Culture & entertainment fact checks

Claim: Viswasam movie hashtag stands first in Twitter

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The claim concerned a viral post saying that Ajith’s film Viswasam had ranked first in Twitter India’s 2019 list of influential moments. The review says the post spread after a graphic placed Viswasam at the top; reports then treated the graphic as if it were Twitter’s official ranking. The investigation found that the graphic’s appearance in a report did not establish that Twitter had published it as an official list. (The review describes the list as “Most Influential Moments.”)

Claim titanic singer Celine Dion dead

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

Claim archive footage of Bruce Lee playing table tennis viral

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

In den sozialen Netzwerken wird ein Sharepic verbreitet, das den ehemaligen Chefredakteur von ARD-Aktuell, Kai Gniffke, zeigt. Dabei wird dem Mann das folgende Zitat in den Mund gelegt: «Ich kann diese Lügen und Manipulationen der deutschen Öffentlichkeit nicht länger ertragen und erkläre deshalb hiermit meine sofortige Kündigung.»

Publisher’s rating: Der ehemalige Chefredakteur von ARD-Aktuell hat diese Worte nicht gesagt.

The claim concerns a social-media sharepic showing Kai Gniffke and attributing to him a statement that he could no longer tolerate alleged lies and manipulation and was resigning immediately. The review identifies the image and quotes the words attributed to him, so its subject is the specific claim in question. (S1: “In den sozialen Netzwerken wird ein Sharepic verbreitet, das den ehemaligen Chefredakteur von ARD-Aktuell, Kai Gniffke, zeigt. Dabei wird dem Mann das folgende Zitat in den Mund gelegt: «Ich kann diese Lügen und Manipulationen der deutschen Öffentlichkeit nicht länger ertragen und erkläre deshalb hiermit meine sofortige Kündigung.»”) The review places the claim in the context of Gniffke’s move from ARD-Aktuell to the SWR. It says he had been ARD-Aktuell’s first editor-in-chief from 2006 and that the sharepic circulated more widely after his election as SWR director in late May 2019; he took up that post in September 2019. These details help distinguish the social-media claim from his actual change of role. (S1: “Bevor Kai Gniffke Intendant beim Südwestrundfunk (SWR) wurde, war er von 2006 an Erster Chefredakteur von ARD-Aktuell in Hamburg”; “Nach seiner Wahl zum Intendanten Ende Mai 2019 kursierte verstärkt das Sharepic mit dem Kündigungszitat. Die Stelle beim SWR trat er im September 2019 an.”) As evidence about the alleged words, the review reports that SWR company spokesperson Wolfgang Utz called the image a fake in response to dpa’s inquiry. It also reports that the claim had been circulating since 2016, before Gniffke became SWR director. The review further attributes the quote’s online origin to the website Propagandaschau, citing Mimikama’s analysis and identifying an April 1, 2016 post. Thus the reported provenance and the spokesperson’s response both concern the same alleged resignation quote, rather than a different statement or event. (S1: “«Das ist natürlich ein Fake», erklärt SWR-Unternehmenssprecher Wolfgang Utz auf Anfrage der Deutschen Presse-Agentur.”; “Die Faktenchecker von «mimikama» machten als Quelle des Kündigungszitats die «Propagandaschau» aus”; “Diese habe das Gerücht am 1. April 2016 über das Internet verbreitet”)

East India Company Released Coins in 1818 With Hindu Deities

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

Claim edited image of NDTV report saying SRK paid 2 crore to Burj Khalifa on his birthday

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar is a Canadian citizen

Publisher’s rating: True

Research from related reporting supports the claim as it stood at the time of the 2019 review, while showing that it later became outdated. A report says Akshay Kumar “was a Canadian citizen till August 2023,” and another states that he “held Canadian citizenship before officially regaining his Indian citizenship on India's Independence Day, August 15, 2023.” Together, these accounts support that he was a Canadian citizen before that change, including at the time relevant to the claim. The evidence also supplies important timing: Kumar’s Canadian citizenship did not remain his reported status indefinitely. The later reporting places his return to Indian citizenship on August 15, 2023. Thus, the claim is supported in its 2019 context, but should not be read as a statement that he is still a Canadian citizen after the reported change.

