France

Does a video show French prisoners celebrating the killing of two police officers in an ambush in May 2024? No, that's not true: The video predates the attack by almost a year. The ambush happened as a prisoner named Mohamed Amra rode in a prison van; a car struck the van and gunmen shot the two officers, allowing Amra to…

Did French Air Force aerobatic jets accidentally emit smoke that displayed the Russian flag to mark the May 8, 2024, arrival of the Olympic flame in the French city of Marseille? No, that's not true: The eight Alpha Jets left smoke trails in the colors and order of France's tricolor -- blue, white and red. Russia's tricolor is white, blue…

Did controversial naturopath Barbara O'Neill endorse a recipe of thyme oil said to "eliminate 97% of lung tumor cells," as a post on Facebook suggested? No, that's not true: O'Neill is the subject of a fake post on Facebook designed to look as though it belongs to O'Neill. A link in the post's comment section redirects users to an unrelated…

Does a photo from Ivanka Trump's graduation, with Donald Trump not shown, prove that Trump did not attend his daughter's commencement ceremony? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found Ivanka Trump's Facebook photo album documenting her 2004 graduation from the University of Pennsylvania. The album has two photos, one of them shows her in a graduation cap and gown, standing…

Does a viral video prove that Israel voted "for Palestine" during a United Nations Security Council meeting? No, that's not true: In the meeting the then-president of the U.N. Security Council read a list of the countries supporting a resolution on Gaza days after the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. He included Israel but he immediately corrected himself and…

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…