France

Did President Joe Biden give $16 billion of American money away to Iran in 2023? No, that's not true: First, it's important to say that the amount in question is $6 billion, not $16 billion. Secondly, the money wasn't U.S. taxpayer dollars to begin with; the funds were Iranian financial assets that had been frozen in South Korea due to…

Does a meme about mail-in voting correctly describe which countries forbid it? No, the list is misleading regarding some countries, lacks context in some cases and is inaccurate in at least one case by including Japan, which does allow mail-in voting as of April 2024. Many of the countries listed allow absentee or mail-in ballots for citizens who are living…

Do long-distance photos, showing things up to hundreds of miles away, provide evidence that the Earth is not curved? No, that's not true: Photos of faraway objects might appear flat because of Earth's large size, not because Earth itself is flat. While the Earth's surface does curve in these photos, it may not be noticeable due to the vast scale…

Does a viral video capture an act of cannibalism in Haiti in mid-March 2024? No, that's not true: It shows a movie set in Nigeria. The video also predates this year's political crisis in Haiti. The clip started to circulate in 2018. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, on March 11, 2024.…

Did the Maldives announce its bankruptcy at the International Monetary Fund as of February 18, 2024? No, that's not true: A publicly available report issued by the International Monetary Fund on February 6, 2024, said the South Asian country was at a high risk of "debt distress," but never said it was bankrupt or had announced bankruptcy. As of February…

Did France 24 report that French President Emmanuel Macron cancelled a visit to Ukraine over fears of an assassination attempt? No, that's not true: France 24 debunked the claim. The video purporting to show the network report the news is a deepfake, generated by AI. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, on…

Did the European public broadcaster Euronews publish or air a report about French farmers attacking the Ukrainian embassy in Paris in early February 2024? No, that's not true: The video with the TV channel's logo couldn't be found on the Euronews website. The footage in question was originally recorded in a different French city. It predated the alleged date of…

Were the Nazis involved with the abortion pill RU-486 as claimed by an anti-abortion activist? No, that's not true: The French company that created the pill did so in the 1980s, but the activist made the connection by claiming the company is owned by a German company that created the poisonous gas that was used in Nazi death camps during…

Did Israel officially admit that its army bombed the Nova Festival and caused the death of 364 Israelis during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023? No, that's not true: Israeli officials called the claim "untrue" and "fake." Additionally, there is no evidence presented to support the assertion that the Israel Defense Forces attacked the music festival, resulting in the…

Is Elon Musk associated with a device that claims to cut "your heating bill to basically $0"? No, that's not true: There's no evidence the SpaceX founder has any connection to the heating unit being peddled on the internet. A picture of Musk holding the device in an online article about the product appears to be created using photo editing.…