Galvão Bueno deixa a Globo após anos de contrato, assina com a concorrência e deixa o público em choque

Publisher’s rating: Falso

Iraqi archaeologist Dr. Abdallah and Iraqi poet Amal Aljabouri crying at a British Museum.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a photograph said to show Iraqi archaeologist Dr. Abdallah and poet Amal Aljabouri crying over Iraqi artefacts at the British Museum. FACTLY identifies the image’s setting instead as the Assyrian gallery of the Baghdad Museum in Iraq, during a brief reopening in 2003 to display the ancient Nimrud treasures. The article says the people pictured were an Iraqi man and woman; it does not identify the man as Dr. Abdallah. To check the image, FACTLY reports using reverse-image search, which led to an Independent article that used the same photograph in a gallery about Nimrud’s destruction. The Independent’s photo description placed the scene in 2003 at the Baghdad Museum, and the image was credited to Reuters. FACTLY then searched Reuters Pictures and found the same photo there, which it says corroborated the Baghdad Museum location. The article also reports that Amal Al-Jabouri identified herself in a comment on the social-media post. She said the man with her was Muwaffaq Tikriti, that the photograph was taken at the Iraqi Museum in Baghdad rather than the British Museum, and that she and her colleagues cried over the loss of Iraqi heritage and Iraqis. This account supports the article’s conclusion that the image was miscaptioned: it depicts a visit to the Baghdad Museum, not the British Museum.

«Erst wenn eine Mücke auf deinen Hoden landet wirst du lernen, deine Probleme ohne Gewalt zu lösen.» Dieser eingängige Spruch wird in sozialen Medien verbreitet und dem chinesischen Philosophen Konfuzius zugeschrieben.

Publisher’s rating: Es gibt keinen Beleg dafür, dass das Zitat von Konfuzius stammt.

The review examines a social-media saying about learning to solve problems without violence after a mosquito lands on one’s testicles, which is attributed to Confucius. It reports that Lun Du, chair of the German Confucian Society, did not recognize the saying and told the agency that it could not have come from Confucius. The review also sought an assessment from the Confucius Institute at Freie Universität Berlin; the institute considered the attribution very unlikely. The reasoning rests on those expert assessments and on a contrast with the style of Confucius’s transmitted sayings: the institute said they were generally characterized by elegant language. The review does not identify an original author or establish when or where the saying first appeared. Its evidence therefore addresses whether the attribution is supported, rather than proving who coined the saying.

Claim light show from Istanbul viral as Chandannagar

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

Claim: Rare video of Bruce Lee playing Table Tennis

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The claim concerned a video circulated as rare footage of Bruce Lee playing table tennis with nunchucks in 1970. The review says it examined a post by Magesh Manali dated October 21, 2019, and notes that the footage showed someone resembling Lee playing at high speed. It also reports that the video was being shared as footage made while Lee was alive. To check that attribution, the review says it searched Google for supporting information. It found that the clip was instead a digital advertisement made in 2008 to promote Nokia’s limited-edition Bruce Lee phone to Chinese customers. The review describes the performer as someone who looked like Lee, and says graphics were used to depict him playing table tennis. That account distinguishes the advertised performance from authentic historical footage: the person in the video was not Bruce Lee, and the clip was created as a Nokia promotion, not filmed in 1970. The review also notes that others had previously examined the video and concluded that the performer was not Lee. Its finding therefore addresses the specific video’s identity and provenance, rather than Lee’s general martial-arts abilities.

Archival footage of Bruce Lee playing ping pong with nunchucks

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

Claim: Film director Pa Ranjith claims over Ayodhya land

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

Wird der Weihnachtsmarkt auf dem Berliner Breitscheidplatz in einem Käfig gefeiert? In sozialen Medien kursiert ein Foto von den Aufbauarbeiten, auf dem ein solche Konstruktion zu sehen ist. Darunter steht «Weihnachtsmarkt in Berlin... Soweit ist es gekommen... Wir feiern Weihnachten in Käfigen».

Publisher’s rating: Wir feiern Weihnachten nicht in Käfigen.

The claim concerned a photograph of construction work at Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz Christmas market. Its caption suggested that the market was being held inside cages. The review says the market was not held in a cage; the enclosure visible in the image consisted of fencing around the event site, not a structure containing visitors. (S1: “Der Weihnachtsmarkt am Breitscheidplatz findet nicht in einem Käfig statt.”; “Der Veranstaltungsort war jedoch von doppelwandigen, rund einen Meter breiten Drahtzäunen umgeben, die für sich durchaus käfig-ähnlich aussehen.”) The review identifies the pictured barriers as double-walled wire fences about one metre wide. They may look cage-like, but the review says they held heavy sandbags rather than people. It cites photographs of the setup taken from another perspective as evidence of what was inside the fenced area. (S1: “Darin waren allerdings keine Menschen untergebracht, sondern schwere Sandsäcke.”; “Das zeigen Fotos der Aufbauarbeiten, die aus einer anderen Perspektive aufgenommen wurden”) The image was not new to the 2019 claim: the review says a dpa photographer had taken it in November 2018, and that the market was not held in a cage then either. The review places the security measures in context of the 2016 attack at the market, saying the site had since been secured particularly against vehicle attacks, including with sandbags. Thus, the photograph showed a security arrangement that could resemble a cage, not visitors celebrating inside one. (S1: “Das Bild im Beitrag wurde bereits im November 2018 von einem dpa-Fotografen aufgenommen.”; “Seitdem wird der Markt vor allem gegen Angriffe mit Autos und Lastwagen gesichert, zum Beispiel durch Sandsäcke.”)

