race-Democratic-Partys-Buried/dp/0230610994"
]
},
{
"quote": "That said, Klanbake isn't just a trope circulated among conservatives. The progressive magazine Mother Jones echoed the claim in 2016:",
"links": [
"https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/07/trump-convention-history-klan-yippies/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Historian Peter Shulman and freelance journalist Jennifer Mendelsohn reported in The Washington Post in March 2018 that a search of all the contemporaneous press coverage of the convention they could find yielded only one instance of the word \"Klanbake\" — as an editorial joke — and would not used again to refer to the 1924 convention for another seven decades. They wrote:",
"links": [
"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/03/15/how-social-media-spread-a-historical-lie/"
]
},
{
"quote": "When the term \"Klanbake\" finally did reappear in print in connection with the convention (which happened for the first time in the March 8, 2000, edition of the New York Daily News, the same publication in which it had originally appeared), it was in the form of the assertion that \"newspapers\" (plural) had started applying the nickname while the convention was still in session. But again, we've found no evidence that the nickname was used in that context prior to 2000 in any publication other than the New York Daily News itself.",
"links": [
"https://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/dark-horse-dark-rider-democratic-national-convention-june-july-1924-chapter-28-part-article-1.866881"
]
},
{
"quote": "Unsurprisingly, the Klan's impact on the Republican Party was also noted in press coverage of the time. Just as the Daily News had quipped that the Democratic convention was a Klanbake, Time ran a June 23, 1924, story in which the Republican convention was referred to as the \"Kleveland Konvention.\"",
"links": [
"https://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/analysis/back.time/9606/21/index.shtml"
]
}
] |
false
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/wef-legalize-marriage-animals/
|
No, the World Economic Forum hasn't ordered governments to legalize marriage with animals
|
Izz Scott LaMagdeleine
| 2023-03-07T00:00:00
|
[
"The World Economic Forum has never ordered governments to legalize marriage or sex with animals, and has confirmed these claims are false."
] |
About this rating On March 1, 2023, the website NewsPunch published an article with the headline "WEF Says It's Time To Legalize Sex and Marriage With Animals To Promote Inclusion." The article claimed: The World Economic Forum has ordered infiltrated world governments to take immediate steps towards a controversial new initiative that should have every right-thinking person up in arms. The World Economic Forum is now calling for people to have the right to marry animals in an effort to promote diversity and inclusion. The World Economic Forum has ordered infiltrated world governments to take immediate steps towards a controversial new initiative that should have every right-thinking person up in arms. The claims were untrue. They appeared to be inspired by a proposed animal-abuse-prevention bill in Spain, legislation the article references. NewsPunch is a rebrand of Your News Wire, which was a notorious junk news site. In July 2018, Poynter described Your News Wire as "one of the most popular fake news publishers in the world." We reached out to the the World Economic Forum (WEF) about the claims. "This is a fake story that aims to discredit the important work that the World Economic Forum does on serious global challenges," spokesman Yann Zopf wrote in an email. "The World Economic Forum never made such claims and has no authority and also no intention to give orders to governments and other institutions or individuals." The WEF has long been the target of conspiracy theories. For example, the organization proposed a set of public health and economic proposals for countries to consider during the COVID-19 pandemic to create "a healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous future." Those proposals became the basis for "The Great Reset" conspiracy theory, which advocates unfounded accusations that international elites were using the COVID-19 pandemic to create a global totalitarian regime. The WEF has no formal authority over governments. "It must convince others to advance chosen causes and enact suggestions, rendering its position quite fragile," according to "Discrete Power," a 2018 book written by professors Christina Garsten and Adrienne Sörbom about the organization. NewsPunch's article claims a "pro-zoophilia" bill in Spain decriminalized having sex with animals. Snopes wrote about the proposed bill and found it's more complicated than critics claim. In February 2023, the lower house of the Spanish Congress passed a measure to amend a portion of criminal code regarding animal abuse. In our story, we wrote, "In large part, this controversy is caused by imprecise language. While many Spanish legal experts disagree that the law legalizes or decriminalizes bestiality, some have concerns that the new wording could, at least theoretically, make it harder to convict some individuals for sexual acts with animals." The Senate must approve the measure before it becomes law, and we'll update this fact check if, or when, that happens. The NewsPunch article also included a Twitter post from far-right commentator James Lindsay. "Pox on bestiality!" the post claimed above an image created to look like an online news article. The headline read, "Why Spain's new legalization of sex with animals is a triumph for inclusion and diversity, explained." The Pox "article" was supposedly written by someone named "Winston Smith." Pox on bestiality! pic.twitter.com/8t8jKe4qI1 — James Lindsay, tried lol (@ConceptualJames) February 26, 2023 Pox on bestiality! pic.twitter.com/8t8jKe4qI1 — James Lindsay, tried lol (@ConceptualJames) February 26, 2023 "Pox" is a parody of Vox, using its graphic design and website layout. A newsletter signup for "Future Perfect," an authentic Vox vertical, can be seen in the image. Winston Smith is the main character of George Orwell's "1984." Lindsay has made several similar "Pox" posts, including one with the headline, "Diversity plane crashes are a likely effect of diversity in aviation, here's why they're worth it." The NewsPunch article ends by suggesting a conspiracy theory that "global elites" would include pedophilia or zoophilia as part of the LGBTQ+ "rainbow movement." The theory uses the same rhetoric as "The Great Reset" conspiracy theory. False claims linking the LGBTQ+ community to bestiality are not new. In 2018, a conspiracy theory claimed the "B" in "LGBTQ" stood for bestiality. The "B" stands for bisexuality. In 2019, a Wyoming state legislator allegedly compared homosexuality to bestiality and pedophilia. The World Economic Forum doesn't have the power to order governments to do anything, anyway. Izz Scott LaMagdeleine Published March 7, 2023 By Izz Scott LaMagdeleine Izz Scott LaMagdeleine is a fact-checker for Snopes. Article Tags
|
[
"culture"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2023/03/new_wef_check.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/200/https://media.snopes.com/2018/03/rating-false.png",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "On March 1, 2023, the website NewsPunch published an article with the headline \"WEF Says It's Time To Legalize Sex and Marriage With Animals To Promote Inclusion.\" The article claimed:",
"links": [
"https://archive.ph/DGSpL"
]
},
{
"quote": "The claims were untrue. They appeared to be inspired by a proposed animal-abuse-prevention bill in Spain , legislation the article references. NewsPunch is a rebrand of Your News Wire, which was a notorious junk news site. In July 2018, Poynter described Your News Wire as \"one of the most popular fake news publishers in the world.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/02/24/spain-decriminalize-bestiality/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/category/junk-news/",
"https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2018/fact-checkers-have-debunked-this-fake-news-site-80-times-its-still-publishing-on-facebook/"
]
},
{
"quote": "The WEF has long been the target of conspiracy theories. For example, the organization proposed a set of public health and economic proposals for countries to consider during the COVID-19 pandemic to create \"a healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous future.\" Those proposals became the basis for \" The Great Reset \" conspiracy theory, which advocates unfounded accusations that international elites were using the COVID-19 pandemic to create a global totalitarian regime.",
"links": [
"https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/oct/11/liz-wheeler/great-reset-not-conspiracy-force-changes-economic-/"
]
},
{
"quote": "The WEF has no formal authority over governments. \"It must convince others to advance chosen causes and enact suggestions, rendering its position quite fragile,\" according to \"Discrete Power,\" a 2018 book written by professors Christina Garsten and Adrienne Sörbom about the organization.",
"links": [
"https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=25346",
"https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=25346"
]
},
{
"quote": "NewsPunch's article claims a \"pro-zoophilia\" bill in Spain decriminalized having sex with animals. Snopes wrote about the proposed bill and found it's more complicated than critics claim.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/02/24/spain-decriminalize-bestiality/"
]
},
{
"quote": "The NewsPunch article also included a Twitter post from far-right commentator James Lindsay. \"Pox on bestiality!\" the post claimed above an image created to look like an online news article. The headline read, \"Why Spain's new legalization of sex with animals is a triumph for inclusion and diversity, explained.\" The Pox \"article\" was supposedly written by someone named \"Winston Smith.\"",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames/status/1629859427317698562?lang=en"
]
},
{
"quote": "Pox on bestiality! pic.twitter.com/8t8jKe4qI1",
"links": [
"https://t.co/8t8jKe4qI1"
]
},
{
"quote": "— James Lindsay, tried lol (@ConceptualJames) February 26, 2023",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames/status/1629859427317698562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
]
},
{
"quote": "\"Pox\" is a parody of Vox, using its graphic design and website layout. A newsletter signup for \"Future Perfect,\" an authentic Vox vertical , can be seen in the image. Winston Smith is the main character of George Orwell's \"1984.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.vox.com/future-perfect"
]
},
{
"quote": "The NewsPunch article ends by suggesting a conspiracy theory that \"global elites\" would include pedophilia or zoophilia as part of the LGBTQ+ \"rainbow movement.\" The theory uses the same rhetoric as \" The Great Reset \" conspiracy theory.",
"links": [
"https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/oct/11/liz-wheeler/great-reset-not-conspiracy-force-changes-economic-/"
]
},
{
"quote": "False claims linking the LGBTQ+ community to bestiality are not new. In 2018, a conspiracy theory claimed the \"B\" in \"LGBTQ\" stood for bestiality. The \"B\" stands for bisexuality. In 2019, a Wyoming state legislator allegedly compared homosexuality to bestiality and pedophilia.",
"links": [
"https://www.them.us/story/b-is-for-bisexual",
"https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/wyoming-lawmaker-allegedly-compared-homosexuality-bestiality-pedophilia-n970711"
]
}
] |
false
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-taylor-swift-bruce-springsteen/
|
Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen performed together in defiance after Trump’s Truth Social attacks?
|
Nur Ibrahim
| 2025-05-21T00:00:00
|
[
"The claim that Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift performed together in defiance of Donald Trump's criticism is false; the images used in the Facebook post were from separate performances.",
"Springsteen criticized Trump during a concert in Manchester, UK, on May 14, 2025."
] |
About this rating In May 2025, a Facebook post claimed popular musicians Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift performed together in a concert after U.S. President Donald Trump targeted them for criticism. Trump had written a series of posts about them on his official Truth Social account. Trump's attacks prompted Facebook posts in mid-May 2025 from accounts like Rock N' Roll Mania and Rock & Roll Universe claiming that Springsteen and Swift banded together in a performance in "defiance" of his criticisms. The posts stated: When Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift took the stage together, it wasn't just a duet—it was a statement. As the two icons stood shoulder to shoulder, the arena erupted in thunderous applause, drowning out the noise of viral criticism that had trailed them online. Backed by the full force of the US Musicians Union, who declared their "solidarity" with the artists, this moment became about more than music—it was about unity, defiance, and respect for artistry. Fans wept, cheered, and held up signs reading "We Stand With You," turning the performance into a powerful rebuke of negativity. In that electric moment, Swift and Springsteen didn't just sing—they roared back with grace, grit, and soul.....full video below (Facebook user Rock & Roll Universe) The post on Rock & Roll Universe had more than 140,000 reactions and more than 7000 comments as of this writing. In the comments for both posts, the same accounts linked to articles on websites called newsanchor360 and karkpost that automatically redirected us to advertisements and unrelated pages. Swift and Springsteen did not perform a concert together in response to Trump's criticisms or for any other reason. The photographs in the above post don't show a real concert where they were onstage at the same time, but rather show the singers performing on separate occasions, including one of Swift performing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November 2023, and two of Springsteen performing in November 2022 and April 2023. As such, we rate this claim as false. A simple search of major newspapers and magazines showed that Springsteen and Swift did not perform together in the aftermath of Trump's comments. Had they performed together as an act of "defiance," it would have made headline news. The claim originated from a Facebook page known for posting incorrect stories and AI-generated images of famous musicians. The articles on newsanchor360 and karkpost also didn't provide video footage of this so-called "performance," linking instead to clips of Springsteen and Swift on different occasions. One of the clips was from Springsteen's concert from May 14, 2025, in Manchester, United Kingdom. In it, Springsteen said: In my home, the America I love, the America I've written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration. Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experiment to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring! The newsanchor360 and karkpost articles also linked to a YouTube video of Swift performing a cover of Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark." The two artists have long expressed admiration for one another. Like Springsteen, Swift has also been critical of Trump. Before the 2020 elections, she wrote on X: "After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? 'When the looting starts the shooting starts'??? We will vote you out in November." On May 16, 2025, Trump wrote a post on Truth Social calling Springsteen "a pushy, obnoxious JERK" and a "dried out prune of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied)," adding the rock star should keep his mouth shut until he reenters the country. In a separate May 16 post, he wrote: "Has anyone noticed that, since I said "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT," she's no longer "HOT?" On May 19, Trump criticized Springsteen again, this time for his support of Trump's Democratic opponent in the 2024 election, former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris: "HOW MUCH DID KAMALA HARRIS PAY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FOR HIS POOR PERFORMANCE DURING HER CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT? WHY DID HE ACCEPT THAT MONEY IF HE IS SUCH A FAN OF HERS? ISN'T THAT A MAJOR AND ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION?" One thing the newsanchor360 and karkpost articles reported correctly was that the American Federation of Musicians labor union stood by Swift and Springsteen in the face of Trump's condemnation. The union wrote in a statement on May 16: The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada will not remain silent as two of our members—Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift—are singled out and personally attacked by the President of the United States. Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift are not just brilliant musicians, they are role models and inspirations to millions of people in the United States and across the world. Whether it's Born in the USA or the Eras Tour, their music is timeless, impactful, and has deep cultural meaning. Musicians have the right to freedom of expression, and we stand in solidarity with all our members. The president posted scathing criticisms of the two musicians on Truth Social. Nur Ibrahim Published May 21, 2025 By Nur Ibrahim Nur Nasreen Ibrahim is a reporter with experience working in television, international news coverage, fact checking, and creative writing. Article Tags
|
[
"culture"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2025/05/springsteen.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/200/https://media.snopes.com/2018/03/rating-false.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600?url=https://media.snopes.com/2025/05/swift_springsteen.jpg",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "In May 2025, a Facebook post claimed popular musicians Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift performed together in a concert after U.S. President Donald Trump targeted them for criticism. Trump had written a series of posts about them on his official Truth Social account.",
"links": [
"https://archive.li/9xFxR",
"https://archive.li/qAuFF",
"https://archive.li/qAuFF",
"https://archive.li/0PIqg"
]
},
{
"quote": "Trump's attacks prompted Facebook posts in mid-May 2025 from accounts like Rock N' Roll Mania and Rock & Roll Universe claiming that Springsteen and Swift banded together in a performance in \"defiance\" of his criticisms. The posts stated:",
"links": [
"https://www.facebook.com/rocknrollmania2k21/photos/when-bruce-springsteen-and-taylor-swift-took-the-stage-together-it-wasnt-just-a-/1248401330257975/",
"https://archive.li/9xFxR"
]
},
{
"quote": "The post on Rock & Roll Universe had more than 140,000 reactions and more than 7000 comments as of this writing. In the comments for both posts, the same accounts linked to articles on websites called newsanchor360 and karkpost that automatically redirected us to advertisements and unrelated pages.",
"links": [
"https://archive.li/BHyAp",
"https://archive.li/EJRfx"
]
},
{
"quote": "Swift and Springsteen did not perform a concert together in response to Trump's criticisms or for any other reason. The photographs in the above post don't show a real concert where they were onstage at the same time, but rather show the singers performing on separate occasions, including one of Swift performing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November 2023, and two of Springsteen performing in November 2022 and April 2023 . As such, we rate this claim as false.",
"links": [
"https://people.com/taylor-swift-asks-fans-not-to-throw-things-on-stage-8401134",
"https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/bruce-springsteen-turn-back-the-hands-of-time-fallon-1234631741/",
"https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/bruce-springsteen-postpones-8-september-shows-health-issue-rcna103800"
]
},
{
"quote": "A simple search of major newspapers and magazines showed that Springsteen and Swift did not perform together in the aftermath of Trump's comments. Had they performed together as an act of \"defiance,\" it would have made headline news. The claim originated from a Facebook page known for posting incorrect stories and AI-generated images of famous musicians.",
"links": [
"https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=122159980526462883&set=a.122116454510462883",
"https://archive.li/Y68Eo"
]
},
{
"quote": "The articles on newsanchor360 and karkpost also didn't provide video footage of this so-called \"performance,\" linking instead to clips of Springsteen and Swift on different occasions.",
"links": [
"https://archive.li/BHyAp",
"https://archive.li/EJRfx"
]
},
{
"quote": "One of the clips was from Springsteen's concert from May 14, 2025, in Manchester, United Kingdom. In it, Springsteen said :",
"links": [
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZHWIYHlXOs",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZHWIYHlXOs"
]
},
{
"quote": "The newsanchor360 and karkpost articles also linked to a YouTube video of Swift performing a cover of Springsteen's \"Dancing in the Dark.\" The two artists have long expressed admiration for one another. Like Springsteen, Swift has also been critical of Trump. Before the 2020 elections, she wrote on X: \"After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? 'When the looting starts the shooting starts'??? We will vote you out in November.\"",
"links": [
"https://archive.li/BHyAp",
"https://archive.li/EJRfx",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sombuG7keQ",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/taylor-swift-endorsed-trump/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/taylor-swift-endorsed-trump/"
]
},
{
"quote": "On May 16, 2025, Trump wrote a post on Truth Social calling Springsteen \"a pushy, obnoxious JERK\" and a \"dried out prune of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied),\" adding the rock star should keep his mouth shut until he reenters the country. In a separate May 16 post, he wrote : \"Has anyone noticed that, since I said \"I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,\" she's no longer \"HOT?\"",
"links": [
"https://archive.li/jURX1",
"https://archive.li/qAuFF"
]
},
{
"quote": "On May 19, Trump criticized Springsteen again, this time for his support of Trump's Democratic opponent in the 2024 election, former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris: \"HOW MUCH DID KAMALA HARRIS PAY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FOR HIS POOR PERFORMANCE DURING HER CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT? WHY DID HE ACCEPT THAT MONEY IF HE IS SUCH A FAN OF HERS? ISN'T THAT A MAJOR AND ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION?\"",
"links": [
"https://archive.li/0PIqg"
]
},
{
"quote": "One thing the newsanchor360 and karkpost articles reported correctly was that the American Federation of Musicians labor union stood by Swift and Springsteen in the face of Trump's condemnation. The union wrote in a statement on May 16:",
"links": [
"https://archive.li/BHyAp",
"https://archive.li/EJRfx",
"https://www.afm.org/2025/05/afm-statement-on-trump-attacking-members-bruce-springsteen-and-taylor-swift/"
]
}
] |
false
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/turkey-earthquake-old-unrelated-photos/
|
Turkey Earthquake: Beware of Old, Unrelated Photos
|
Jordan Liles
| 2023-02-07T00:00:00
|
[
"The dog and hand picture in a tweet about the February 6, 2023 earthquake in Turkey and Syria was not taken during the event but was uploaded to i Stock in 2009 and had been misused in relation to other disasters."
