AP Fact Check
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CLAIM: The U.S. accidentally sent Ukraine $6 billion in military aid. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The claim misinterprets an announcement by a Pentagon spokesperson in June that the agency had overestimated the value of weapons it sent to Ukraine over the past two years by $6.2 billion.
THE FACTS: Bill Gates is once again at the center of false reports on social media for his commitment to addressing the impacts of climate change.
THE FACTS: A week after social media users misrepresented a video of a helicopter releasing black smoke as a swarm of malaria-carrying mosquitoes funded by the Microsoft co-founder, the same false claim is being applied to similar footage in other states.
THE FACTS: After a rare, powerful earthquake struck Morocco last week, social media users began falsely claiming that the video was connected to the devastation in North Africa.
THE FACTS: Social media users are sharing a video showing the outside of an office that FEMA recently opened in Chicago to suggest the agency knows something bad is about to happen but isn’t warning residents.
California lawmakers have approved a bill that would instruct courts to consider, among many other factors, whether a parent affirms a child’s gender identity when making custody and visitation decisions.
THE FACTS: As the 2024 presidential race enters the fall primary season, some on social media are trying to tie elections to COVID-19 waves, falsely claiming that the virus is a tool to control the outcome.
THE FACTS: Social media users are sharing a video showing a helicopter circling while releasing a dark substance, falsely claiming the footage shows genetically modified mosquitoes being released to spread disease.
THE FACTS: As Cash App dealt with a system outage that prevented customers from accessing their accounts this week, some social media users suggested the online company had gone belly up.
THE FACTS: A meme being shared by gun-rights groups on social media suggests there are so many hunters in the U.S. that they could take on the world’s combined military might.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False.
THE FACTS: A video is circulating on social media that purports to show native Hawaiians being forcibly removed from their homes in Maui in the aftermath of the devastating fires last month.
Social media users shared a range of false claims this week. Here are the facts: While flooding in Nevada stranded tens of thousands of Burning Man attendees last weekend, there was not an Ebola outbreak at the event, contrary to social media posts.
THE FACTS: Social media users are casting doubt on the COVID-19 vaccine by sharing a misleading meme that suggests the flu, measles, mumps and rubella still exist even though inoculations against those diseases have been around for decades.
THE FACTS: A video from the exhibition is being misrepresented online, with social media users falsely claiming it shows how airline passengers might one day fly.
THE FACTS: As authorities prepare to release an updated version of a COVID-19 booster in mid-September, some social media users are again spreading false and misleading claims about rare side-effects.
THE FACTS: Social media users are continuing to spread baseless claims that the nation’s deadliest blaze in more than a century was intentionally set by the government.
THE FACTS: A summer storm left muddy roads flooded in Nevada, stranding tens of thousands of partygoers at the festival before event organizers let traffic flow out of the main road Monday afternoon.
THE FACTS: Social media users are sharing select footage from a May 2023 conference featuring multiple speakers known for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. The video is edited to make it appear the woman, whose credentials are not mentioned, is speaking on behalf of WHO at a press conference or a gathering of the entire European Parliament.
THE FACTS: Social media users are claiming Arkansas is ditching voting machines in favor of old school pen-and-paper.