網傳摩根費里曼語錄圖：「我厭惡恐同症這個字眼，這根本就不是什麼恐懼症，你也並非真的在害怕什麼，你只是一個混帳東西而己」？經查發文內容非摩根費里曼原創或轉述，為偽名人語錄，乃「錯誤」訊息。

Publisher’s rating: 錯誤

The claim concerns an image attributing to Morgan Freeman a statement that homophobia is not a real phobia and that people who hold homophobic views are “assholes.” The review says the image had circulated in the United States since 2012 and later resurfaced in Taiwan. Its investigation found a 2013 post with matching wording, but the account identified itself as a Freeman fan account, said it was unaffiliated with the actor, and was no longer active by the time of the review. To check whether the statement came from Freeman, the investigators searched his official Facebook page using the terms “homophobia,” “phobia,” and “asshole.” They report that none produced a matching post. The review also notes that the two Twitter accounts associated with imitative posts in 2012 and 2013 had become inactive, and that Freeman had no public Twitter account, according to the 2019 U.S. fact-check it discusses. The review describes two U.S. fact-checks: Snopes traced the attribution to a 2012 post by an account called “Tweets from God,” while CheckYourFact reported the image circulating again in June 2019. Taken together with the fan-account identification and the unsuccessful searches of Freeman’s official Facebook page, this evidence supports the review’s conclusion that the quotation was falsely attributed to him rather than established as his original statement or a remark he repeated.

1818-ல் வெளியிடப்பட்ட 2 அணா நாணயத்தின் முகப்பு. ஸ்ரீராமர் பட்டாபிஷேகம் பின்புறம்.

Publisher’s rating: Fake

Die einen verteidigen spanisches «Kulturgut», die anderen fordern ein Ende der «Barbarei»: Der Stierkampf in Spanien ist seit Jahren heftig umstritten. Nun macht im Netz die Behauptung die Runde, das Europaparlament habe am 23. Oktober dafür gestimmt, Stierkämpfe zu subventionieren

Publisher’s rating: Das EU-Parlament hat allgemein über den Agrarhaushalt der Europäischen Union abgestimmt. Die Subventionierung von Stierkämpfen ist darin nicht vorgesehen. Dennoch ist nicht ausgeschlossen, dass EU-Geld indirekt auch in die Stierkampf-Industrie fließt.

The claim concerns a European Parliament vote on 23 October and says that the vote was to subsidize bullfighting. The review reports instead that Parliament voted on the EU’s agricultural budget generally; it says that subsidizing bullfighting was not included in that vote. The article therefore distinguishes a budget vote from a decision to direct funds to bullfighting. [S1]

సగటున 7.5 లక్షల పర్యాటకులు ఏటా తాజ్ మహల్ ని సందర్శిస్తే, గత ఒక సంవత్సరంలో 26 లక్షల మంది స్టాట్యూ ఆఫ్ యూనిటీ ని సందర్శించారు.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

Annually, an average of 7.5 lakh people visit the Taj Mahal and 26 lakh people visit the Statue of Unity.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim compares annual visitor totals for the Taj Mahal and the Statue of Unity, presenting 7.5 lakh and 26 lakh visitors respectively. FACTLY’s review checks that comparison and finds that the figures refer to different periods: its account gives the Taj Mahal’s total for the financial year 2018–19, while the Statue of Unity figure covers nearly 11 months after its inauguration. For the Taj Mahal, the review cites visitor figures supplied in a Lok Sabha answer by Prahlad Singh Patel, then Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Culture and Tourism. It reports nearly 70 lakh visitors in 2018–19, not 7.5 lakh. That discrepancy is the decisive evidence against the claim’s Taj Mahal figure. For the Statue of Unity, FACTLY reports around 26 lakh visitors in nearly 11 months. It says this figure was reported by the Times of India and attributes related ticket-sales information to Rajiv Gupta, managing director of Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd. Thus, the Statue of Unity number is supported as a partial-year count, not as an annual total. The review’s central qualification is that the two figures do not cover matching periods.