] |
About this rating Only one of the four pictures is from the quake in question. On Feb. 6, 2023, a Twitter user posted four pictures that were purportedly captured in the aftermath of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on the same day. The caption of the tweet read, "Saddest pictures on internet today," and included hashtags for both countries. As of this writing, The Associated Press (AP) was reporting more than 7,200 deaths. That number was expected to continue to rise. There were plenty of pictures and videos that show the massive scale of the tragic devastation that resulted from the earthquake. However, only one of the pictures in this tweet was taken after the disaster occurred. First, we recommend our guide on performing reverse image searches that details how to find the origins of a picture. Such tools often help journalists figure out if a photograph is unrelated to a recent natural disaster, such as the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria. The Dog and the Child's Hand First, the picture of the dog lying down on rubble next to what might have been a child's hand was available on iStock by Getty Images. The page said the photograph had originally been uploaded on Jan. 4, 2019, more than four years before the early 2023 earthquake. The Turkish website Teyit.org published in January 2020 that the same picture of the dog had also misleadingly been posted in the past following other tragedies. The picture was originally captured by Czeck photographer Jaroslav Noska and dated back to at least 2018. We weren't yet able to uncover the true origins of the picture. The Associated Press also couldn't find an original caption for the picture, but concurred that it was old and had nothing to do with the new earthquake. The Crying Boy The second picture of the boy bending his knees while crying with his hands over his face also was available on stock photo websites in the years before the 2023 earthquake. It was credited to photographer Hanna Zapylaieva. One Twitter user corrected someone who posted the picture in the aftermath of the earthquake in Turkey, which resulted in that person deleting the tweet. Another user used the old photograph in a new tweet. According to the tweet's stats, it was seen nearly 500,000 times in around 24 hours. The user appeared to have good intentions and tweeted that he sought to fundraise for victims of the new tragedy. Still, the picture was unrelated to the early 2023 earthquake. Both the photos of the dog and the crying boy were also included in a TikTok video that was on track to be viewed 100,000 times. We weren't yet able to uncover the origins of when and where this picture was taken, but we know for sure that it predated the earthquake, as confirmed by an old page capture on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. The Old Man Holding Bread As for the picture with the old man crying while holding bread, some sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that it had the appearance of being more than just a few years old. According to the online Turkish newspaper T24, the picture was taken in the aftermath of the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Düzce, Turkey, on Nov. 12, 1999. The photographer was Abdurrahman Antakyalı. At least 845 people died in the Düzce disaster, according to BBC.com. The Woman Kneeling and Crying The final picture in the tweet truly was captured in the aftermath of the early 2023 earthquake. According to Getty Images, the photograph of the woman kneeling and crying was captioned as follows: "A woman cries as personnel conduct search and rescue operations in Diyarbakir, Turkiye after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hits Turkiye's Kahramanmaras, on Feb. 06, 2023." This picture was credited to photographer Esra Hacioglu Karakaya. A picture of a dog lying down on rubble next to a hand was shot years before the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria in early February 2023. Jordan Liles Published Feb. 7, 2023 By Jordan Liles Jordan Liles is a Senior Reporter who has been with Snopes since 2016. Article Tags
|
[
"culture"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2023/02/child_sits_earthquake_syria_2023.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/200/https://media.snopes.com/2018/03/rating-mostly-false.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600/https://media.snopes.com/2023/02/boy_crying_abronextdoor_tweet.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600/https://media.snopes.com/2023/02/saddest_pictures_sajid_abbasy.jpg",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "As of this writing, The Associated Press (AP) was reporting more than 7,200 deaths. That number was expected to continue to rise.",
"links": [
"https://apnews.com/article/politics-russia-government-turkey-middle-east-289196a793b1354f4e3be57f2afc890b"
]
},
{
"quote": "First, we recommend our guide on performing reverse image searches that details how to find the origins of a picture. Such tools often help journalists figure out if a photograph is unrelated to a recent natural disaster, such as the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/articles/400681/how-to-perform-reverse-image-searches/"
]
},
{
"quote": "First, the picture of the dog lying down on rubble next to what might have been a child's hand was available on iStock by Getty Images. The page said the photograph had originally been uploaded on Jan. 4, 2019, more than four years before the early 2023 earthquake.",
"links": [
"https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/dog-looking-for-injured-people-gm1089104002-292160653"
]
},
{
"quote": "The Turkish website Teyit.org published in January 2020 that the same picture of the dog had also misleadingly been posted in the past following other tragedies.",
"links": [
"https://teyit.org/kopeklerin-fotograflarinin-elazig-depreminden-oldugu-iddiasi"
]
},
{
"quote": "The picture was originally captured by Czeck photographer Jaroslav Noska and dated back to at least 2018. We weren't yet able to uncover the true origins of the picture. The Associated Press also couldn't find an original caption for the picture, but concurred that it was old and had nothing to do with the new earthquake.",
"links": [
"https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-dog-photos-earthquake-153786353166"
]
},
{
"quote": "The second picture of the boy bending his knees while crying with his hands over his face also was available on stock photo websites in the years before the 2023 earthquake. It was credited to photographer Hanna Zapylaieva.",
"links": [
"https://stock.adobe.com/images/boy-crying-among-the-ruins/265131626"
]
},
{
"quote": "We weren't yet able to uncover the origins of when and where this picture was taken, but we know for sure that it predated the earthquake, as confirmed by an old page capture on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.",
"links": [
"https://web.archive.org/web/20221204032350/stock.adobe.com/images/boy-crying-among-the-ruins/265131626"
]
},
{
"quote": "According to the online Turkish newspaper T24 , the picture was taken in the aftermath of the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Düzce, Turkey, on Nov. 12, 1999. The photographer was Abdurrahman Antakyalı.",
"links": [
"https://t24.com.tr/haber/duzce-depremi-nin-uzerinden-20-yil-gecti-uzmanlar-uyariyor-imar-barisi-kacak-yapilasmayi-olaganlastiriyor,847797"
]
},
{
"quote": "At least 845 people died in the Düzce disaster, according to BBC.com .",
"links": [
"https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63724714"
]
},
{
"quote": "The final picture in the tweet truly was captured in the aftermath of the early 2023 earthquake.",
"links": [
"https://web.archive.org/web/20230207074736/https://twitter.com/abbasy_sajid/status/1622782858267070464"
]
},
{
"quote": "This picture was credited to photographer Esra Hacioglu Karakaya.",
"links": [
"https://www.gettyimages.no/detail/news-photo/woman-cries-as-personnel-conduct-search-and-rescue-news-photo/1246847119"
]
}
] |
false
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/deceased-grandmother-in-resin-photo/
|
Does this image show a deceased grandmother encased in resin?
|
Jordan Liles
| 2023-06-21T00:00:00
|
[
"The image of an old woman encased in resin was originally posted by @urquwill, not Kelly Port, and was likely manipulated.",
"The tweet suggesting the woman was a deceased grandmother encased in resin for a coffee table was found to be false after analysis revealed the image was likely AI-generated."
] |
About this rating On June 19, 2023, a Twitter user posted a strange image of three people standing behind a table containing what appeared to be an old woman encased in a clear, hardened material. "This family encased their deceased grandmother in resin and use her as a coffee table," the tweet read. This family encased their deceased grandmother in resin and use her as a coffee table. pic.twitter.com/5LxtpXAXNM — Chris Ray Gun (@ChrisRGun) June 19, 2023 This family encased their deceased grandmother in resin and use her as a coffee table. pic.twitter.com/5LxtpXAXNM — Chris Ray Gun (@ChrisRGun) June 19, 2023 The tweet received more than 350,000 views in less than two days. A screenshot of the tweet was also shared on funnyjunk.com, 9gag.com, Reddit, and other websites. As commenters on the aforementioned websites mentioned, all signs pointed to this image having been manipulated by artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Instead of simply publishing a quick article for the readers who asked about this image, we decided to document our research process, providing multiple tips along the way that can help users figure out if a picture is real or fake. We wrote about some of these tips in a previous article. Weird Fingers These days, strange-looking fingers are often a dead giveaway of an AI-generated image. The old woman's fingers did not look normal, to say the least. One Reddit user commented, "It's AI-generated. Fingers are claw-like in [the] left hand and [the] right hand has 6 fingers." And they were right. AI-Content-Detection Websites Next, we scanned the picture on several different websites that claimed to be able to detect AI-manipulated images. Hive Moderation's AI-content-detection tool found that the image was 70.1 percent likely to have been generated by AI. In two further scans of the image, Illuminarty.ai found an AI probability of 96.5 percent, while fakeimagedetector.com said that it "looks like [a] computer-generated or modified image." Dog Instead of Old Woman In an effort to find any other helpful online postings of the image, we also performed a reverse-image search on both TinEye.com and Google's similar tool. These searches led us to an article published by Dexerto.com, as well as a similar image that showed a dog in resin on the table instead of the woman. Dexerto.com reported about a tweet from Kelly Port, who is credited on IMDb as being a visual effects supervisor on "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and other big-budget films. On June 18, Port had tweeted a similar image with the encased dog, captioning it with, "Encasing loved ones in acrylic resin, a great Father's Day gift!" As of June 21, the tweet had received more than 11 million views. so much fun encasing "loved ones" in acrylic resin! pic.twitter.com/uQ0AQvvmFq — Free Willie Urqs (@Urquwill) June 19, 2023 so much fun encasing "loved ones" in acrylic resin! pic.twitter.com/uQ0AQvvmFq — Free Willie Urqs (@Urquwill) June 19, 2023 As readers can see above, underneath Port's tweet we found what may have been the original posting of the picture that showed the old woman, which was published hours before the viral tweet at the top of our story. This apparent original tweet of the image with the old woman was posted by @Urquwill as a reply to Port. Second Image with Two Thumbs Up A user commented under @Urquwill's reply with the words, "a big ass thumb." @Urquwill replied again with an altered version of the old woman image, this time showing her with two thumbs up. pic.twitter.com/jUZwKzULTn — Free Willie Urqs (@Urquwill) June 21, 2023 pic.twitter.com/jUZwKzULTn — Free Willie Urqs (@Urquwill) June 21, 2023 We reached out to @Urquwill to ask questions about how the images were created. In response, the account told us that it had used Adobe Photoshop's Generative Fill feature with the prompt, "grandma encased in ice." No problem for my part, can't speak to what "@kellyport used to make the original imagine. My edits were just done in the new photoshop beta with AI generation. pic.twitter.com/6gO4kW1W44 — Free Willie Urqs (@Urquwill) June 21, 2023 No problem for my part, can't speak to what "@kellyport used to make the original imagine. pic.twitter.com/6gO4kW1W44 We also contacted Port to ask questions about the tools used for the dog image and will update this story if we receive a response. We invite readers to follow along as we document our entire research process. Jordan Liles Published June 21, 2023 By Jordan Liles Jordan Liles is a Senior Reporter who has been with Snopes since 2016. Article Tags
|
[
"technology"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2023/06/family_encased_grandmother_resin.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/200/https://media.snopes.com/2018/03/rating-miscaptioned.png",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "This family encased their deceased grandmother in resin and use her as a coffee table. pic.twitter.com/5LxtpXAXNM",
"links": [
"https://t.co/5LxtpXAXNM"
]
},
{
"quote": "— Chris Ray Gun (@ChrisRGun) June 19, 2023",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/ChrisRGun/status/1670915675966042113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
]
},
{
"quote": "The tweet received more than 350,000 views in less than two days. A screenshot of the tweet was also shared on funnyjunk.com , 9gag.com , Reddit , and other websites.",
"links": [
"https://funnyjunk.com/Four+progressive+hefty/nctbRap/",
"https://9gag.com/gag/axoYdQK",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/rickygervais/comments/14em557/whats_art_about_that/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Instead of simply publishing a quick article for the readers who asked about this image, we decided to document our research process, providing multiple tips along the way that can help users figure out if a picture is real or fake. We wrote about some of these tips in a previous article .",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/articles/464595/artificial-intelligence-media-literacy/"
]
},
{
"quote": "One Reddit user commented , \"It's AI-generated. Fingers are claw-like in [the] left hand and [the] right hand has 6 fingers.\" And they were right.",
"links": [
"https://www.reddit.com/r/rickygervais/comments/14em557/comment/joxw7zx/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3"
]
},
{
"quote": "Hive Moderation's AI-content-detection tool found that the image was 70.1 percent likely to have been generated by AI.",
"links": [
"https://hivemoderation.com/ai-generated-content-detection/?demo=image"
]
},
{
"quote": "In two further scans of the image, Illuminarty.ai found an AI probability of 96.5 percent, while fakeimagedetector.com said that it \"looks like [a] computer-generated or modified image.\"",
"links": [
"https://app.illuminarty.ai/#/image",
"https://www.fakeimagedetector.com/"
]
},
{
"quote": "In an effort to find any other helpful online postings of the image, we also performed a reverse-image search on both TinEye.com and Google's similar tool . These searches led us to an article published by Dexerto.com , as well as a similar image that showed a dog in resin on the table instead of the woman.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/articles/400681/how-to-perform-reverse-image-searches/",
"https://tineye.com/",
"https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1325808",
"https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/is-encasing-loved-ones-in-acrylic-resin-the-newest-terrifying-taxidermy-alternative-2184206/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Dexerto.com reported about a tweet from Kelly Port, who is credited on IMDb as being a visual effects supervisor on \"Spider-Man: No Way Home\" and other big-budget films.",
"links": [
"https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0691883/"
]
},
{
"quote": "so much fun encasing \"loved ones\" in acrylic resin! pic.twitter.com/uQ0AQvvmFq",
"links": [
"https://t.co/uQ0AQvvmFq"
]
},
{
"quote": "— Free Willie Urqs⭕️ (@Urquwill) June 19, 2023",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/Urquwill/status/1670808280518541312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
]
},
{
"quote": "pic.twitter.com/jUZwKzULTn",
"links": [
"https://t.co/jUZwKzULTn"
]
},
{
"quote": "— Free Willie Urqs⭕️ (@Urquwill) June 21, 2023",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/Urquwill/status/1671600678093873152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
]
},
{
"quote": "We reached out to @Urquwill to ask questions about how the images were created. In response, the account told us that it had used Adobe Photoshop's Generative Fill feature with the prompt, \"grandma encased in ice.\"",
"links": [
"https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/generative-fill.html"
]
},
{
"quote": "No problem for my part, can't speak to what \" @kellyport used to make the original imagine. My edits were just done in the new photoshop beta with AI generation. pic.twitter.com/6gO4kW1W44",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/kellyport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw",
"https://t.co/6gO4kW1W44"
]
},
{
"quote": "— Free Willie Urqs⭕️ (@Urquwill) June 21, 2023",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/Urquwill/status/1671637633561247746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
]
}
] |
false
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/electric-scooter-bike-abandoned-graveyard/
|
Video does not show electric scooter bikes abandoned in a ‘graveyard’ due to high cost of batteries
|
Jordan Liles
| 2022-11-30T00:00:00
|
[
"The video shows electric scooters abandoned due to a miscaption; it does not depict high battery replacement costs."
