China

Do all the collapsed bridge photos on social media really show the Nov. 11, 2025 collapse of the Hongqi bridge in southwest China? No, that's not true: The new Hongqi bridge did collapse, one day after it was closed to traffic due to the appearance of cracks. But many photos circulating on social media have been miscaptioned -- they show…

Does a real photo show a puffer parka filled with beer that can be sipped via a straw in the Tsingtao-labelled jacket's collar? No, that's not true: A major U.S. distributor of the popular Chinese beer brand told Lead Stories they have seen no such promotional product. Reverse image search shows no other photos in the wild of such a…

Does a video posted on TikTok show Hurricane Melissa as it is making landfall in Kingston, Jamaica? No, that's not true: These clips show storms which happened around the world, some fairly recently, and some years in the past. One clip remains unidentified, of the fifteen others, none shows Hurricane Melissa. The miscaptioned video montage (archived here) was published by…

Is a viral story about Johnny Depp saying "I don't know who that is" about Charlie Kirk and the reactions to it real? No, that's not true: The article, which also has Depp saying he doesn't follow "men who shout for a living", originated on a Facebook pages and site run from Vietnam. There are no actual news reports of…

Do California and New York issue commercial driver's licenses with no name given, and did Oklahoma arrest 125 "illegals" with such CDLs? No, that's not true: The so-called "No Name Given" commercial driver's licenses include a mononym, which is a single name. The use of mononyms is legal in the United States and is even accepted for U.S. passports. State…

Did Finland test "the world's first engine-less superconducting maglev cargo pipeline, capable of moving cargo at over 500 km/h using no engines, wheels or tracks", as a social media post claimed? No, that's not true: As of August 28, 2025, no media organizations reported on the purported test in Oulu, Finland. The organization that was described as having developed the…

Does a video show evidence that dog food is being made with ground up cardboard as a main ingredient? No, that's not true: The video on social media features clips showing real scenes from several sources including dog food manufacturing plants and trash recycling facilities. There is no evidence the ground cardboard pulp shown in one clip is going into…

Does a viral video show a "Massive Tornado Hits Springfield Illinois Today July 20, 2025"? No, that's not true: That video clip has been online since at least July 2024. It showed news coverage of Typhoon Yagi striking China's island province of Hainan. The mislabelled video was posted July 20, 2025 to TikTok (archived here) on the @disaster.world1 account, titled…

Does a viral video really show a Chinese electric helicopter you can buy for $300 and that can stay in the air for ten hours? No, that's not true: The video does not show a single-seat helicopter capable of flying at 120 kilometres per hour made by Xiaomi or "the world's cheapest helicopter". It shows an American-made helicopter from Florida…

Does a viral video show an attack, fire or explosion in Tel Aviv, Israel? No, that's not true: The video actually shows a fire in a parking lot for motorcycles in Chongqing, China. Several social media posts falsely claimed the footage showed the result of an Iranian attack on Israel. An example of such a false attribution can be seen…