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AP Fact Check

FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2016 photo, flowers and notes left by well-wishers outside a pizza restaurant in northwest Washington, D.C.,are shown, where a North Carolina man fired an assault rifle multiple times as he attempted to "self-investigate" the conspiracy theory known as "Pizzagate. On Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, ť¨˝ˇÖą˛Ľ reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming an expert who debunked the “pizzagate” conspiracy theory has been jailed for possessing child sexual abuse images. (AP Photo/Jessica Gresko, File)

NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

 
FILE - The FBI seal is pictured in Omaha, Neb., Aug. 10, 2022. A White House advisory board is calling for major changes in how the FBI uses a controversial foreign surveillance tool. The President’s Intelligence Advisory Board issued a report Monday, July 31, 2023, with new recommendations related to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

No, the FBI has not confirmed ‘pizzagate’ is real

 
AP News Verification

Years-old image does not show an Israeli soldier pinning a child to the ground

 
FILE - In this Dec. 5, 2016 file photo, the front door of Comet Ping Pong pizza shop in Washington. Edgar Maddison Welch of Salisbury, N.C.. who police said was inspired by false internet rumors dubbed “pizzagate” to fire an assault weapon inside a Washington pizzeria pleaded guilty Friday, March 24, 2017, to two charges. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Elon Musk and others spread meme reviving unfounded ‘pizzagate’ conspiracy theory

 
FILE - In this Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, file photo, election workers in Fulton County began working through a recount of ballots in Atlanta. Investigators with Georgia’s secretary of state’s office have not found any evidence to substantiate claims that fraudulent or counterfeit ballots were counted in Fulton County during the 2020 general election. Henry County Superior Court Chief Judge Brian Amero is presiding over a lawsuit that alleges fraud in Fulton County during last year’s election. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)

Trump misleadingly cites ‘duplicate’ ballots in disputed Georgia county as proof of election fraud

 

Years-old video of empty store on Black Friday was filmed in London, not the US

 

More Fact Checks

AP News Verification

Video of West Bank fighting does not show a Doctors Without Borders medic giving a man a rifle

CLAIM: A video shows a Doctors Without Borders medic in the West Bank city of Jenin take an assault rifle from a man lying on the ground and hand it to a man nearby who begins shooting.
 
FILE - A health worker administers a dose of COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination clinic in Reading, Pa. On Friday, Nov. 24, 2023, ť¨˝ˇÖą˛Ľ reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine contains a DNA sequence called Simian Virus 40 that can cause health problems, including cancer. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

Social media users shared a range of false claims this week. Here are the facts: DNA fragments used in the development of the coronavirus vaccine -- such as a portion of SV40’s DNA sequence — are not causing health problems in people who have received the COVID-19 vaccine.
 
FILE - In this April 23, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump's name is seen on a stimulus check issued by the IRS to help combat the adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak, in San Antonio. All that aid is now gone. Yet prospects for more federal stimulus this year appear all but dead, clouding the future for the unemployed, for small businesses and for the economy as a whole.(AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

No, the IRS isn’t distributing ‘stimulus checks’ in certain states this month, despite claims online

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False.
 

Video misrepresents Biden’s departure from White House turkey pardon

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False.
 
An off-duty Israeli soldier carrying a rifle walks by candles and the national flag honoring those who were killed or taken captive in a brutal cross-border attack by Hamas militants on Oct 7, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. More than 1,400 Israelis were killed, and over 200 people are being held hostage in Gaza. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Video shows Israeli soldiers raising a flag over a Gaza school building, not a hospital

CLAIM: A video shows Israeli soldiers placing a flag atop Gaza’s Shifa Hospital.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False.
 

Newly released Jan. 6 footage does not show a federal agent flashing his badge while undercover

CLAIM: Security camera footage from Jan. 6, 2021, shows a federal agent disguised as a supporter of then-President Donald Trump during the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
 
FILE - Pharmacist Sima Manifar prepares a children's dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination clinic at City of Lawrence's "The Center," which serves seniors, families and the community, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021, in Lawrence, Mass. Pfizer has begun a study comparing its original COVID-19 vaccine with doses specially tweaked to match the omicron variant. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced the study on Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

No evidence that DNA sequence used in Pfizer shot leads to cancer and other health issues

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False.
 

Compounds shown in 2019 news clip not linked to Hamas, despite online claims

CLAIM: A news clip shows compounds in the U.S. where Hamas was “training hidden in plain sight.”

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False.
 