] |
About this rating On Nov. 28, 2022, the @Xx17965797N Twitter account tweeted a video with a misleading caption that claimed the clip showed a sea of lined-up electric scooter bikes that were abandoned because of the high cost of electric vehicle (EV) battery replacement. The tweet read, "Electric green scooters that have reached end of battery life. Due to the batteries being so expensive to replace, electric scooters are abandoned because disposing of them any other way is dangerous and expensive." This was not true, despite the tens of thousands of combined retweets and likes that the tweet received. The same video upload from @Xx17965797N was also misleadingly reshared by accounts including @PeterDClack, @JamesMelville, and @MillerForTexas. The former two tweets received thousands of engagements, despite the fact that the information pushed in the original tweet was not true. In cases like these where a caption is incorrect but the picture or video is real, we issue a fact-check rating of "Miscaptioned." The Origins of the Video Days before the @Xx17965797N tweet was posted, the @ElevaBrasilES account also misleadingly tweeted that the same video was shot in France. The tweet went up on Nov. 21 with an incorrect caption that read, "Green energy… Cemetery of electric motorcycles in France. Now designated as a 'biohazard zone.'" (Note: This mention of France reminded us of other rumors we've debunked in the past, in particular about two photos of other car graveyards. The two pictures showed false captions that claimed the cars had been abandoned due to the high cost of battery replacement, just like the video we're looking at in this fact check.) The oldest upload of the video that we could find came from TikTok user @smartsetting. The video was uploaded on Nov. 7 and by the end of the month had received nearly 5 million views. Based on watching the video, the scooters appeared to be parked in a parking lot near a basketball court, perhaps in a university complex or public park. Several blurry Chinese characters were visible on the side of the bikes. At the end of the clip, a tall building could be seen on the right-hand side of the frame. Other than those pieces of information, we didn't have much to go on. How We Researched the Rumor In order to find the truth behind this video, we first used Adobe Media Encoder to export a JPEG file for each and every frame from the video. The results of this export were 440 individual images from the 14-second video. We then performed numerous reverse image searches with these picture files using Google Images and TinEye.com. These reverse image searches provided several clues as to where other users had reposted the video. However, we did not find any further details from these searches. Next, we tried several searches on Google, Twitter, and YouTube with phrases such as "electric scooter China" and "electric bike graveyard China," among other terms. This helped to find several reposts of the video. The searches also showed results for many of the sites in China that are the final resting places for massive stacks of bicycles dumped by bike-sharing companies with failed business models. Perhaps the most striking video we found was titled, "No Place To Place——The Wonders of Shared Bicycle Graveyards in China."
|
[
"technology"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2022/11/a_rumor_said_a_video_showed_electric_scooters_in_china_that_were_abandoned_because_of_battery_costs.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/200/https://media.snopes.com/2018/03/rating-miscaptioned.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600/https://media.snopes.com/2022/11/this_image_comparison_shows_a_horizontally_flipped_version_of_a_frame_from_the_viral_video.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600/https://media.snopes.com/2022/11/this_image_comparison_shows_similar_logos_and_chinese_letters_for_the_company_name_meituan.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600/https://media.snopes.com/2022/11/this_tweet_was_the_main_one_that_drove_the_false_caption_about_the_video_of_electric_scooter_bikes.jpg",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "On Nov. 28, 2022, the @Xx17965797N Twitter account tweeted a video with a misleading caption that claimed the clip showed a sea of lined-up electric scooter bikes that were abandoned because of the high cost of electric vehicle (EV) battery replacement. The tweet read, \"Electric green scooters that have reached end of battery life. Due to the batteries being so expensive to replace, electric scooters are abandoned because disposing of them any other way is dangerous and expensive.\"",
"links": [
"https://archive.ph/urlAD"
]
},
{
"quote": "The same video upload from @Xx17965797N was also misleadingly reshared by accounts including @PeterDClack , @JamesMelville , and @MillerForTexas . The former two tweets received thousands of engagements, despite the fact that the information pushed in the original tweet was not true.",
"links": [
"https://archive.ph/nRggH",
"https://archive.ph/qGweq",
"https://archive.ph/Dvbq6"
]
},
{
"quote": "Days before the @Xx17965797N tweet was posted, the @ElevaBrasilES account also misleadingly tweeted that the same video was shot in France. The tweet went up on Nov. 21 with an incorrect caption that read, \"Green energy… Cemetery of electric motorcycles in France. Now designated as a 'biohazard zone.'\" ( Note: This mention of France reminded us of other rumors we've debunked in the past, in particular about two photos of other car graveyards. The two pictures showed false captions that claimed the cars had been abandoned due to the high cost of battery replacement, just like the video we're looking at in this fact check.)",
"links": [
"https://archive.ph/yKQII",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/electric-cars-france-battery/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/electric-cars-abandoned-france/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Next, we tried several searches on Google, Twitter, and YouTube with phrases such as \"electric scooter China\" and \"electric bike graveyard China,\" among other terms. This helped to find several reposts of the video. The searches also showed results for many of the sites in China that are the final resting places for massive stacks of bicycles dumped by bike-sharing companies with failed business models . Perhaps the most striking video we found was titled, \"No Place To Place——The Wonders of Shared Bicycle Graveyards in China.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gbI2Bo2xKCc",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmV5lBEYEMU",
"https://twitter.com/mbrennanchina/status/1069940186786775042",
"https://techxplore.com/news/2021-04-graveyard-bikes-china-share-cycle-scheme.html",
"https://twitter.com/Atomicfact/status/1029352130086424576",
"https://twitter.com/BBC/status/998231947359997952",
"https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/graveyard-of-the-bikes-chinas-failed-share-cycle-scheme-from-above",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDfLWFv3ixk"
]
},
{
"quote": "At one point in our research, we stumbled upon an AFP video from 2021 that appeared to show the same yellow color and model of electric scooter bike. The caption for the clip said that it was captured \"outside the city of Shenyang.\" The end of the video showed a stadium with special colors for seating zones.",
"links": [
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N1Qxs_KOYo",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkSUN-FSuNI"
]
},
{
"quote": "After an exhaustive search, we were able to find this same stadium by using the map tools on the Chinese website Baidu.com . Unlike Google Maps, Baidu.com has street-level views of nearby roads. However, this part of our effort wasn't very helpful. It remained unclear if this was the same location where the viral clip was shot.",
"links": [
"https://map.baidu.com/search/%E6%B2%88%E9%98%B3%E5%B8%82/@13738807.753462834,5085571.144159179,17.47z/maptype%3DB_EARTH_MAP?querytype=cur&wd=%E6%B2%88%E9%98%B3%E5%B8%82&da_src=shareurl"
]
},
{
"quote": "In the end, it was going back to TikTok that helped us find the origins of the video. A search on TikTok for \"electric share bike China\" brought us to this video from @evstevepan. The video showed the same kind of yellow electric scooter bike with a similar logo. A scan of the logo using a mobile phone camera and Google Translate revealed the company name Meituan, which is known as an \"all-encompassing platform for local services.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.tiktok.com/@evstevepan/video/7147290373868506411"
]
},
{
"quote": "We then searched the internet for Meituan and electric scooters, which produced plenty of pictures on Shutterstock.com. For a moment, the two large characters on the side of the scooter didn't seem to match those from the viral video. We then horizontally flipped a still-frame from the viral video, which led us to discover that it had been mirrored, meaning that all words and numbers were backward.",
"links": [
"https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/zhongshan-guangdong-chinamay-19-2020meituan-electric-1736816009"
]
},
{
"quote": "In April 2018, news broke that Meituan had purchased the company Mobike for $2.7 billion. According to the story, Mobike is \"a Chinese startup that helped pioneer bike-sharing services worldwide.\"",
"links": [
"https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/03/chinese-bike-sharing-pioneer-mobike-sold-to-ambitious-meituan-dianping-for-2-7b/"
]
},
{
"quote": "But by November of that same year, TechCrunch reported that Meituan would be \"[walking] away from bike-sharing and ride-hailing,\" as there wasn't enough demand from customers for the supply of its bike-sharing venture:",
"links": [
"https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/23/meituan-scale-back-ride-hailing-and-bike-sharing/"
]
},
{
"quote": "In sum, social media users falsely claimed that a video showed tons of lined-up electric scooter bikes that were abandoned in a \"graveyard\" due to the high cost of EV battery replacement. All evidence pointed to a simple answer: supply and demand. The number of electric scooter bikes and bicycles far outnumbered the number of people who requested to use them (or else they went missing or were stolen ), which resulted in downsizing by some companies, and the closure of others. The clip appears to have been shot in China, although its precise location is unclear.",
"links": [
"https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3103908/what-happens-discarded-bikes-chinas-sharing-boom-taxpayers",
"https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2099293/chinese-bike-share-firm-closes-after-90-cent-cycles-stolen"
]
}
] |
false
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/drone-video-bear-snow/
|
Is Drone Video of a Bear Chasing a Man in Snow Real?
|
Jordan Liles
| 2022-01-26T00:00:00
|
[
"The video showing a man being chased by a bear was initially suspected of containing CGI elements but was later confirmed to be real, with the bear being a trained animal named Tom."
] |
About this rating The video was real. The bear, whose name is Tom, was said to have been trained since birth. On Jan. 26, 2022, Reddit user u/namey_mcnameson posted a video that purportedly showed the view of a drone flying between trees in a snowy wilderness to reveal a man being chased by what might have been a grizzly bear. The caption of the video on the r/Unexpected subreddit read: "Such a lovely day to test out my drone." Our research for this story took several twists and turns. At one point, we believed that we had uncovered clear evidence that the video had been at least partially faked with visual effects. However, we later received an email and proof that showed the bear in the video was a real, trained animal. The top comment said: "WE NEED ANSWERS!" Some commenters initially believed that the video might be the work of a CGI artist. "The snow doesn't flick up very naturally from the footsteps," u/wealllovethrowaways said. "It's very likely CGI, but it's damn good CGI." [caption id="attachment_392061" align="aligncenter" width="1045"] Close-up of the bear at 418x480, blown up to 1200 pixels in height. (Courtesy: Reddit)[/caption] The best available resolution for the video on Reddit appeared to be 418x480, which was quite low. If the video did contain some CGI work, one good strategy to hide that fact might be to lower the quality of the clip to make it more difficult for viewers to study details. [caption id="attachment_392062" align="aligncenter" width="1045"] The moment the bear looked back. (Courtesy: Reddit)[/caption] One user believed it to be animation created with the graphics software Blender. Others discussed just how fast bears can run, saying that the person in the video would have been bear food within seconds. "That bear is a paid actor," joked another person. However, some users weren't so sure it was fake. "I'm under the impression that this is a real video without audio, but the audio was added for comedic effect," a commenter said. That comment had more than 200 likes in agreement with believing the video was real. Another person concurred: "I second this theory." Speaking of theories, several people also mentioned a one about it maybe being a "trained bear." The sound in the clip initially appeared to have been recreated and was not the original audio. The audio from drones can often sound like little more than loud whirring or buzzing from the mechanics that enable it to fly. The one thing that all of the Reddit comments had in common was that no one was initially able to uncover definitive evidence of the origins of the supposed drone video. Hours after it was posted to Reddit, the moderators of r/Unexpected unexpectedly removed the thread with the video. Sometime after that, the video was later tweeted by @TheoShantonas with the caption, "Lovely day to test out a drone": From there, it was quote tweeted by various Twitter accounts such as "The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz," who copied in wildlife expert Ron Magill. Magill responded: "OMG!!! Great video but I find it hard to believe that it wasn't carefully 'produced.' No way that guy could outrun a serious bear in the snow!" We found no further information about the video on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or the Russian-language social media website VK.com (V Kontakte). It was at that point that we tried an old trick. After downloading the video from Reddit, we used the Adobe product Media Encoder to take a screenshot of the first frame of the video. We then tried a reverse image search on Google Images. Amazingly, it found one result that read, "Завтрак убегает | Пикабу." The video had been posted on pikabu.ru just one day before it appeared on Reddit. In the pikabu.ru version of the video, a watermark for TikTok referred to a user named @standartantares. We then visited the TikTok channel for @standartantares and found that the video had been posted on Jan. 24, two days before it showed up on Reddit. In the comments, the person who posted it said that the audio was a "voiceover." The video's hashtag #krd may have referred to a Russian YouTube account named KRD FPV that posted another drone video shot in the snow on Jan. 22. No videos on the YouTube channel showed a bear. On the TikTok channel, we found similar drone videos, but only the one with a bear. Two videos appeared to show quite the amazing drone shots of an airplane at sunrise or sunset. Were they real? The hashtags on one of the videos were "#mavic" and "#djv," which appeared to refer to the line of DJI Mavic drones and the DJV visual effects review software that's intended "for VFX, animation, and film production." Another hashtag in one of the videos said: "#magic." In the comments, @standartantares joked that the man was "still running": [caption id="attachment_392115" align="aligncenter" width="992"] These TikTok comments were translated from Russian to English.[/caption] At this point, we believed that our work was done and that the hashtag that referenced visual effects meant that there was likely a clever mix of a CGI bear with a background video shot by a drone. Hours after we found the TikTok account, the relevant videos appeared to have been removed. The user, @standartantares, addressed the deletion of the videos, saying in a comment that they would be added back at a later date. 29, we received an email from Dima Smirnov, who turned out to be the true creator of the drone video with the man running from the bear. He told us that the @standartantares TikTok channel had stolen his videos. In the comments for his original posting of the bear video, Smirnov told multiple users that it was all real and that the bear was "like a pet." He also referenced the man in the video, @black4riday on Instagram, who also said that the bear was real. We responded to Smirnov, asking if he could provide more details and perhaps even some evidence. On Feb. 2, he sent the following video that showed the GoPro source files from the drone. He said that the bear, whose name is Tom, had been trained since birth. The video included the original buzzing sounds on the drone's audio and showed more of the bear, as well as proof that the airplane videos were also real: Smirnov was once interviewed on television about his first-person view (FPV) drone videos, including one that flew over St. Petersburg: In sum, while for several days we believed the drone video of the man running from the bear to be fake, we later received evidence of Smirnov's impressive creative work. It was all real. For these reasons, we have changed the rating to be "True." The clip with the drone and the person running from the bear reminded us of another story where we looked at whether or not a TikTok video showed a man saving a dog from train tracks. That video was of higher quality and allowed us to be able to examine small details. With regard to Reddit, we previously debunked a picture that purported to show "the last photo of the last queen of Mongolia." We also found a claim to be untrue that said a photograph showed Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein watching former U.S. President Richard Nixon resign. However, another post on Reddit about a man named Capt. Cumming who suggested semen be used as invisible ink during World War I was true. On the subject of bears and videos, we previously were the first to report about the viral video that showed a woman pushing a bear off her fence to save her dogs. We later reported on a video of a bear charging at a man in his own garage. We also covered an incident involving a bear charging at a crowd at a Mammoth Motocross race track. All three happened in California. Curious about how Snopes' writers verify information and craft their stories for public consumption? We've collected some posts that help explain how we do what we do. Happy reading and let us know what else you might be interested in knowing. The video was posted to the r/Unexpected subreddit on Reddit with the caption: "Such a lovely day to test out my drone." Jordan Liles Published Jan. 26, 2022 On Feb. 2, 2022, the rating for this story was changed from "False" to "True" after we received evidence from the video's creator that it was all real. By Jordan Liles Jordan Liles is a Senior Reporter who has been with Snopes since 2016. Article Tags
|
[
"culture"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2022/01/drone-video-bear-chase-1.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/200/https://media.snopes.com/2018/03/rating-true.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2022/01/bear-drone-russian.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2022/01/drone-video-bear-chase-2.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2022/01/drone-video-bear-chase-3.jpg",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "On Jan. 26, 2022, Reddit user u/namey_mcnameson posted a video that purportedly showed the view of a drone flying between trees in a snowy wilderness to reveal a man being chased by what might have been a grizzly bear . The caption of the video on the r/Unexpected subreddit read: \"Such a lovely day to test out my drone.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/sdb8n8/such_a_lovely_day_to_test_out_my_drone/",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/bears/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/"
]
},
{
"quote": "The top comment said : \"WE NEED ANSWERS!\"",
"links": [
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/sdb8n8/comment/hubi2q8/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3"
]
},
{
"quote": "Some commenters initially believed that the video might be the work of a CGI artist. \"The snow doesn't flick up very naturally from the footsteps,\" u/wealllovethrowaways said . \"It's very likely CGI, but it's damn good CGI.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/sdb8n8/comment/hubzrse/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3"
]
},
{
"quote": "One user believed it to be animation created with the graphics software Blender. Others discussed just how fast bears can run , saying that the person in the video would have been bear food within seconds. \"That bear is a paid actor,\" joked another person.",
"links": [
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/sdb8n8/comment/hucg39b/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/sdb8n8/comment/huc47n9/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/sdb8n8/comment/huc2s8f/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3",
"https://northamericannature.com/can-you-outrun-a-bear/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/sdb8n8/comment/hucegs4/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3"
]
},
{
"quote": "However, some users weren't so sure it was fake. \"I'm under the impression that this is a real video without audio, but the audio was added for comedic effect,\" a commenter said . That comment had more than 200 likes in agreement with believing the video was real. Another person concurred : \"I second this theory.\" Speaking of theories, several people also mentioned a one about it maybe being a \"trained bear.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/sdb8n8/comment/huc424b/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/sdb8n8/comment/hucad5u/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/sdb8n8/comment/huc5nwd/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/sdb8n8/comment/hucfujw/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3"
]
},
{
"quote": "Hours after it was posted to Reddit, the moderators of r/Unexpected unexpectedly removed the thread with the video. Sometime after that, the video was later tweeted by @TheoShantonas with the caption, \"Lovely day to test out a drone\":",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/TheoShantonas/status/1486445502757580804"
]
},
{
"quote": "From there, it was quote tweeted by various Twitter accounts such as \"The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz,\" who copied in wildlife expert Ron Magill. Magill responded : \"OMG!!! Great video but I find it hard to believe that it wasn't carefully 'produced.' No way that guy could outrun a serious bear in the snow!\"",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/LeBatardShow/status/1486474539940945920",
"https://twitter.com/RonMagill/status/1486476926755774464"
]
},
{
"quote": "We found no further information about the video on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or the Russian-language social media website VK.com (V Kontakte).",
"links": [
"https://vk.com"
]
},
{
"quote": "It was at that point that we tried an old trick. After downloading the video from Reddit, we used the Adobe product Media Encoder to take a screenshot of the first frame of the video. We then tried a reverse image search on Google Images . Amazingly, it found one result that read, \"Завтрак убегает | Пикабу.\" The video had been posted on pikabu.ru just one day before it appeared on Reddit.",
"links": [
"https://www.google.com/imghp",
"https://pikabu.ru/story/zavtrak_ubegaet_8791096"
]
},
{
"quote": "In the pikabu.ru version of the video, a watermark for TikTok referred to a user named @standartantares. We then visited the TikTok channel for @standartantares and found that the video had been posted on Jan. 24, two days before it showed up on Reddit.",
"links": [
"https://www.tiktok.com/@standartantares/",
"https://www.tiktok.com/@standartantares/video/7056840709470473473"
]
},
{
"quote": "In the comments, the person who posted it said that the audio was a \"voiceover.\" The video's hashtag #krd may have referred to a Russian YouTube account named KRD FPV that posted another drone video shot in the snow on Jan. 22. No videos on the YouTube channel showed a bear.",
"links": [
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzBFbgm6Ezk6YwcLatDSdVQ",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJCwxf4L6pA"
]
},
{
"quote": "On the TikTok channel, we found similar drone videos , but only the one with a bear. Two videos appeared to show quite the amazing drone shots of an airplane at sunrise or sunset. Were they real? The hashtags on one of the videos were \"#mavic\" and \"#djv,\" which appeared to refer to the line of DJI Mavic drones and the DJV visual effects review software that's intended \"for VFX, animation, and film production.\" Another hashtag in one of the videos said: \"#magic.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.tiktok.com/@standartantares/video/7057066444915330306",
"https://www.tiktok.com/@standartantares/video/7057427315889818881",
"https://www.tiktok.com/@standartantares/video/7057427629821086978",
"https://www.dji.com/mavic",
"https://darbyjohnston.github.io/DJV/"
]
},
{
"quote": "On Jan. 29, we received an email from Dima Smirnov , who turned out to be the true creator of the drone video with the man running from the bear. He told us that the @standartantares TikTok channel had stolen his videos.",
"links": [
"https://www.instagram.com/smirnov_fpv/"
]
},
{
"quote": "In the comments for his original posting of the bear video , Smirnov told multiple users that it was all real and that the bear was \"like a pet.\" He also referenced the man in the video, @black4riday on Instagram , who also said that the bear was real.",
"links": [
"https://www.instagram.com/p/CZG6fzABTAd/",
"https://www.instagram.com/black4riday/",
"https://www.instagram.com/p/CZJUFdXBzGV/"
]
},
{
"quote": "We responded to Smirnov, asking if he could provide more details and perhaps even some evidence. On Feb. 2, he sent the following video that showed the GoPro source files from the drone. He said that the bear, whose name is Tom, had been trained since birth. The video included the original buzzing sounds on the drone's audio and showed more of the bear, as well as proof that the airplane videos were also real:",
"links": [
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pnJeqcoCKU"
]
},
{
"quote": "Smirnov was once interviewed on television about his first-person view (FPV) drone videos, including one that flew over St. Petersburg :",
"links": [
"https://www.instagram.com/p/CM_70AGqakT/",
"https://www.instagram.com/p/CMhSrkHqOfC/"
]
},
{
"quote": "The clip with the drone and the person running from the bear reminded us of another story where we looked at whether or not a TikTok video showed a man saving a dog from train tracks. That video was of higher quality and allowed us to be able to examine small details.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dog-train-tracks-tiktok-video/"
]
},
{
"quote": "With regard to Reddit, we previously debunked a picture that purported to show \"the last photo of the last queen of Mongolia.\" We also found a claim to be untrue that said a photograph showed Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein watching former U.S. President Richard Nixon resign. However, another post on Reddit about a man named Capt. Cumming who suggested semen be used as invisible ink during World War I was true .",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/last-photo-queen-mongolia/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/woodward-bernstein-photo-nixon/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/semen-invisible-ink/"
]
},
{
"quote": "On the subject of bears and videos, we previously were the first to report about the viral video that showed a woman pushing a bear off her fence to save her dogs. We later reported on a video of a bear charging at a man in his own garage. We also covered an incident involving a bear charging at a crowd at a Mammoth Motocross race track. All three happened in California.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/news/2021/05/31/woman-pushes-bear-dogs/",
"https://www.snopes.com/news/2021/06/21/mama-bear-garage/",
"https://www.snopes.com/news/2021/06/29/bear-mammoth-lakes-motocross/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Curious about how Snopes' writers verify information and craft their stories for public consumption? We've collected some posts that help explain how we do what we do. Happy reading and let us know what else you might be interested in knowing.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/collections/snopes-ing-101-fact-checkers/",
"https://www.snopes.com/contact/"
]
}
] |
true
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/kalinin-k7-heavy-bomber/
|
Did the Kalinin K-7 Heavy Bomber Appear in Actual Color Photos?
