News Punch

The year is almost over, so it is good to look back. First, the numbers, as of December 15, 2022. This year we have published 1,555 fact checks in English (so far ...) 283 fact checks about COVID misinformation; 244 debunks of Russian propaganda and false claims about the invasion of Ukraine; 140 debunks of false claims about election fraud,…

Is the World Economic Forum (WEF) calling for a new initiative to "slaughter" millions of cats and dogs in order to decrease the effects of climate change? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that this is a real WEF initiative. NewsPunch, where the claim originated, fabricated the claim using some material from a CNN article that does not…

Does a picture grid showing more than a dozen famous people, all of them with what seem to be black eyes, prove they got them from the COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: All the images shown in the social media post were taken before December 2020, when the shots first became available. The claim appeared on Instagram on November…

Do photos circulating on social media show a recently captured Ukrainian POW with a swastika tattoo on his back? No, that's not true: These are seven-year-old images, taken during fighting in 2015 with armed, Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. A 2015 video interview with an individual who closely resembles the man in these photos established that he is…

Did billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates tell the world leaders gathered at the November 2022 Group of 20 (G-20) summit that "death panels" will soon be required? No, that's not true: Gates did not attend the conference in Indonesia, and his remarks about health care that included the words "death panels" were made in 2010. The claim appeared in a story…

Was World Economic Forum Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab caught planning a "mass extinction event"? No, that's not true: The article and video that said so did not discuss the actions or words of Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF), or anyone from the WEF's board of trustees. The allegedly "leaked" video in the claim presented as proof of…

Will the World Economic Forum (WEF) soon force people to wear "brain implants" so that the global elite can read their minds? No, that's not true: This claim turns a speculative conversation about possible future technologies into a plot for global dominion. Despite public availability of the video, NewsPunch did not provide any other publicly available evidence of a WEF…

Is Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the son of the late former Cuban President Fidel Castro? No, that's not true: That's an oft-repeated conspiracy theory that is not supported by any official evidence. A recent claim appeared in an article (archived here) published by NewsPunch on August 10, 2022, with a headline that read "Bombshell Evidence PROVES Justin Trudeau Is…

Was Bill Gates caught admitting the climate change agenda is a giant scam for the New World Order? No, that's not true: A video clip of Gates used in a claim does not show him saying the word "scam" when speaking about climate change. He never said the word, and his comments regarding solutions for climate change are taken wildly…

Is President Joe Biden going to launch a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC) in December 2022? No, that's not true: Although Biden signed an executive order in March 2022 that required research into the future of money and payment systems in the country, the order did not mandate that the federal government establish a national CBDC. The claim appeared…