Looting

Does a video show looters caught in the act of carrying a big-screen TV and other items from a home in the path of the fire burning Los Angeles County? No, that's not true: The men are not looters but the resident's family, helping save some of her belongings. The video clip on social media aligns with events captured in…

Does a photo show looters in a Target store after a New York jury found Daniel Penny not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely? No, that's not true: This photo of looters in a Target store was taken in Minnesota in 2020, two days after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer.…

Did Taylor Swift endorse Donald Trump in August 2024? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Swift said she wanted people to vote for Trump in the 2024 presidential election campaign. The image of Swift as Uncle Sam with the phrase "TAYLOR WANTS YOU TO VOTE FOR DONALD TRUMP" appears to be AI generated. Swift endorsed Joe Biden…

Did protesters in Washington, D.C., riot and rush people into a house on October 28, 2023, as a video on Instagram claims to show? No, that's not true: The video is from a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest. The homeowner told television station WUSA9 at the time that he invited the protesters into his home to wait out a curfew.…

Does this video actually show damage to a Paris building from a gas explosion last month, as a Twitter Community Note suggests? No, that's not true: This video shows the collapse of a pharmacy building in the town of Montargis, France. The fire had been set by vandals and looters in the night, and the smoldering building finally collapsed on…

Does this video show a crowd gathered in Nanterre, France, to protest the June 27, 2023, killing of Nahel Merzouk by police? No, that's not true: This video of a crowd at El Zocalo, the main square of Mexico City, was filmed and posted online on June 3, 2023. It shows a crowd gathered for a concert by Los Fabulosos…

Does a video show that Algerians have taken over France in the summer of 2023? No, that's not true: The video was filmed in Paris in 2019 at a time when there were protests in Algeria. Peaceful protests were attended in cities around the world by the Algerian diaspora who objected to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announcing that after 20…

Did "leftist activists" loot a Target store in response to the 2023 Target boycott started by right-wingers? No, that's not true: In the tweet making that claim, the image is from 2020, three years before the protest over LGBTQ+ merchandise. The Minneapolis Target was ransacked in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd. There are multiple articles from 2020…

Does this photo posted by the Twitter account @CaptainJenkem show the man who drove his vehicle into a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin? No, that's not true: This photo is not recent and has a history of being used in pranks since 2015. This photo is not related to the Waukesha, Wisconsin, Christmas parade incident on November 21, 2021. Since…

By Dana Ford and Alexis Tereszcuk Does Mike Lindell's "Absolute Proof" video, which promises to expose election fraud, contain only factual and proven statements about the 2020 election? No, that's not true: The nearly two-hour video recycles familiar conspiracy theories, touching on claims that have been widely and repeatedly debunked. Among the disproven allegations are that dead people voted, that…