|
Jordan Liles
| 2021-03-20T00:00:00
|
[
"The article claims that the color pictures showing the Russian Kalinin K-7 heavy bomber are not actual photographs but 3-D renderings created by an artist named Levin.",
"The author's evidence includes finding the original website hosting the images, identifying the artist as Levin through reverse image searches and message board research, and noting that the images were initially mistaken for a fan-created model for a video game."
] |
About this rating Since at least 2010, a set of awe-inspiring pictures have been shared in email forwards and on social media. The color photographs purportedly show the Russian Kalinin K-7 heavy bomber. One of the pictures was even displayed in a paid online advertisement: However, while the Kalinin K-7 was once a real aircraft from the 1930s, the color pictures in question showed 3-D artist renderings. We were able to find the original website that hosted the original images, but it wasn't easy. At first, we thought it might be a fan-created 3-D model for the "Battlefield V" video game, as one of the color pictures appeared in the /r/BattlefieldV/ subreddit. However, this was incorrect. Lots of reading of old blogs and message boards, combined with reverse image searching, finally led us to the original source. Thanks to a tip from englishrussia.com, we found the source to be a person using the handle "Levin." On the original page, which appeared to be from 2007, Levin wrote that his work had been misunderstood: In view of the fact that this work is discussed at various serious forums on aviation and military affairs, and it is being discussed, apparently, without a clear understanding of the purpose of this work and the attitude of the author himself (i.e. me) to what he did here, I want to warn you in advance - everything that lies below is nothing more than the usual techno-fantasy, techno-utopia, if you like - techno-absurdity. There are no serious applications on my part for something that can fly, and there cannot be. This work is an attempt to reproduce, quite possibly taking place in reality in the 30s, an attempt by some hypothetical and not quite healthy and poorly educated designer to build such an absurdity with state money. I can even assume that as a result, this hypothetical poor fellow-designer was again hypothetically arrested and soon shot for senseless waste of folk funds on an especially large scale. ))) And the main task from the point of view of technical reliability here was only to comply with the technical style of those years, so that the engines and other parts did not look taken from other eras. So if there is something worth discussing for aviation connoisseurs, then only this moment is the correspondence of the appearance of the parts and the whole structure in general to the level of aviation development in the early 30s of the 20th century. In view of the fact that this work is discussed at various serious forums on aviation and military affairs, and it is being discussed, apparently, without a clear understanding of the purpose of this work and the attitude of the author himself (i.e. Levin also confirmed that Adobe Photoshop was not used in the process to make the renders. "This is not Photoshop. This is 3-D, three-dimensional models." WarHistoryOnline.com published the history of the real Kalinin K-7 heavy bomber, which was smaller than what was displayed for the 3-D renderings. "The Kalinin K-7 was a heavy experimental aircraft designed and tested in the Soviet Union in the early 1930s," the website read. "It was of unusual configuration with twin booms and large underwing pods housing fixed landing gear and machine gun turrets." Unfortunately, the aircraft had a brief history. On Nov. 21, 1933, the aircraft crashed. According to WarHistoryOnline.com, the accident "killed 14 people aboard and one on the ground." The K-7 first flew on 11 August 1933. The very brief first flight showed instability and serious vibration caused by the airframe resonating with the engine frequency. The solution to this was thought to be to shorten and strengthen the tail booms, little being known then about the natural frequencies of structures and their response to vibration. The aircraft completed seven test flights before a crash due to structural failure of one of the tail booms on 21 November 1933. The K-7 first flew on 11 August 1933. The project was eventually scrapped in 1935. No known color photographs of the aircraft exist today. Levin, the 3-D artist, published more of his computer-generated work on his old website. One of them showed quite the battle in the skies: In sum, the Kalinin K-7 heavy bomber was real. However, color pictures that appeared in email forwards, social media, and ads were nothing more than 3-D renderings. The pictures in question purportedly showed the Kalinin K-7 heavy bomber, an old Russian aircraft developed in the 1930s. Jordan Liles Published March 20, 2021 By Jordan Liles Jordan Liles is a Senior Reporter who has been with Snopes since 2016. Article Tags
|
[
"technology"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2021/03/kalinin-k7-render.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/200/https://media.snopes.com/2018/03/rating-miscaptioned.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/03/20-biggest-planes.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/03/kalinin-k7-levin-2.jpeg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/03/kalinin-k7-levin-3.jpeg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/03/kalinin-k7-real-1.jpeg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/03/kalinin-k7-real-2.jpeg",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "Since at least 2010, a set of awe-inspiring pictures have been shared in email forwards and on social media. The color photographs purportedly show the Russian Kalinin K-7 heavy bomber. One of the pictures was even displayed in a paid online advertisement:",
"links": [
"https://cyberworldfrauds.blogspot.com/2010/05/email-hoax-containing-russian-k-7-heavy.html\""
]
},
{
"quote": "The massive aircraft certainly looked quite heavy. (Courtesy: Levin)",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/03/20-biggest-planes.jpg"
]
},
{
"quote": "The Kalinin K-7 heavy bomber is seen from another angle in a 3-D rendering. (Courtesy: Levin)",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/03/kalinin-k7-levin-2.jpeg"
]
},
{
"quote": "We were able to find the original website that hosted the original images, but it wasn't easy. At first, we thought it might be a fan-created 3-D model for the \"Battlefield V\" video game, as one of the color pictures appeared in the /r/BattlefieldV/ subreddit . However, this was incorrect.",
"links": [
"https://www.reddit.com/r/BattlefieldV/comments/cdu8rh/coming_soon_100000_requisition_points_k7_heavy/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Lots of reading of old blogs and message boards, combined with reverse image searching, finally led us to the original source. Thanks to a tip from englishrussia.com, we found the source to be a person using the handle \"Levin.\"",
"links": [
"https://englishrussia.com/2009/01/25/russian-flying-fortresses/"
]
},
{
"quote": "On the original page , which appeared to be from 2007, Levin wrote that his work had been misunderstood:",
"links": [
"https://www.rusring.net/~levin/k7/k777.htm\""
]
},
{
"quote": "WarHistoryOnline.com published the history of the real Kalinin K-7 heavy bomber, which was smaller than what was displayed for the 3-D renderings. \"The Kalinin K-7 was a heavy experimental aircraft designed and tested in the Soviet Union in the early 1930s,\" the website read. \"It was of unusual configuration with twin booms and large underwing pods housing fixed landing gear and machine gun turrets.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.warhistoryonline.com/military-vehicle-news/seriously-the-kalinin-k-7-bomber-actually-took-to-the-air.html"
]
},
{
"quote": "The real Kalinin K-7 was large, but not as massive as the aircraft seen in the 3-D renderings.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/03/kalinin-k7-real-1.jpeg"
]
},
{
"quote": "Unfortunately, the aircraft had a brief history. On Nov. 21, 1933, the aircraft crashed .",
"links": [
"https://www.warhistoryonline.com/military-vehicle-news/seriously-the-kalinin-k-7-bomber-actually-took-to-the-air.html"
]
},
{
"quote": "A flight crew stands in front of a Kalinin K-7 heavy bomber.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/03/kalinin-k7-real-2.jpeg"
]
},
{
"quote": "The Kalinin K-7 heavy bomber battles an unidentified foe in this 3-D rendering. (Courtesy: Levin)",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/03/kalinin-k7-levin-3.jpeg"
]
},
{
"quote": "Snopes debunks a wide range of content, and online advertisements are no exception. Misleading ads often lead to obscure websites that host lengthy slideshow articles with lots of pages. It's called advertising \"arbitrage.\" The advertiser's goal is to make more money on ads displayed on the slideshow's pages than it cost to show the initial ad that lured them to it. Feel free to submit ads to us , and be sure to include a screenshot of the ad and the link to where the ad leads.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/contact"
]
}
] |
true
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nephilim-giant-government-photo/
|
Photo Shows ‘Nephilim Giant’ Under Government Watch?
|
Jordan Liles
| 2024-04-01T00:00:00
|
[
"The image on Tik Tok by @thefactstriggers depicting 'Nephilim giants' is a manipulated stock photo and not genuine."
] |
In late March 2024, TikTok user @thefactstriggers posted a slideshow of still pictures described as 'images that will make you feel uneasy.' One of the images was captioned as showing a photo of 'Nephilim giants under the government's watch.' The image appeared in the slideshow as a purported vertically captured photo.
|
[
"international"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2024/03/nephilim_cursed_giant_photo.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/200/https://media.snopes.com/2018/03/rating-miscaptioned.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600?url=https://media.snopes.com/2024/03/cursed_giant_people_faces.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600?url=https://media.snopes.com/2024/03/nephilim_giant_photo_tiktok.jpg",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "The image appeared in the slideshow as a purported vertically captured photo:",
"links": [
"https://www.tiktok.com/@thefactstriggers/photo/7348916886421212448"
]
},
{
"quote": "A reverse-image search for the purported photo with both Google Images and TinEye showed it was previously shared several times on Reddit , iFunny , Imgur , X and YouTube . A post on Know Your Meme referred to the image as showing a \"cursed giant.\" At least one Reddit post also named the photo \"cursed giant.\"",
"links": [
"https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1325808",
"https://tineye.com/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/hmmm/comments/13zaluk/hmmm/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Weird/comments/13zjbky/what_the_hell/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/eddievr/comments/1400nyo/so_many_little_joshes_and_one_big_eddie/",
"https://br.ifunny.co/picture/how-women-see-men-60-d-nt-dfWQdlRYA",
"https://imgur.com/gallery/ENX46RG",
"https://twitter.com/flaviogarag/status/1665782963345268738",
"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXXGLFd3bzyxwR_2C7MhhKg",
"https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/2632463-cursed-images--2",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/cursedimages/comments/13zl73v/cursed_giant/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Another find from the reverse-image search was a post from the Mystical Archeology Facebook page displaying the same image, and another similar purported photo with the caption, \"pictures from the secret Vatican archive prove that giants existed.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0Xnv5kZy1Sda8oKtJB8iA3Vk5bV87RNGdTpxUsCg1vSVet4g5tUTpMdxb2n2M5vxSl&id=61555527569690"
]
},
{
"quote": "Before we get to the truth of the image, first let's cover some information regarding the Nephilim, which comes from the Bible. Britannica.com describes the term as follows:",
"links": [
"https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nephilim"
]
},
{
"quote": "The first verse referenced on Britannica.com was Genesis 6:4 . In the Bible's New International Version, the verse reads:",
"links": [
"https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%206%3A4&version=NIV"
]
},
{
"quote": "Numbers 13:32-33 also mentioned the Nephilim:",
"links": [
"https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2013%3A32-33&version=NIV"
]
},
{
"quote": "The possible reference to the Nephilim in Ezekiel – according to Britannica.com – is found in Ezekiel 32:27 :",
"links": [
"https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ezekiel+32%3A27&version=NIV"
]
},
{
"quote": "Some other translations of the Bible including the King James Version display the words \"the giants\" instead of \"the Nephilim.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.biblestudytools.com/numbers/13-33-compare.html"
]
},
{
"quote": "The internet contains plenty of discussion and opinions regarding the idea of whether some sort of massive giants once existed or still do roam the planet in secret. As far as hard evidence goes, however, there's no truly credible data to support the idea such a giant human species ever existed, according to reporting from The Associated Press , HoaxOrFact.com and USA Today .",
"links": [
"https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-image-skeleton-human-giant-sloth-200507510155",
"https://web.archive.org/web/20230323081304/https://www.hoaxorfact.com/paranormal/horned-nephilim-skeletons-found-in-valley-of-giants-facts-analysis.html",
"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/04/04/fact-check-horned-humans-skeletons-with-gigantism-not-found-1800-s/7151442001/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Whatever the case – AI or Photoshop – the image most certainly was fake, as was the second image in the post from the Mystical Archeology Facebook page. That second image appeared to offer a crisper view of faces and showed what we determined to be even clearer signs of having been created by AI.",
"links": [
"https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0Xnv5kZy1Sda8oKtJB8iA3Vk5bV87RNGdTpxUsCg1vSVet4g5tUTpMdxb2n2M5vxSl&id=61555527569690"
]
},
{
"quote": "Note: The blue-arrow images are credited to Freepik via flaticon.com .",
"links": [
"https://www.flaticon.com/free-icon/down-arrow_143205"
]
}
] |
true
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/idf-soldier-pic/
|
Pic Allegedly Showing Armed Israeli Soldier Confronting Palestinian Family Is 20+ Years Old
|
Aleksandra Wrona
| 2023-12-11T00:00:00
|
[
"A photograph allegedly showing an Israeli military soldier confronting Palestinian civilians was shared on social media in 2023, but analysis confirms it is at least 20 years old."
