Sweden

Do 5G waves penetrate red blood cells in the lungs, making them easy prey for COVID-19 to enter and cause oxygen starvation? No, that's not true: The main study used to support the claim is about Wi-Fi, not 5G signals. Scientists have proven that 5G broadband can't enter the body because skin protects the internal organs, and engineering experts point…

Has climate youth activist Greta Thunberg been lying about her age? No, that's not true: Greta is not actually 27 years old. The claim was first published by a liberal satire website that tries to mislead Trump supporters into sharing made up stories that are clearly marked as satire. Foreign-run fake news websites frequently copy articles from the site. The…

Did Muslim shoppers once more attack a Christmas tree in a shopping mall? No, that's not true: every Christmas season the same video clip from Egypt resurfaces with the same or similar captions that claim "Muslims" or "refugees" are attacking or destroying the tree somewhere in Europe or the United States. Just like the tree itself, pointing out that the…

Did the Church of Sweden announce climate activist Greta Thunberg is the "successor" of Jesus Christ? No, that's not true: a single tweet by a local pastor in December 2018 made that controversial claim but he later apologized for it. The Church of Sweden (to which over half of Swedes belong) has issued no official statement making this claim at…

Is Luisa Neubauer the "supervisor" or "handler" of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg? And does Neubauer's relationship with anti-poverty campaign organization One.org prove Thunberg is part of some "elite" plot? No, that's not true: Neubauer is not Thunberg's handler or supervisor so the limited involvement Neubauer has with one.org is completely beside the point in this context. The claim about…

Did Norway deport Muslims causing the country's crime rate to drop 31 percent? No, that's not true: Norway did increase deportation of immigrants who were sentenced to prison, but Muslims were not targeted and the largest number deported were from eastern European countries. The crime rate in Norway -- which was already low compared to the United States -- has…

Hoaxes know no borders, especially in Europe. That's why the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) is proud to announce the launch of FactCheckEU, a collaborative effort from 19 European fact-checking outlets to tackle disinformation and hoaxes, ahead of the 2019 European parliamentary elections in May. FactCheckEU is available at factcheckeu.info. Our work will be shared in 10 different languages, and everything…

A Macedonian military man appears to be one of the driving forces behind a network of fake news websites that reached millions of people with articles often inciting hatred against muslims and migrants. Together with friends and family he has been spreading his messages via Facebook and Twitter. Sometimes under their own names, sometimes using fake identities. A look behind…

Although Macedonian fake news merchants still generate thousands of Facebook likes and shares, the platform's recent measures against bad actors have drastically reduced their reach. The next step in the arms race takes the battle to Twitter. An investigation by Lead Stories and Nieuwscheckers into a network of fake news websites run by several Macedonians revealed a sprawling network of…

Sigh. Was the Clinton Foundation ordered to cease operations and was Chelsea Clinton charged with fraud? No, the same old hoax story that originally came from a liberal satire weblog has gone viral again via a copy on a siite run by a Macedonia-based fake news network. It is still not true. The latest copy of the story appeared as…