FILE - A sign covered with ice advertises a COVID-19 vaccination site in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021. On Friday, Nov. 17, 2023, ť¨˝ˇÖą˛Ľ reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming over-the-counter cold and cough medications are being pulled from drugstore shelves in an effort to start the “next plandemic” or force people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

Social media users shared a range of false claims this week. Here are the facts: Over-the-counter cold and cough medications aren’t being pulled from drugstore shelves for nefarious reasons — some products that contain phenylephrine as a single ingredient are being voluntarily removed at CVS stores
 
FILE - An aerial view of President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate is seen Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022, in Palm Beach, Fla. Social media users are sharing a satirical post claiming a bank foreclosing on Mar-a-Lago club as real. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Satirical post about bank foreclosing on Mar-a-Lago spreads as real

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False.
 

Video does not show the Nile River filled with red water. It’s footage of a lagoon in Chile

CLAIM: A video shows that the Nile River recently turned red, portending catastrophes.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The video does not show the Nile River.
 
FILE - Sudafed and other common nasal decongestants containing pseudoephedrine are on display behind the counter at Hospital Discount Pharmacy in Edmond, Okla., Jan. 11, 2005. Social media users are falsely claiming that all over-the-counter cold and cough medications have been pulled from drugstore shelves in recent days. But only some over-the-counter cold and cough medicines that contain phenylephrine as a single ingredient are being voluntarily removed at CVS stores after an FDA advisory committee found the ingredient to be ineffective. (AP Photo, File)

Voluntary removal of popular cold-and-cough medications from store shelves fuels conspiracy theories

CLAIM: Over-the-counter cold and cough medications are being pulled from drugstore shelves in an effort to start the “next plandemic” or force people to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
 
FILE - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participate in a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021. Russia's war on Ukraine will top the agenda when U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts meet in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Tuesday and Wednesday. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys, File)

No, NATO has not urged Ukraine to surrender, despite what social media posts claim

CLAIM: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has called on Ukraine to surrender to Russia.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The 31-nation alliance has made no such call.
 
FILE - President Joe Biden arrives at a military airport in Warsaw, Poland, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. Social media users shared a video of people deplaning Air Force One and a person falling down the stairs, falsely claiming it was Biden. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Biden did not fall down airplane stairs while disembarking from a flight in Poland

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False.
 
FILE - An NFT, or non-fungible token, is displayed on a billboard in Time Square, New York, on Nov. 4, 2021. Collins Dictionary has chosen the term NFT as its word of the year after surging interest in the digital tokens that can sell for millions of dollars brought it into the mainstream. NFT is short for non-fungible token. Collins defines it as “a unique digital certificate, registered in a blockchain, that is used to record ownership of an asset such as an artwork or a collectible." (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Video showing a pro-Israel ABC News billboard in NYC is fabricated

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False.
 
AP News Verification

No, video doesn’t show a Palestinian ‘crisis actor’ admitting to his mother his injuries are fake

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False.
 
Crowds with Spanish flags pack the central Puerta del Sol during a protest called by Spain's Conservative Popular Party in Madrid, Spain, Sunday Nov.12, 2023. The Popular Party are protesting Spain's Socialists deal to grant amnesty to Catalan separatists in exchange for support of new government. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

Video of an unrelated protest in Madrid is being misrepresented as a pro-Palestinian demonstration

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False.
 
FILE - A voter casts their ballot at a secure ballot drop box at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix, Nov. 1, 2022. The Justice Department will send monitors to 24 states in an effort to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws in Tuesday's elections. The 64 jurisdictions where federal monitors are being sent include Maricopa County, Arizona, where there have been reports of people watching ballot boxes, sometimes armed or wearing ballistic vests. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

Voting locations in Arizona’s Maricopa County didn’t close early unexpectedly, despite claims online

CLAIM: Voting locations in Maricopa County, Arizona closed early without notice on Election Day.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: Missing context.
 
AP News Verification

A short film from Lebanon is being misrepresented to accuse Palestinians of staging injuries

CLAIM: A video shows a makeup artist applying dirt and fake blood to a young girl on a stretcher, proving that people in Gaza are faking injuries in the latest Israel-Hamas war.
 
FILE - Mel Gibson arrives at the 89th Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Feb. 6, 2017. Gibson spent a week in a Los Angeles hospital in April after testing positive for COVID-19, his representative said Friday. The 64-year-old actor and director has since completely recovered and is doing “great” according to the rep. He also said Gibson has tested negative “numerous times” since then. Gibson is the latest in a long string of high profile figures to go public with their coronavirus diagnoses and recoveries including Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, George Stephanopoulos and the singer Pink. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

Mel Gibson did not post on social media about ‘the end’ of Israel

CLAIM: An image shows a social media post by actor Mel Gibson about “the end” of Israel and the country’s desire to “destroy everything” in its way.