] |
About this rating Too little is known about the image and its origin to determine if it authentically shows an armed Israeli soldier confronting a Palestinian family. In any case, the picture has been circulating online since at least 2001, meaning it was not captured during the 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict. Photographs have the power to shape narratives and stir emotions. On Dec. 4, 2023, a photograph shared on X with the caption "Brave IDF" allegedly showed an armed Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldier confronting a woman and two children. The photograph in question sparked debates and speculation across various online platforms. Brave IDF pic.twitter.com/9sefOYlvfH — Ryan Dawson (@RyLiberty) December 4, 2023 Brave IDF pic.twitter.com/9sefOYlvfH — Ryan Dawson (@RyLiberty) December 4, 2023 We found that the image was shared multiple times after Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. "Where was the media then?" one X user asked. where was the media then ? pic.twitter.com/zv1ynQLkG1 — aya (@rmacfede) October 7, 2023 where was the media then ? pic.twitter.com/zv1ynQLkG1 — aya (@rmacfede) October 7, 2023 But the photograph wasn't taken in 2023. We used Google, Yandex, and Bing reverse-image search engines to attempt to find out more about its origins. "Israel soldier against a Palestinian woman with her kids," one post on Pinterest read. "Old photo, but what is known about these people are how coward they are, they always try to target women & children," another post on Instagram captioned the viral image. Some social media users doubted the authenticity of the photograph. For instance, one comment on X read, "This picture is fake. Who made it doesn't know how to use the Photoshop." TinEye reverse image search results indicated that the image has been shared online at least since 2008. (TinEye) However, we found a blog post from 2013 that claimed the image was captured in 2002. It read (emphasis ours): The picture above is one of the more famous instruments of Palestinian propaganda. It is found on many Palestinian and pro–Palestinian sites, and had reached iconic levels even at leftwing circles. It was taken in 2002 during 'Operation Defensive Shield.' This was Israel's largest counter-terrorism operation, which ended nearly a year and a half of mass murder attacks on Israeli civilians. Investigating on the matter, we found that the image was used back in 2001 in an Al Jazeera article with the title (we translated it using Google Translate) "One martyr and three wounded in a bombing on Khan Yunis." The article did not comment on the picture or mention when it was captured. The photo was also used in two other Al Jazeera's articles from 2001, however neither of them referred directly to its origins. The aforementioned blog post also indicated that an edited version of the photograph was shared online (emphasis ours). Now it seems this photo did not serve the Palestinian propaganda machine as intended. So it was photoshoped. The mother was removed all together. And the soldier's rifle was rotated so it can point at the girls. But in the process it positioned the soldier in an unnatural way. No one can stand like that and maintain balance, especially with a rifle in the hand and weight on the back. Maybe an acrobat can, but with an effort. In fact, while investigating on the origins of the in-question image, we found a similar photograph that has also been circulated online: When we compared the two images, it became evident that the original image was edited to cut out the woman and change the position of the soldier so that his gun would be pointing at the children. (X users @Heteromecheng and @manuelzr) In sum, the viral image, which has been shared hundreds of times since at least 2001, remains shrouded in mystery. Despite its widespread distribution, we have not found a source that definitively indicates the origin, the photographer, or the precise context of the photograph, which allegedly depicts an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian family. Moreover, a second version of this image exists online with a significant alteration, adding another layer of complexity to its interpretation. Our research has yet to uncover concrete evidence to either debunk the authenticity of the photograph or to confirm the exact circumstances of its capture. We will update the article when/if new information comes to light on the origins of the in-question image. The viral image has been shared online for at least two decades. Here's what we know and don't know about it. Aleksandra Wrona Published Dec. 11, 2023 By Aleksandra Wrona Aleksandra Wrona is a reporting fellow for Snopes, based in the Warsaw area. Article Tags
|
[
"international"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2023/12/idf_soldier_2.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/200/https://media.snopes.com/2018/03/rating-unproven.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600/https://media.snopes.com/2023/12/idf_soldier_pic_edited.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600/https://media.snopes.com/2023/12/idf_soldier_pic_tineye.jpg",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "The protracted, often bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict exploded into a hot war on Oct. 7, 2023, when the militant Palestinian group Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel and Israel retaliated by bombarding the Gaza Strip. More than 20,000 people, the vast majority of them Palestinians, were reportedly killed during the first two months of the war alone. The violence is driven by mutual hostilities and territorial ambitions dating back more than a century. The internet has become an unofficial front in that war and is rife with misinformation, which Snopes is dedicated to countering with facts and context. You can help. Read the latest fact checks. Submit questionable claims. Become a Snopes Member to support our work. We welcome your participation and feedback .",
"links": [
"https://web.archive.org/web/20231105180456/https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-palestinian-dispute-hinges-statehood-land-jerusalem-refugees-2023-10-10/",
"https://www.snopes.com/articles/465785/what-is-hamas-gaza/",
"https://www.snopes.com/articles/465623/oct-7-hamas-attack-and-israeli-retaliation/",
"https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-hamas-rockets-airstrikes-tel-aviv-ca7903976387cfc1e1011ce9ea805a71",
"https://www.ochaopt.org/",
"https://www.snopes.com/articles/465749/where-did-the-palestinians-come-from/",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/israel-hamas_war/",
"https://www.snopes.com/contact/",
"https://www.snopes.com/join/",
"https://www.snopes.com/contact/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Photographs have the power to shape narratives and stir emotions. On Dec. 4, 2023, a photograph shared on X with the caption \"Brave IDF\" allegedly showed an armed Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldier confronting a woman and two children. The photograph in question sparked debates and speculation across various online platforms.",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/RyLiberty/status/1731525763273249086"
]
},
{
"quote": "Brave IDF pic.twitter.com/9sefOYlvfH",
"links": [
"https://t.co/9sefOYlvfH"
]
},
{
"quote": "— Ryan Dawson (@RyLiberty) December 4, 2023",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/RyLiberty/status/1731525763273249086?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
]
},
{
"quote": "We found that the image was shared multiple times after Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. \"Where was the media then?\" one X user asked.",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/manuelzr/status/1713575104179826992"
]
},
{
"quote": "where was the media then ? pic.twitter.com/zv1ynQLkG1",
"links": [
"https://t.co/zv1ynQLkG1"
]
},
{
"quote": "— aya (@rmacfede) October 7, 2023",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/rmacfede/status/1710741696663736490?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
]
},
{
"quote": "But the photograph wasn't taken in 2023. We used Google, Yandex, and Bing reverse-image search engines to attempt to find out more about its origins. \"Israel soldier against a Palestinian woman with her kids,\" one post on Pinterest read. \"Old photo, but what is known about these people are how coward they are, they always try to target women & children,\" another post on Instagram captioned the viral image. Some social media users doubted the authenticity of the photograph. For instance, one comment on X read, \"This picture is fake. Who made it doesn't know how to use the Photoshop.\"",
"links": [
"https://pl.pinterest.com/pin/346847608774395685/",
"https://www.instagram.com/p/CzS61V3r4Pp/",
"https://twitter.com/marcodigovinci/status/1393124679448154112"
]
},
{
"quote": "TinEye reverse image search results indicated that the image has been shared online at least since 2008.",
"links": [
"https://tineye.com/search/147fd3d4050b899603d2de2ad80665c42b61796d?sort=crawl_date&order=asc&page=1"
]
},
{
"quote": "However, we found a blog post from 2013 that claimed the image was captured in 2002. It read (emphasis ours):",
"links": [
"https://https://dvardea.blogspot.com/2013/02/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Investigating on the matter, we found that the image was used back in 2001 in an Al Jazeera article with the title (we translated it using Google Translate) \"One martyr and three wounded in a bombing on Khan Yunis.\" The article did not comment on the picture or mention when it was captured. The photo was also used in two other Al Jazeera's articles from 2001, however neither of them referred directly to its origins.",
"links": [
"https://www.aljazeera.net/news/2001/11/7/%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D9%88%D8%AB%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AB%D8%A9-%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%AD%D9%89-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%86%D8%B3",
"https://www.aljazeera.net/news/2001/11/1/%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%84%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%85%D9%86-%D9%8A%D8%A4%D8%AC%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D8%AA%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%AA",
"https://www.aljazeera.net/news/2001/10/31/%D9%82%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%AA%D8%BA%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A"
]
},
{
"quote": "In fact, while investigating on the origins of the in-question image, we found a similar photograph that has also been circulated online:",
"links": [
"https://tineye.com/search/a35d342894e8cad648913e4200dc01235d391542?sort=crawl_date&order=desc&page=1"
]
}
] |
false
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/whitest-paint-guinness-record/
|
Did Purdue Researchers Invent the Whitest Shade of White Paint?
|
Jessica Lee
| 2021-09-24T00:00:00
|
[
"Researchers at Purdue University developed a paint recognized by Guinness World Records as the whitest in existence, reflecting up to 98.1% of sunlight and helping to keep buildings cooler."
] |
About this rating In September 2021, Snopes saw social media posts claiming researchers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, had invented a paint that received a Guinness World Records title for the being the whitest in existence. The assertion was accurate. In a Sept. 20 news release, the university announced the 2022 edition of Guinness World Records features the paint formula developed by mechanical engineering Professor Xiulin Ruan and his graduate students. Additionally, the website for the records indeed lists the Purdue researchers' "barium sulphate paint" as the world's whitest. But that isn't the paint's only special quality. The paint made news headlines months earlier in spring 2021, soon after the American Chemical Society published a report written by Ruan's team. In that publication, as well as an April news release by Purdue, the researchers explained how the white paint reflects up to 98.1% of sunlight, and simultaneously sends infrared heat away from its surface — a process that could help keep buildings cool without so much air conditioning, unlike similarly designed products. (For comparison, other paints that aim to reject heat only reflect 80%-90% of sunlight and do not contain properties to make surfaces cooler than their surroundings, according to the release.) “If you were to use this paint to cover a roof area of about 1,000 square feet, we estimate that you could get a cooling power of 10 kilowatts. That’s more powerful than the central air conditioners used by most houses,” Ruan said in the April release. In other words, the paint has the potential to help buildings rely less on air conditioning systems that are responsible for a portion of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, according to the researchers. The Guinness World Records' website stated: Such paints are considered to be a potential game-changer for keeping the planet — particularly cities — cooler and reducing electricity use; buildings with a coating of this would need to rely far less on energy-hungry air conditioning. [...] [The] scientists estimate that it would only require 0.5–1% of Earth’s surface to be coated in this paint (e.g., by painting roofs) to reverse global warming to date. Such paints are considered to be a potential game-changer for keeping the planet — particularly cities — cooler and reducing electricity use;
|
[
"environment"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2021/09/ruan-paint-brushLO.jpeg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/200/https://media.snopes.com/2018/03/rating-true.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-24-at-2.17.12-PM.png",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "In September 2021, Snopes saw social media posts claiming researchers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, had invented a paint that received a Guinness World Records title for the being the whitest in existence.",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/RVCJ_FB/status/1439229022202826757"
]
},
{
"quote": "In a Sept. 20 news release , the university announced the 2022 edition of Guinness World Records features the paint formula developed by mechanical engineering Professor Xiulin Ruan and his graduate students. Additionally, the website for the records indeed lists the Purdue researchers' \"barium sulphate paint\" as the world's whitest.",
"links": [
"https://www.purdue.edu/research/features/stories/purdue-record-for-the-whitest-paint-appears-in-latest-edition-of-guinness-world-records/",
"https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/products/books/guinness-world-records-2022"
]
},
{
"quote": "The paint made news headlines months earlier in spring 2021, soon after the American Chemical Society published a report written by Ruan's team.",
"links": [
"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.1c02368"
]
},
{
"quote": "In that publication, as well as an April news release by Purdue, the researchers explained how the white paint reflects up to 98.1% of sunlight, and simultaneously sends infrared heat away from its surface — a process that could help keep buildings cool without so much air conditioning, unlike similarly designed products. (For comparison, other paints that aim to reject heat only reflect 80%-90% of sunlight and do not contain properties to make surfaces cooler than their surroundings, according to the release.)",
"links": [
"https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2021/Q2/the-whitest-paint-is-here-and-its-the-coolest.-literally..html"
]
},
{
"quote": "“If you were to use this paint to cover a roof area of about 1,000 square feet, we estimate that you could get a cooling power of 10 kilowatts. That’s more powerful than the central air conditioners used by most houses,” Ruan said in the April release .",
"links": [
"https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2021/Q2/the-whitest-paint-is-here-and-its-the-coolest.-literally..html"
]
},
{
"quote": "In other words, the paint has the potential to help buildings rely less on air conditioning systems that are responsible for a portion of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, according to the researchers.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/corporations-greenhouse-gas/"
]
},
{
"quote": "\"I already had an inquiry from a museum that wants to put up a display of our whitest white paint side by side with the blackest black,\" he told the news outlet .",
"links": [
"https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56749105"
]
},
{
"quote": "Did Guinness World Records Pronounce Zion Clark the Fastest Man with No Legs?",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/guinness-world-records-zion-clark/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Did Guinness World Records Pronounce Zion Clark the Fastest Man with No Legs?",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/guinness-world-records-zion-clark/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Does Zaila Avant-garde Hold Basketball-Related Guinness World Records?",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/zaila-basketball-guinness-record/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Was the World's Longest Human Poop 26 Feet Long?",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/worlds-longest-human-poop/"
]
}
] |
true
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-ban-gas-stoves-climate-change/
|
Is Biden Administration Banning Gas Stoves Over Climate Change Concerns?
|
Nur Ibrahim
| 2023-01-10T00:00:00
|
[
"The U.S.",
"Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is not currently considering a ban on gas stoves, though it plans to gather public information on potential hazards associated with gas stove emissions."
] |
About this rating The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a federal agency, is not currently considering a ban on gas stoves, though a commissioner said "anything is on the table" if they can't be made safer, due to concerns over harmful indoor pollutants that cause health and respiratory problems. Numerous cities and counties have already enforced policies requiring a shift from fossil fuel-powered buildings. The CPSC also said that no regulatory guidelines are currently in place and adding any would “involve a lengthy process." A January 2023 rumor about a possible ban on gas stoves in the United States worried consumers, particularly as noted in conservative media outlets. Some social media users claimed that U.S. President Joe Biden's administration was considering such a ban over climate change concerns. This is not accurate. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is not considering new guidelines for regulating, or banning, gas stoves. Anything the group proposes would undergo a lengthy review process. Richard Trumka Jr., a CPSC agency commissioner, said in an interview with Bloomberg that there was rising concern about hazardous indoor pollutants caused by gas stoves, and, in that interview, he floated the idea of a ban as a possible solution to the problem. "This is a hidden hazard," he said. "Any option is on the table. Products that can't be made safe can be banned." However, a CPSC spokesperson told us that Trumka's views do not reflect the views of the entire organization. While the agency was not considering new regulatory measures, nor a ban, the spokesperson said they were planning to gather information from the public "on hazards from gas stoves and potential solutions to hazardous gas [emissions]." Elaborating further, the CPSC said in a statement: CPSC has not proposed any regulatory action on gas stoves at this time. Any regulatory action by the Commission would involve a lengthy process. Agency staff plans to start gathering data and perspectives from the public on potential hazards associated with gas stoves, and proposed solutions to those hazards later this year. Commission staff also continues to work with voluntary standards organizations to examine gas stove emissions and address potential hazards. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have linked air pollutants from gas stoves to a range of health concerns, including cardiovascular problems and cancer. Peer-reviewed research published in December 2022 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found around 12 percent of current childhood asthma cases in the U.S. could be attributed to gas stove usage. State and local policymakers have already urged a reduced reliance on natural gas in buildings in order to reduce climate-warming emissions. In December 2022, a number of lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, wrote a letter to the CPSC expressing their concerns "regarding the risks posed to consumers from indoor air pollution generated by gas stoves." They pointed out that more than 40 million homes in the U.S. rely on gas stoves for cooking, and "methane leaks from gas stoves inside U.S. homes were recently found to contribute the equivalent climate impacts as about 500,000 gasoline-powered cars." They added that the cumulative effect of such emissions has a disproportionate impact on Black, Latino, and low-income households. They also recommended a number of steps for the CPSC to take, including "mandatory performance standards for gas stoves" that address health risks and leakages and have warning labels on gas stoves to educate consumers, and to launch a public education campaign. They did not call for an outright ban, however. According to RMI, a non-profit group focused on clean energy, as of August 2022, around 94 cities and counties in the U.S., "adopted policies that require or encourage the move off fossil fuels to all-electric homes and buildings." In 2021, a New York City law went into place that bans the combustion of fossil fuels in new buildings, and accelerated the construction of all-electric buildings in the city. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) and American Gas Association oppose such measures. "Ventilation is really where this discussion should be, rather than banning one particular type of technology," said Jill Notini, a vice president at AHAM. "Banning one type of a cooking appliance is not going to address the concerns about overall indoor air quality. We may need some behavior change, we may need [people] to turn on their hoods when cooking." Karen Harbert, president of the AGA, said, "The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and EPA do not present gas ranges as a significant contributor to adverse air quality or health hazard in their technical or public information literature, guidance, or requirements. The most practical, realistic way to achieve a sustainable future where energy is clean, as well as safe, reliable and affordable, is to ensure it includes natural gas and the infrastructure that transports it." Trumka told Bloomberg that the CPSC would open up public comment on the hazards of gas stoves later in the winter of 2023. CPSC chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric released a statement on Jan. 11, 2023: Over the past several days, there has been a lot of attention paid to gas stove emissions and to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Research indicates that emissions from gas stoves can be hazardous, and the CPSC is looking for ways to reduce related indoor air quality hazards. But to be clear, I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so. CPSC is researching gas emissions in stoves and exploring new ways to address any health risks. CPSC also is actively engaged in strengthening voluntary safety standards for gas stoves. This spring, we will be asking the public to provide us with information about gas stove emissions and potential solutions for reducing any associated risks. This is part of our product safety mission – learning about hazards and working to make products safer. Over the past several days, there has been a lot of attention paid to gas stove emissions and to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The agency has not proposed changes to how gas stoves are regulated, nor has it announced a ban; Rather, it is planning to gather feedback from the public and research the products in response to concerns over their health risks. As such, we rate this claim as "False." Harmful pollutants that cause a number of ailments are reportedly being released by the appliances. Nur Ibrahim Published Jan. 10, 2023 11 Jan. 2023: Amended rating to "False" and included additional comment from CPSC. 11 Jan. 2023: Added statement from CPSC chair. By Nur Ibrahim Nur Nasreen Ibrahim is a reporter with experience working in television, international news coverage, fact checking, and creative writing. Article Tags
|
[
"energy"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2023/01/closeup_of_gas_stove.jpeg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/200/https://media.snopes.com/2018/03/rating-false.png",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "A January 2023 rumor about a possible ban on gas stoves in the United States worried consumers, particularly as noted in conservative media outlets. Some social media users claimed that U.S. President Joe Biden's administration was considering such a ban over climate change concerns.",
"links": [
"https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/capital-matters-warned-you-about-gas-stove-hysteria/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Richard Trumka Jr., a CPSC agency commissioner, said in an interview with Bloomberg that there was rising concern about hazardous indoor pollutants caused by gas stoves, and, in that interview, he floated the idea of a ban as a possible solution to the problem.",
"links": [
"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-09/us-safety-agency-to-consider-ban-on-gas-stoves-amid-health-fears"
]
},
{
"quote": "\"This is a hidden hazard,\" he said . \"Any option is on the table. Products that can't be made safe can be banned.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-09/us-safety-agency-to-consider-ban-on-gas-stoves-amid-health-fears"
]
},
{
"quote": "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have linked air pollutants from gas stoves to a range of health concerns, including cardiovascular problems and cancer. Peer-reviewed research published in December 2022 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found around 12 percent of current childhood asthma cases in the U.S. could be attributed to gas stove usage.",
"links": [
"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-09/us-safety-agency-to-consider-ban-on-gas-stoves-amid-health-fears",
"https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/75"
]
},
{
"quote": "State and local policymakers have already urged a reduced reliance on natural gas in buildings in order to reduce climate-warming emissions.",
"links": [
"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-09/us-safety-agency-to-consider-ban-on-gas-stoves-amid-health-fears"
]
},
{
"quote": "In December 2022, a number of lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, wrote a letter to the CPSC expressing their concerns \"regarding the risks posed to consumers from indoor air pollution generated by gas stoves.\" They pointed out that more than 40 million homes in the U.S. rely on gas stoves for cooking, and \"methane leaks from gas stoves inside U.S. homes were recently found to contribute the equivalent climate impacts as about 500,000 gasoline-powered cars.\" They added that the cumulative effect of such emissions has a disproportionate impact on Black, Latino, and low-income households.",
"links": [
"https://www.booker.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/booker_beyer_lead_colleagues_in_urging_cpsc_to_address_dangerous_indoor_air_pollutions_emitted_by_gas_stoves.pdf"
]
},
{
"quote": "They also recommended a number of steps for the CPSC to take, including \"mandatory performance standards for gas stoves\" that address health risks and leakages and have warning labels on gas stoves to educate consumers, and to launch a public education campaign. They did not call for an outright ban, however.",
"links": [
"https://www.booker.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/booker_beyer_lead_colleagues_in_urging_cpsc_to_address_dangerous_indoor_air_pollutions_emitted_by_gas_stoves.pdf"
]
},
{
"quote": "According to RMI , a non-profit group focused on clean energy, as of August 2022, around 94 cities and counties in the U.S., \"adopted policies that require or encourage the move off fossil fuels to all-electric homes and buildings.\" In 2021 , a New York City law went into place that bans the combustion of fossil fuels in new buildings, and accelerated the construction of all-electric buildings in the city.",
"links": [
"https://rmi.org/taking-action-to-get-fossil-fuels-out-of-buildings/'",
"https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/852-21/mayor-de-blasio-signs-landmark-bill-ban-combustion-fossil-fuels-new-buildings"
]
},
{
"quote": "The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) and American Gas Association oppose such measures.",
"links": [
"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-09/us-safety-agency-to-consider-ban-on-gas-stoves-amid-health-fears"
]
},
{
"quote": "\"Ventilation is really where this discussion should be, rather than banning one particular type of technology,\" said Jill Notini, a vice president at AHAM. \"Banning one type of a cooking appliance is not going to address the concerns about overall indoor air quality. We may need some behavior change, we may need [people] to turn on their hoods when cooking.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-09/us-safety-agency-to-consider-ban-on-gas-stoves-amid-health-fears"
]
},
{
"quote": "Karen Harbert, president of the AGA, said , \"The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and EPA do not present gas ranges as a significant contributor to adverse air quality or health hazard in their technical or public information literature, guidance, or requirements. The most practical, realistic way to achieve a sustainable future where energy is clean, as well as safe, reliable and affordable, is to ensure it includes natural gas and the infrastructure that transports it.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-09/us-safety-agency-to-consider-ban-on-gas-stoves-amid-health-fears"
]
},
{
"quote": "Trumka told Bloomberg that the CPSC would open up public comment on the hazards of gas stoves later in the winter of 2023.",
"links": [
"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-09/us-safety-agency-to-consider-ban-on-gas-stoves-amid-health-fears"
]
}
] |
true
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trademark-of-the-devil/
|
Procter and Gamble and Satanism Rumor
|
Barbara Mikkelson
| 1999-08-12T00:00:00
|
[
"The claim that the president of Procter & Gamble announced on a talk show that he donates a portion of the company's profits to the Church of Satan is false; there is no factual evidence supporting this allegation, and it predates the actual events by several years."
] |
Claim: The president of Procter & Gamble announced on a popular talk show that he donates a portion of the company's profits to the Church of Satan. Example: [Collected on the Internet, 1998] The President of Procter & gamble appeared on the Phil Donahue Show on March 1, 1994. He announced that due to the openness of our society, he was coming out of the closet about his association with the church of Satan. He stated that a large portion of his profits from Procter & Gamble Products goes to support this satanic church. When asked by Donahue if stating this on t.v. would hurt his business, he replied, "THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH CHRISTIANS IN THE UNITED STATES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE." Origins: Procter & Gamble's president is neither a Satanist nor does his company support the Church of Satan. What we have here is a rumor run amok, one that's been eluding the butterfly net since 1980. Not only does this rumor antedate the supposed 1994 Donahue air date given above by 14 years, but P&G's president has never been on Donahue (the show confirms this), nor did he say such a thing in any other forum. (Save for the handful of corporate heads who have been very visible as the public face of their companies, such as Apple's Steve Jobs, or who have represented their companies in television commercials, such as Wendy's Dave Thomas, company presidents and CEOs just aren't entertaining or well known enough to be appealing guests for national talk shows and therefore are rarely invited to make appearances in such venues. This is something that should be kept in mind when examining the plausibility of wild tales about damning admissions supposedly made by corporate types on popular talk shows.) How Procter & Gamble directs its profits is a matter of public record, as it is for all publicly-traded companies. (Procter & Gamble is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PG.) Were P&G handing a "large portion" of its profits to Satan, that would be readily apparent in the company's financial statements. Those who accepted the rumor as revealed truth pointed to P&G's "man in the moon" logo as proof of the company's ties to evil. They saw in the curlicues of the moon man's hair and beard a pair of devil' horns and an array of 6s, and they believed that by playing "connect the dots" with the thirteen stars in the logo, three 6s could be made to appear. (According to Revelation 13:18, 666 is the "mark of the Beast", with the "beast" understood to be the devil.) There is nothing sinister in the logo's design, let alone a hidden code that reveals the true intent of the company. P&G's "man in the moon" trademark was adopted in 1851, at a time when goods were more commonly marked with visual trademarks than with companies' names. The ability to read was not as widespread then as it is now, so companies offering an array of consumer goods rather than just one product had strong reason to devise memorable pictorial logos for their wares. The thirteen stars were an homage to the original thirteen colonies of the United States of America, and the man in the moon was simply a popular decorative device of the times. (Specific visual motifs often enjoy periods of enthusiastic commercial use and then sink into cultural obscurity. America in the early part of the 20th century was Egypt crazy, but few commercial designs other than the Camels cigarette pack remain to remind us of that fact.) Nonetheless, in the face of persistent "Satanism" rumors, Procter & Gamble modified their logo in 1991 to eliminate the supposed horns and 6's, and in 1995 they dropped the "man in the moon" logo entirely in favor of a simple stylized "P&G" rendered in blue letters. In July 1999 the dog and pony were trotted into the ring once again, with the claim about a CEO's admission that his company was donating a portion of their profits to the Church of Satan being amended to reference an incident that supposedly place on 1 March 1998 on the Sally Jesse Raphael Show. What makes this particular claim refutable is the date: 1 March 1998 was a Sunday, and the Sally Jesse Raphael Show show neither tapes nor airs on that day of the week. After this error was pointed out, whoever "fixes" these things altered the Sally Jesse version to change the day of the interview to 19 July 1999, a Monday. Same slander, just a different date. And still as specious as ever. In response to all the inquiries about this claim, Sally Jesse Raphael added the following disclaimer to her FAQ: Sally listens: Rumor has it that the president of Procter and Gamble appeared on your show and said that he was associated with the Church of Satan. I would appreciate more information if you have any, perhaps a tape of the show if available. If this is a hoax, please let me know. Sally Sez: The rumor going around that the president of Procter and Gamble appeared on The Sally Show and announced he was a member of the church of Satan is not true. This a hoax that's been going around in one form or another for the past 20 years... only originally, it concerned the Phil Donahue Show...then evolved to the Jenny Jones Show ... and now it's evolved to The Sally Show. The president of Procter and Gamble has NEVER appeared on The Sally Show...NEVER. Nor has any other person in authority at P&G. Any president of a multi-national corporation (including the head of P&G or Liz Claiborne) would be immediately fired by the board of directors if he or she did such a thing. Also, profits from any such corporation go to the stockholders ... not a church designated by the president. Do not send money in to get a transcript. We do not provide transcripts or video tapes of our shows to the public. Frankly, this thing has gotten out of hand. If we had this man on our show, and he had said what it's alleged he said, we would have scored a broadcasting scoop and would have trumpeted it to all the newspapers. It would have been to the show's advantage. But there was no scoop, and there were no headlines. The e-mail's comment about "not enough Christians to make a difference" is meant to inflame readers to the point of boycotting P&G products. Of course that statement angrys up the blood; that is its purpose. The statement is also woefully in error: three out of four adult Americans identify themselves as Christian, and adult Americans are the target consumer group for P&G. The rumor is framed in such a way as to offend three-quarters of P&G's buying public and influence them into shunning P&G products in protest. Those whose first instinct is to react angrily to the "not enough Christians" comment should instead pause to reflect that their chains are deliberately being yanked by those who would prefer (for their own reasons) that people not buy from Procter and Gamble. Although the origin of the P&G satanism rumor is unknown, Procter & Gamble has over the years initiated a number of lawsuits against Amway Corp. (now known as Alticor), a vendor of household products (many of which compete with Procter & Gamble's brands), charging it with fomenting the slander. P&G claimed distributors for Amway revived the rumors in 1995 when one of them recounted a version of the TV show rumor on the Amway distributors' national voice mail system, and in March 2007 a jury awarded P&G $19.25 million after finding that four Amway distributors had spread false rumors about P&G to advance their own business. The self-same "head of large company proclaims that company tithes Satanic causes" hoax has been kited about others. In 1990, designer Liz Claiborne was dogged by the widely-believed rumor that during a recent appearance on Oprah she admitted to donating 40% of the profits from her clothing company to support the Church of Satan. The rumor was wholly false (Liz Claiborne never even appeared on that Oprah's show), but that didn't stop the tale from spreading. Similarly, in 1977 the rumor mill had it that Ray Kroc of McDonald's also made the startling admission on a TV talk show that his company tithed the Church of Satan. Again, even though there was nothing to this bit of gossip, it was believed and acted upon — not only did customers boycott the golden arches, but kids quit their McDonald's-sponsored Little League teams over the slander. Barbara "devil's food" Mikkelson Additional information: Talk Show Denials (Phil Dononue, Jenny Jones, Sally Jessy Raphael) Last updated: 21 June 2013 Sources: Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Choking Doberman. New York: W. W. Norton, 1984. ISBN 0-393-30321-7 (pp. 169-186). de Vos, Gail. Tales, Rumors and Gossip. Englewood: Libraries Unlimited, 1996. ISBN 1-56308-190-3 (pp. 26, 279-282). Morgan, Hal and Kerry Tucker. Rumor! New York: Penguin Books, 1984. ISBN 0-14-007036-2 (pp. 144-145). Schiller, Zachary. "P&G Is Still Having a Devil of a Time." Business Week. 11 September 1995 (p. 46). Scott, Bill. Pelicans & Chihuahuas and Other Urban Legends. St. Lucia, Queensland: Univ. of Queensland, 1996. ISBN 0-7022-2774-9 (p. 59). Smith, Paul. The Book of Nastier Legends. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986. ISBN 0-7102-0573-2 (p. 68). Stampler, Laura. "In Spite Of Old, False Satanist Accusations, P&G Put a Moon Back Into Its New Logo." Business Insider. 21 May 2013. The Houston Chronicle. "High Court Favors P&G Over Amway." 2 October 2001 (Business, p. 5). Newsweek. "Tall Tales: McDevil Burgers?" 23 October 1978 (p. 85). Orlando Sentinel Tribune. "Claiborne Company Dogged by Rumor About Satanic Cult." 30 November 1990 (p. E3). Reuters. "P&G Awarded $19.25 Mln Against Amway Distributors." 19 March 2007. Also told in: The Big Book of Urban Legends. New York: Paradox Press, 1994. ISBN 1-56389-165-4 (p. 172). Procter & Gamble and rumors of Satanism Barbara Mikkelson Published Aug. 12, 1999
|
[
"international"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/content/themes/snopes/assets/images/common/page.gif",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/images/red.gif",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/images/template/icon-sources.gif",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/uploads/images/business/graphics/pg.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/uploads/images/business/graphics/procter.jpg",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "How Procter & Gamble directs its profits is a matter of public record, as it is for all publicly-traded companies. (Procter & Gamble is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PG .) Were P&G handing",
"links": [
"https://www.pg.com/investors/sectionmain.jhtml"
]
},
{
"quote": "The thirteen stars were an homage to the original thirteen colonies of the United States of America, and the man in the moon was simply a popular decorative device of the times. (Specific visual motifs often enjoy periods of enthusiastic commercial use and then sink into cultural obscurity. America in the early part of the 20th century was Egypt crazy, but few commercial designs other than the Camels cigarette pack remain to remind us of that fact.)",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/business/hidden/camel.asp"
]
},
{
"quote": "Nonetheless, in the face of persistent \"Satanism\" rumors, Procter & Gamble modified their logo in 1991 to eliminate the supposed horns and 6's, and in 1995 they dropped the \"man in the moon\" logo entirely in favor of a simple stylized \" P&G \" rendered in blue letters.",
"links": [
"https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/519b83f86bb3f7474f00000d-1200/1991-so-pg-decided-to-straighten-the-man-in-the-moons-hair.jpg",
"https://static4.businessinsider.com/image/519b83f7eab8eac633000020-1200/2003-it-cut-down-the-ampersands-curving-bottom-a-decade-later.jpg"
]
},
{
"quote": "In response to all the inquiries about this claim, Sally Jesse Raphael added the following disclaimer to her FAQ :",
"links": [
"https://web.archive.org/web/20030405165701https://www.sallyjr.com/sally4/frm_sallyfaq3blue.html"
]
},
{
"quote": "The self-same \"head of large company proclaims that company tithes Satanic causes\" hoax has been kited about others. In 1990, designer Liz Claiborne was dogged by the widely-believed rumor that during a recent appearance on Oprah she admitted to donating 40% of the profits from her clothing company to support the Church of Satan. The rumor was wholly false (Liz Claiborne never even appeared on that Oprah's show), but that didn't stop the tale from spreading. Similarly, in 1977 the rumor mill had it that Ray Kroc of McDonald's also made the startling admission on a TV talk show that his company tithed the Church of Satan. Again, even though there was nothing to this bit of gossip, it was believed and acted upon — not only did customers boycott the golden arches, but kids quit their McDonald's-sponsored Little League teams over the slander.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/racial/business/claiborne.asp"
]
},
{
"quote": "Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Choking Doberman .",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/sources/chokedob.htm"
]
},
{
"quote": "de Vos, Gail. Tales, Rumors and Gossip .",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/sources/devos.htm"
]
},
{
"quote": "Morgan, Hal and Kerry Tucker. Rumor!",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/sources/rumor.htm"
]
},
{
"quote": "Scott, Bill. Pelicans & Chihuahuas and Other Urban Legends .",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/sources/pelicans.htm"
]
},
{
"quote": "Smith, Paul. The Book of Nastier Legends .",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/sources/nastier.htm"
]
},
{
"quote": "The Big Book of Urban Legends .",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/sources/bigbook.htm"
]
}
] |
false
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/salt-lamps-cure-everything/
|
Do Salt Lamps Provide Multiple Health Benefits?
|
Alex Kasprak
| 2016-12-22T00:00:00
|
[
"and state what is being verified.",
"The claim is that salt lamps emit \"boundless\" amounts of negative ions that improve health."
] |
About this rating Salt lamps, which are merely light bulbs of varying wattages placed within blocks of rock salt of varying sizes, have become an increasingly popular product in the alternative medicine scene and are marketed as “natural ionizers.” An ionizer, in theory, produces ions, which are atoms or molecules with a net positive or negative charge caused by an uneven number of protons to electrons. According a popular (and representative) Facebook post about salt lamps, the product can positively affect your health in these diverse ways: They emit “boundless amounts” of negative ions, which counter the positive ions that both surround us and make us feel bad. Those ions increase oxygen flow to the brain which combats lethargy, gives you more energy, and causes you to be more alert and responsive to your surroundings. The ions negate the “radioactive waves” or “electric smog” emitted by our electrical devices. The ions offer protection from airborne toxins that could be floating around us. The constant intake of negative ions makes your slumber less fitful, and helps you get more out of your rest. The ions lower high blood pressure, reducing the chance of heart attacks and strokes. The salt that is used in these lamps, Himalayan salt, contains up to 84 trace minerals that your body needs, allowing the lamp to also strengthen your bone, regulate your body pH, and balance the water content in your body. All the claims described above rely on the singularly false assertion that a block of salt with a light bulb inserted inside will naturally emit negative ions. That argument, when intelligible, usually invokes some sort of interplay between the salt, which attracts water from the air, and the heat from the light evaporating that water, as described in a non-peer-reviewed 2010 paper in the Pakistan Journal of Molecular Biology: The negative ions are generated by a continuous interplay of water attraction and evaporation. The salt crystal lamp attracts water molecules from the surrounding air to its warm surface. The water and salt form a solution. In the process of evaporation of the solution, due to the heat of the lamp, negatively charged ions are created. Both positive and negative ions are created but much more negative ions than positive ions are created, therefore providing a surplus of negative ions. Natrium [another word for sodium] is positively charged. This unique ion emission interplay ability with water is because of salt’s neutral atomic structure. This explanation has the great benefit of sounding scientific. Who really knows how ions are formed in the first place or what will happen to blocks of heated salt rock, anyway? One person with pretty deep knowledge on the topic is Caltech professor of chemistry Jack Beauchamp, an expert in (among other things) the myriad processes that generate ions and the analytical methods used to detect those ions. Beauchamp was skeptical that a heated block of sodium chloride would produce ions (any amount of them, positive or negative ones, let alone “boundless amounts”) but not so skeptical that he didn’t want to hook up the most popular salt lamp available from Amazon.com to his lab’s quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer. This instrument, in essence, sucks in air from directly around the solid and analyzes the mass and charge of particles captured by the instrument. Here’s Beauchamp description of what he did in his own words: We have a lot of experience with observing ions. What we did with the lamp, since it's supposed to make negative ions, was to place it adjacent to the inlet and, just by itself, we observed no ions at all. We turned it on and looked for negative ions. We looked for positive ions. We waited for the lamp to heat up. The bulb inside eventually does heat the rock salt, but we didn't see anything. I can't think of any physical process that would result in the formation of Ions from heating rock salt, with and without the presence of water vapor in any amount. Rock salt has a face-centered cubic structure which would not be expected give rise to electric fields that would generate ions around individual crystals. We have a lot of experience with observing ions. The structure aspect is important, says Beauchamp. One way to get crystals to generate ions is to alter the shape of its crystal structure via temperature, something that can happen if a crystal structure is asymmetric. He points to a crystal called lithium tantalate, which changes its crystal structure when heated up in such a way as to create areas of high and low electrical potential when heated or cooled. This property allows it to generate an electric field that could, in theory, ionize the air around it. Sodium chloride’s chemical structure is a symmetrical cube that does not have the capability to generate high electric fields in the vicinity of a crystal. The bottom line, according to Beauchamp and other chemists, is that there is no reason why putting a 15–45 watt bulb in a block of sodium chloride would do anything to generate ions, and this suspicion was confirmed by testing one of the most popular salt lamp models on the market with a machine designed specifically to detect ion formation. However, since one should always be concerned with low-sample, un-peer reviewed research (as our salt lamp experiment undoubtedly was), it is worthwhile looking into the claims that rely on salt lamps' producing the ions we could not find, as these are equally tenuous in their scientific validity. As discussed above, “boundless amounts” of negative ions would be a bit of a stretch, given the total and complete lack of any ions generated by our lamp. Ignoring that fact, however, brings us to the claim that positive ions make us feel bad and negative ions make us feel great. In terms of effects on mood, there is some research that suggests that negative ions can play a role in the treatment of seasonal affective disorder. A 1998 study in JAMA psychiatry found, for example, that: Bright light and high-density negative air ionization both appear to act as specific antidepressants in patients with seasonal affective disorder. Whether clinical improvement would be further enhanced by their use in combination, or as adjuvants to medication, awaits investigation. A similar 2006 study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, hinted at at the possibility that high concentrations of negative ions could aid in the treatment of seasonal affective disorder. A 2013 review concluded, more broadly, that negative ions at very high concentrations had an effect on improving mood.
|
[
"economy"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2016/12/salt_lamp_tw.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/200/https://media.snopes.com/2018/03/rating-false.png",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "According a popular (and representative) Facebook post about salt lamps, the product can positively affect your health in these diverse ways:",
"links": [
"https://shareably.net/salt-lamps-and-anxiety/\""
]
},
{
"quote": "All the claims described above rely on the singularly false assertion that a block of salt with a light bulb inserted inside will naturally emit negative ions. That argument, when intelligible, usually invokes some sort of interplay between the salt, which attracts water from the air, and the heat from the light evaporating that water, as described in a non-peer-reviewed 2010 paper in the Pakistan Journal of Molecular Biology :",
"links": [
"https://www.pjbmb.org.pk/images/PJBMBArchive/2010/PJBMB_43_2_Jun_2010/13.pdf\""
]
},
{
"quote": "Beauchamp was skeptical that a heated block of sodium chloride would produce ions (any amount of them, positive or negative ones, let alone “boundless amounts”) but not so skeptical that he didn’t want to hook up the most popular salt lamp available from Amazon.com to his lab’s quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer. This instrument, in essence, sucks in air from directly around the solid and analyzes the mass and charge of particles captured by the instrument. Here’s Beauchamp description of what he did in his own words:",
"links": [
"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001892AX2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1"
]
},
{
"quote": "The structure aspect is important, says Beauchamp. One way to get crystals to generate ions is to alter the shape of its crystal structure via temperature, something that can happen if a crystal structure is asymmetric. He points to a crystal called lithium tantalate , which changes its crystal structure when heated up in such a way as to create areas of high and low electrical potential when heated or cooled. This property allows it to generate an electric field that could, in theory, ionize the air around it. Sodium chloride’s chemical structure is a symmetrical cube that does not have the capability to generate high electric fields in the vicinity of a crystal.",
"links": [
"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ac070261s\""
]
},
{
"quote": "As discussed above, “boundless amounts” of negative ions would be a bit of a stretch, given the total and complete lack of any ions generated by our lamp. Ignoring that fact, however, brings us to the claim that positive ions make us feel bad and negative ions make us feel great. In terms of effects on mood, there is some research that suggests that negative ions can play a role in the treatment of seasonal affective disorder. A 1998 study in JAMA psychiatry found, for example, that:",
"links": [
"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/204334\""
]
},
{
"quote": "A similar 2006 study , published in the American Journal of Psychiatry , hinted at at the possibility that high concentrations of negative ions could aid in the treatment of seasonal affective disorder. A 2013 review concluded, more broadly, that negative ions at very high concentrations had an effect on improving mood.",
"links": [
"https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/ajp.2006.163.12.2126\"",
"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23320516"
]
},
{
"quote": "There are two main arguments one could make to suggest negative ions increase oxygen flow to the brain or provide you with more energy. The first one is that negative ions increase respiratory function and, as a consequence, would allow your body to deliver more oxygen overall. This claim, though oft repeated, has very little evidence to support it. A 2013 systematic review of papers investigating a relationship between exposure to ions and respiratory health stated:",
"links": [
"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3848581/"
]
},
{
"quote": "The other claim, discussed in more detail below, has to do with a study published on the effects of ionization in neural structures and blood flow in laboratory rats. In a similar issue of blindly comparing different scales, these rats (which are both not human and much smaller than humans) were directly fed negatively ionized air at high concentrations that would be inconceivable for a block of salt to produce, even if it did produce some small amount of ions.",
"links": [
"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18188611"
]
},
{
"quote": "While “radioactive waves” are not—strictly speaking—a thing, what the author is likely talking about is an electromagnetic field generated by household electronics. The issue is that the only problem a salt lamp (via its dubious negative ionizer mechanism) would theoretically solve is a preponderance of positively charged ions in the air which would be in turn neutralized by the negative ions. An electromagnetic field will only generate ions if the voltage is high enough to cause an electric discharge, and the electromagnetic fields generated by household appliances are not that that strong, per the WHO :",
"links": [
"https://www.who.int/peh-emf/about/WhatisEMF/en/\""
]
},
{
"quote": "A block of sodium chloride, which, again, does not produce any ions, does not have any mechanism for the flow of air or the trapping of the particles in that air, and would therefore be useless as an air filtration system. This is, incidentally, why the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze line of products, despite actually producing ions, is complete bunk .",
"links": [
"https://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-skeptic21apr21-story.html\""
]
},
{
"quote": "This claim has existed sporadically in the scientific literature for decades, but ultimately is not supported by current science. A 2013 review of psychological effects attributed to air ions, which looked at 33 studies from 1957 to 2012 evaluating “the effects of air ionization on depression, anxiety, mood states, and subjective feelings of mental well-being”, concluded:",
"links": [
"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23320516"
]
},
{
"quote": "This claim stems from research performed on laboratory rats who were under anesthesia and essentially pumped directly with high concentrations of negatively ionized air. It goes without saying that humans are not rats, and a that specifically designed laboratory ionization instruments produce a whole lot more ions than a salt lamp, which, not to drive this point home too much, they do not.",
"links": [
"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18188611"
]
},
{
"quote": "It seems likely that the number and associated health claims comes from a page on Dr. Mercola’s online store in which he is selling his own brand of Himalayan salt (supplies are limited!) Ironically, Mercola claims Himalayan salt to be “the most pure” while simultaneously suggesting its health benefits come from its impurities:",
"links": [
"https://products.mercola.com/himalayan-salt/\""
]
}
] |
false
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/keanu-reeves-cbd-gummies-interview/
|
Is the Keanu Reeves Smilz CBD Gummies Interview a Scam or Legit?
|
Jordan Liles
| 2022-04-04T00:00:00
|
[
"The claims of Keanu Reeves endorsing Smilz CBD Gummies were part of a scam, as he never endorsed this product and his name was used without his consent."
] |
About this rating Origin In early April 2022, Google users looked to find out if an interview with Keanu Reeves about products named Smilz CBD Gummies and Keanu Reeves CBD Gummies, which included a mention of the Pfizer pharmaceutical company, was a "scam or legit." After a quick glance, we came to the conclusion that these were both scams. Reeves, the popular movie star of "The Matrix: Resurrections," never owned a company named Smilz CBD Gummies, nor did he found it. He also had nothing to do with the fake endorsements for any products under the name of Keanu Reeves CBD Gummies or Keanu Reeves CBD Oil. In our research, we found that users had looked to Google to find answers with search terms like "Keanu Reeves CBD Gummies interview" or "Keanu Reeves Smilz CBD Gummies." This indicated to us that there was a fake article out there posing as being from a major news website such as Fox News or CNN, for example. That article likely said something about how Reeves had been interviewed on the news and had endorsed his supposed line of Keanu Reeves CBD Gummies or Smilz CBD Gummies. We know this because of other CBD scams we've covered in the past. They usually follow similar patterns. These kinds of articles, where the image and likeness of a celebrity are used without their permission, are usually hard to find if not accessed through an ad. This is because the people who publish these fake articles make sure to hide the pages from appearing in search results. However, after a little bit of digging, we were still able to find the fraudulent Reeves interview about Smilz CBD Gummies, all because of a tweet. It showed the headline of an article that's likely being advertised to users online: "Keanu Reeves on the Hot Seat with Pfizer After his CBD Project Soars - Here's How he's Fighting Back." A Google search for the headline in this tweet brought us to a Facebook comment that was saved to a Google cache page. A user had copied and pasted the entire fake article with the Time Magazine name. Time never published this story. (Google cache is the company's way of archiving websites.) The first part of the fake interview with Reeves about Smilz CBD Gummies read as follows: Keanu Reeves on the Hot Seat with Pfizer After His CBD Project Soars - Here's How He's Fighting Back By Alice Palmer | Friday, March 11, 2022 (TIME) - In an insightful 1-on-1 interview, one of the world's most beloved actors reveals how he "wouldn't be here without CBD." Gifted actor and entrepreneur Keanu Reeves made headlines after revealing his new CBD line on Live TV last week. The pharmaceutical company Pfizer was outraged saying they will be filing a lawsuit against Keanu and his partners for violating their contract and undercutting their prices. Keanu responded with this: "When I started this whole thing back in 2019, it really was just a part time passion project and a way for me to give back. After being given so much, I figured there was no better time to make Smilz CBD Gummies available to everyone, as it can help thousands of people experience life pain-free and live much happier lives." Advertisement: His product, Smilz CBD Gummies, has been flying off the shelves within minutes and Keanu says his number one struggle as CEO is being able to keep up with demand. His CBD wellness line is 90% cheaper and five times more effective than those being offered by Bayer and other "Big Pharma" companies. the solution for those who don't want to spend the rest of their lives as diabetics. Pfizer was furious after seeing a massive dip in their sales, calling for Keanu to be indicted, saying: "We're happy Mr. Reeves found something to replace prescriptions, but his announcement was a direct breach of contract. His network should fire him immediately and he should formally apologize." Keanu Reeves appeared on Live TV again the next day, not to apologize, but to offer viewers discounted bottles. "I'm not going to let these companies intimidate me," Keanu fired back during his appearance. "Our product, Smilz CBD Gummies, has helped me my family not just cope with what ails us but to thrive! I am so confident in it that I'm offering discounted bottles to everyone. Smilz CBD Gummies is the product of thousands of hours of research and development. I wouldn't talk about something on air I don't believe in and give to my family." Keanu Reeves on the Hot Seat with Pfizer After His CBD Project Soars - Here's How He's Fighting Back By Alice Palmer | Friday, March 11, 2022 (TIME) - In an insightful 1-on-1 interview, one of the world's most beloved actors reveals how he "wouldn't be here without CBD." Gifted actor and entrepreneur Keanu Reeves made headlines after revealing his new CBD line on Live TV last week. After being given so much, I figured there was no better time to make Smilz CBD Gummies available to everyone, as it can help thousands of people experience life pain-free and live much happier lives." His product, Smilz CBD Gummies, has been flying off the shelves within minutes and Keanu says his number one struggle as CEO is being able to keep up with demand. I wouldn't talk about something on air I don't believe in and give to my family." After the fake interview with Reeves, the rest of the article for Smilz CBD Gummies included other supposed celebrity endorsements from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jennifer Aniston, and Matthew McConaughey. Again, none of these people ever endorsed Smilz CBD Gummies or any other similar products with Reeves' name. Aside from the interview with Reeves about Smilz CBD Gummies, which again was a scam, we also found traces of a product named Keanu Reeves CBD Gummies. On these pages that mentioned this product with Reeves' name were links to place orders. Those links all led to Smilz CBD Gummies. We previously reported on several other celebrities who were included in fake endorsements for CBD gummies products, including "Jeopardy" hosts Alex Trebek and Mayim Bialik, Blake Shelton, and Tom Selleck. The ads that led to these fake endorsements usually included clickbait that mentioned "allegations" or described a death hoax. For example, one scam had an ad that falsely claimed Whoopi Goldberg had died, which led to a CBD scam that featured Oprah Winfrey. According to The New York Times, in 2021, legendary Hollywood icon Clint Eastwood once sued and won after a Lithuanian company was accused of using his image and likeness to make it look like he had endorsed its CBD gummies products. It's likely that a picture of Reeves was used in the fake article from Time Magazine. However, we noticed that there weren't other pages that used photographs of the actor. This was likely done on purpose in case the scammers were eventually located by law enforcement. In sum, the question of whether Keanu Reeves CBD Gummies and Smilz CBD Gummies were a scam or legit was simple. It was all a scam. According to various websites, famous film actor Keanu Reeves owns a company named Smilz CBD Gummies and endorsed it in a live television interview. Jordan Liles Published April 4, 2022 By Jordan Liles Jordan Liles is a Senior Reporter who has been with Snopes since 2016. Article Tags
|
[
"culture"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2022/04/GettyImages-1359829203.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/200/https://media.snopes.com/2018/03/rating-scam.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2022/04/keanu-reeves-cbd-gummies-google.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2022/04/keanu-reeves-smilz-cbd-gummies-facebook.jpg",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2022/04/keanu-smilz-cbd-gummies-review.jpg",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "In early April 2022, Google users looked to find out if an interview with Keanu Reeves about products named Smilz CBD Gummies and Keanu Reeves CBD Gummies, which included a mention of the Pfizer pharmaceutical company, was a \"scam or legit.\" After a quick glance, we came to the conclusion that these were both scams .",
"links": [
"https://snopes.com/tag/google",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/keanu-reeves",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/smilz-cbd-gummies",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/cbd",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/pfizer/",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/scams"
]
},
{
"quote": "Reeves , the popular movie star of \"The Matrix: Resurrections,\" never owned a company named Smilz CBD Gummies, nor did he found it. He also had nothing to do with the fake endorsements for any products under the name of Keanu Reeves CBD Gummies or Keanu Reeves CBD Oil .",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/keanu-reeves-road-to-heaven-quote/",
"https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-business-health-keanu-reeves-stress-8c424cf76ace04c7d01af60a34f20b7e"
]
},
{
"quote": "This screenshot shows a listing of Google search results for Keanu Reeves CBD Gummies.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2022/04/keanu-reeves-cbd-gummies-google.jpg"
]
},
{
"quote": "In our research, we found that users had looked to Google to find answers with search terms like \"Keanu Reeves CBD Gummies interview\" or \"Keanu Reeves Smilz CBD Gummies.\" This indicated to us that there was a fake article out there posing as being from a major news website such as Fox News or CNN , for example. That article likely said something about how Reeves had been interviewed on the news and had endorsed his supposed line of Keanu Reeves CBD Gummies or Smilz CBD Gummies . We know this because of other CBD scams we've covered in the past. They usually follow similar patterns.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/fox-news",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/cnn",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sandra-bullock-keanu-reeves/",
"https://archive.ph/TByMk",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/cbd/"
]
},
{
"quote": "However, after a little bit of digging, we were still able to find the fraudulent Reeves interview about Smilz CBD Gummies, all because of a tweet . It showed the headline of an article that's likely being advertised to users online: \"Keanu Reeves on the Hot Seat with Pfizer After his CBD Project Soars - Here's How he's Fighting Back.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/keanu-reeves-trump-successful-man/",
"https://twitter.com/jimmyroybloom/status/1507016575584399364"
]
},
{
"quote": "A Google search for the headline in this tweet brought us to a Facebook comment that was saved to a Google cache page. A user had copied and pasted the entire fake article with the Time Magazine name. Time never published this story. ( Google cache is the company's way of archiving websites.)",
"links": [
"https://archive.ph/N8muZ",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/time/",
"https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1687222?hl=en"
]
},
{
"quote": "The scammers made the mistake of making the text of their fake article readily available by pasting it into a Facebook comment. These kinds of articles are usually difficult to locate if not found through an ad. Their contents are usually hidden from search engines.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2022/04/keanu-reeves-smilz-cbd-gummies-facebook.jpg"
]
},
{
"quote": "The first part of the fake interview with Reeves about Smilz CBD Gummies read as follows:",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/keanu-reeves-ice-cream/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Gifted actor and entrepreneur Keanu Reeves made headlines after revealing his new CBD line on Live TV last week. The pharmaceutical company Pfizer was outraged saying they will be filing a lawsuit against Keanu and his partners for violating their contract and undercutting their prices. Keanu responded with this:",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/keanu-reeves-kidney-cash/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Pfizer was furious after seeing a massive dip in their sales, calling for Keanu to be indicted, saying: \"We're happy Mr. Reeves found something to replace prescriptions, but his announcement was a direct breach of contract. His network should fire him immediately and he should formally apologize.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/keanu-reeves-tragedy-quote/"
]
},
{
"quote": "After the fake interview with Reeves , the rest of the article for Smilz CBD Gummies included other supposed celebrity endorsements from Dwayne \"The Rock\" Johnson , Kevin Hart , Jennifer Aniston , and Matthew McConaughey . Again, none of these people ever endorsed Smilz CBD Gummies or any other similar products with Reeves ' name.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/keanu-reeves-tragic-story/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/does-the-rock-own-a-t-rex-skull/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/kevin-hart-nick-cannon/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jennifer-aniston-no-makeup/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/matthew-mcconaughey-affair/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/keanu-reeves-live-life-fully-quote/"
]
},
{
"quote": "Aside from the interview with Reeves about Smilz CBD Gummies, which again was a scam, we also found traces of a product named Keanu Reeves CBD Gummies.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/keanu-reeves-humans-matrix-quote/",
"https://archive.ph/bac9x",
"https://archive.ph/JUSBJ",
"https://archive.ph/02j6X"
]
},
{
"quote": "We suggest avoiding these kinds of websites.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2022/04/keanu-smilz-cbd-gummies-review.jpg"
]
},
{
"quote": "On these pages that mentioned this product with Reeves ' name were links to place orders. Those links all led to Smilz CBD Gummies.",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/keanu-reeves-saves-cats/"
]
},
{
"quote": "We previously reported on several other celebrities who were included in fake endorsements for CBD gummies products, including \"Jeopardy\" hosts Alex Trebek and Mayim Bialik , Blake Shelton , and Tom Selleck . The ads that led to these fake endorsements usually included clickbait that mentioned \"allegations\" or described a death hoax. For example, one scam had an ad that falsely claimed Whoopi Goldberg had died, which led to a CBD scam that featured Oprah Winfrey .",
"links": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cbd-oil-alex-trebek/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mayim-bialik-cbd-allegations/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/blake-shelton-allegations-cbd-gummies/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tom-selleck-cbd/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/winfrey-goldberg-cbd/",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/whoopi-goldberg/",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/oprah-winfrey"
]
},
{
"quote": "According to The New York Times , in 2021, legendary Hollywood icon Clint Eastwood once sued and won after a Lithuanian company was accused of using his image and likeness to make it look like he had endorsed its CBD gummies products. It's likely that a picture of Reeves was used in the fake article from Time Magazine. However, we noticed that there weren't other pages that used photographs of the actor. This was likely done on purpose in case the scammers were eventually located by law enforcement.",
"links": [
"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/03/movies/clint-eastwood-wins-cbd-lawsuit.html",
"https://snopes.com/tag/clint-eastwood",
"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/03/movies/clint-eastwood-wins-cbd-lawsuit.html",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/keanu-reeves-prostitutes-quote/"
]
}
] |
false
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/airbnb-in-italy/
|
Is this luxurious Italian palace available to rent as an Airbnb?
|
Aleksandra Wrona
| 2023-10-11T00:00:00
|
[
"The video shows an authentic entrance to Palazzo Spinola in Genova, Italy, but the Airbnb listing is located upstairs and is not depicted in the video."
] |
About this rating The video is authentic and shows an entrance to the Palazzo Angelo Giovanni Spinola, located in Genoa, Italy. Although there is an Airbnb apartment available at this location, it is situated on the second floor of the palace. Therefore, the video does not actually show what the apartment itself looks like. In October 2023, a video went viral on X (formerly Twitter), with a caption reading, "Reminder that this is what Airbnbs look like in Italy." The clip showed the lavish, awe-inspiring interior of a building adorned with frescoes and sculptures. “If this is an actual AirBnB, it's only available to family members,” one X user commented. Reminder that this is what Airbnbs look like in Italy. pic.twitter.com/kK9og4ZJ3B — Culture Critic (@Culture_Crit) October 9, 2023 Reminder that this is what Airbnbs look like in Italy. pic.twitter.com/kK9og4ZJ3B — Culture Critic (@Culture_Crit) October 9, 2023 Google reverse-image search results showed that the video was also shared on other platforms. For instance, the same clip was shared on Instagram with a caption “Would you stay here? $138 a night Airbnb in Genoa, Italy ??.” Another viral post on Instagram reached over 13,4 million views and 900 thousand likes, and one of the comments read “I’m Italian and I’ll never leave my country, here it’s not that strange to have an entry like this. We breath art everywhere, I’m so blessed ??.” The in-question video was online at least since April 2023, when it was shared by @thesavagearmy account on TikTok. Another TikTok user reacted to that video claiming to have "good news and bad news," saying that the building was not an Airbnb, but just "a castle that you can take a tour of in Italy." As some social media users suggested, the in-question apartment was available on the Airbnb website under the name "UNESCO APARTMENT: Via Garibaldi - Genova Center." In the “About this space” section we read that the apartment was “located on the second floor of Palazzo Giovanni Spinola (16th century), a UNESCO heritage site.” The remainder of the apartment's description repeated the same information “The apartment (equipped with elevator) located on the second floor is spacious, bright and quiet.” (Airbnb.com Screenshot) As one can see, the actual apartment resembles a standard one rather than a luxurious palace. Moreover, we confirmed that the in-question video authentically showed the entrance to the Palazzo Angelo Giovanni Spinola, by comparing pictures and videos of that place (on the right) to screenshots from the clip (on the left): (Sailko, Wikipedia) All in all, the video is authentic, but the Airbnb apartment is located on the second floor of the palace. Therefore, the video does not show what the Airbnb apartment itself looks like. Because of that, we rated this claim as a Mixture. Palazzo Angelo Giovanni Spinola ce can be found on the Unesco World Heritage List, as part of the Palazzi dei Rolli residences in Genoa’s historic centre: The Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli in Genoa’s historic centre date from the late 16th and early 17th centuries when the Republic of Genoa was at the height of its financial and seafaring power. The site represents the first example in Europe of an urban development project parcelled out by a public authority within a unitary framework and associated to a particular system of ‘public lodging’ in private residences, as decreed by the Senate in 1576. The site includes an ensemble of Renaissance and Baroque palaces along the so-called ‘new streets’ (Strade Nuove). The Palazzi dei Rolli offer an extraordinary variety of different solutions, achieving universal value in adapting to the particular characteristics of the site and to the requirements of a specific social and economic organization. They also offer an original example of a public network of private residences designated to host state visits. If you want to take a closer look at the palace and get to know its history, we recommend watching this video: “If this is an actual AirBnB, it's only available to family members,” one X user commented on this viral video. Aleksandra Wrona Published Oct. 11, 2023 Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. “Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the System of the Palazzi Dei Rolli.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1211/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023. By Aleksandra Wrona Aleksandra Wrona is a reporting fellow for Snopes, based in the Warsaw area. Article Tags
|
[
"culture"
] |
[
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/1200/https://media.snopes.com/2023/10/italy_airbnb.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/200/https://media.snopes.com/2018/03/rating-mixture.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600/https://media.snopes.com/2023/10/airbnb_unesco.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600/https://media.snopes.com/2023/10/palazzo_angelo_giovanni_spinola.png",
"caption": null
},
{
"url": "https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600/https://media.snopes.com/2023/10/unesco_apartment_via_garibaldi_-_genova_center.png",
"caption": null
}
] |
[
{
"quote": "In October 2023, a video went viral on X (formerly Twitter), with a caption reading, \"Reminder that this is what Airbnbs look like in Italy.\" The clip showed the lavish, awe-inspiring interior of a building adorned with frescoes and sculptures. “If this is an actual AirBnB, it's only available to family members,” one X user commented .",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/Culture_Crit/status/1711469609310683415",
"https://twitter.com/staceriley/status/1711470373517283400"
]
},
{
"quote": "Reminder that this is what Airbnbs look like in Italy. pic.twitter.com/kK9og4ZJ3B",
"links": [
"https://t.co/kK9og4ZJ3B"
]
},
{
"quote": "— Culture Critic (@Culture_Crit) October 9, 2023",
"links": [
"https://twitter.com/Culture_Crit/status/1711469609310683415?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
]
},
{
"quote": "Google reverse-image search results showed that the video was also shared on other platforms. For instance, the same clip was shared on Instagram with a caption “Would you stay here? $138 a night Airbnb in Genoa, Italy ??.” Another viral post on Instagram reached over 13,4 million views and 900 thousand likes, and one of the comments read “I’m Italian and I’ll never leave my country, here it’s not that strange to have an entry like this. We breath art everywhere, I’m so blessed ??.”",
"links": [
"https://lens.google.com/search?ep=gisbubb&hl=en-PL&re=df&p=AbrfA8rIHbsKoiWk-nfFcYhTu-tbWWh6aeZDUI4y5Sv58-HBscQ2bThn6-s2i8qLnboCodum0zZgRBeRjut8XOM8QI_NVSs4pf0GdaPSd9nQHkpHaA5RYWIbK3rVpISgQwm1rx8Mpk7oQTxo3dK4pQZgrVUUakJ6aTKI-fnssZ3j-Vh_CaC76VR6oNlDYyaU0fTTultMQxeVdbNiGSHFfUefAa7XlA-upoxnaflsjJy71a0_x0FBKggV02V5xv09xx_iHo4UBRkNe7u-HARlmV1Haw7GaznzImANLgD_rNJmkTBzbLpemXwEJv1H4aYE5dE%3D#lns=W251bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLG51bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLDEsIkVrY0tKRFk1WlROa09UUm1MVGt4TjJFdE5EaGpNeTFoWXpNMExUTTBNMkU0WlRSbFpERm1OeElmVFRsTlUxUjJSazl6TWtGWmIwUk1aa3hPVEZCZlpVOWhPSEo2ZG5OU1p3PT0iLG51bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLG51bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLFtudWxsLG51bGwsW11dXQ==",
"https://www.instagram.com/reel/CreDGMtNiTH/",
"https://www.instagram.com/p/CrQ764Sv7h5/"
]
},
{
"quote": "The in-question video was online at least since April 2023, when it was shared by @thesavagearmy account on TikTok.",
"links": [
"https://www.tiktok.com/@thesavagearmy/video/7217401969470704942"
]
},
{
"quote": "Another TikTok user reacted to that video claiming to have \"good news and bad news,\" saying that the building was not an Airbnb, but just \"a castle that you can take a tour of in Italy.\"",
"links": [
"https://www.tiktok.com/@destinationinspiration/video/7219368751848770858"
]
},
{
"quote": "As some social media users suggested, the in-question apartment was available on the Airbnb website under the name \"UNESCO APARTMENT: Via Garibaldi - Genova Center.\" In the “About this space” section we read that the apartment was “located on the second floor of Palazzo Giovanni Spinola (16th century), a UNESCO heritage site.” The remainder of the apartment's description repeated the same information “The apartment (equipped with elevator) located on the second floor is spacious, bright and quiet.”",
"links": [
"https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/38180213?guests=1&adults=1&viralityEntryPoint=1&s=76&unique_share_id=93e3c10f-6974-4430-9920-2abc6c5da1a0&source_impression_id=p3_1696969141_aSfgrOuNwJU9gwKr"
]
},
{
"quote": "Moreover, we confirmed that the in-question video authentically showed the entrance to the Palazzo Angelo Giovanni Spinola , by comparing pictures and videos of that place (on the right) to screenshots from the clip (on the left):",
"links": [
"https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4109273,8.933727,3a,90y,357.86h,110.22t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sykvO8pg8KO5CasnryKlBZA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en-US&entry=ttu",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p0qjstnEZ8"
]
},
{
"quote": "( Sailko, Wikipedia )",
"links": [
"https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Angelo_Giovanni_Spinola#/media/File:Palazzo_Angelo_Giovanni_Spinola,_androne_con_affreschi_dei_fratelli_calvi,_01.JPG"
]
},
{
"quote": "Palazzo Angelo Giovanni Spinola ce can be found on the Unesco World Heritage List , as part of the Palazzi dei Rolli residences in Genoa’s historic centre:",
"links": [
"https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1211/"
]
},
{
"quote": "If you want to take a closer look at the palace and get to know its history, we recommend watching this video :",
"links": [
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enugsBCLsN0"
]
}
] |
true
|
End of preview.
YAML Metadata
Warning:
empty or missing yaml metadata in repo card
(https://huggingface.co/docs/hub/datasets-cards)
MMM-Fact: A Multimodal, Multi-Domain Fact-Checking Dataset with Multi-Level Retrieval Difficulty
Overview
MMM-Fact is a real-world, multimodal benchmark for fact checking spanning 1995–2025. Each claim is paired with the full fact-check article and cross-modal evidence (text, images, videos, tables) to evaluate multi-step, cross-modal retrieval and reasoning.
Scale & Coverage
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Instances | 125,449 fact-checked claims |
| Time range | 1995–2025 |
| Sources | 4 fact-checking sites + 1 news outlet (each sample includes the complete fact-check article and associated evidence) |
Annotations & Tasks
- Veracity labels: True / False / Not Enough Information
- Supported tasks:
- Veracity prediction
- Explainable fact-checking
- Complex evidence aggregation
- Longitudinal analysis
Retrieval-Difficulty Tiers
To reflect verification effort, each sample is tagged with a retrieval difficulty based on the number of retrievable evidence sources:
| Tier | Evidence Sources |
|---|---|
| Basic | 1–5 sources |
| Intermediate | 6–10 sources |
| Advanced | >10 sources |
Citation
If you find this dataset useful, please cite:
@article{xu2025mmm, title={MMM-Fact: A Multimodal, Multi-Domain Fact-Checking Dataset with Multi-Level Retrieval Difficulty}, author={Xu, Wenyan and Xiang, Dawei and Ding, Tianqi and Lu, Weihai}, journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.25120}, year={2025} }
- Downloads last month
- 69