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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Technology & AI fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about technology & ai. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

1,815 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYTechnology & AI

Elon Musk’s tweet in Hindi stating that ‘Twitter Tere Tukde Honge’ gang should also pay $8

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a screenshot of a Hindi tweet saying that the “Twitter Tere Tukde Honge” gang would also have to pay $8. FACTLY reports that the tweet was not posted by Elon Musk: its investigation found that the screenshot showed a post from a parody account impersonating him. The account’s username was “@iawoolford,” rather than Musk’s official handle, “@elonmusk.” FACTLY says the account belonged to Ian Woolford, a Hindi professor at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. It reports that Woolford changed the account’s profile name and picture to resemble Musk’s and published the Hindi tweet while posing as a parody account. The review also says it found no such tweet on Musk’s official Twitter handle. Together, the account identity and the absence of the tweet from the official handle contradict the attribution to Musk.

dpaTechnology & AI

In Peru worden 5G-antennes verwijderd vanwege gezondheidsklachten

Publisher’s rating: De video is van voor de coronapandemie. Er werd in november 2019 één antenne voor radio- en telefoonsignaal verwijderd in Miraflores. Het bedrijf dat de mast had geplaatst, bleek helemaal geen vergunning te hebben. Het gaat ook niet om een 5G-mast.

The video circulated with claims that Miraflores residents forced the authorities to remove 5G masts because of health complaints, and that removing them made coronavirus symptoms disappear. The review identifies the footage as showing a single antenna being taken down in Miraflores in November 2019—not a group of 5G masts removed in response to health complaints. To trace the footage, the review searched online using the place name and the Spanish word for “antenna.” It found a Peruvian news organization’s YouTube video dated 30 November 2019, whose images matched those circulating with the claim. The video’s title described a municipal removal of an antenna illegally placed near a park; the review also reports that the linked article provided further information. The review locates the antenna at the intersection of Avenida Ricardo Palma and Avenida Roca y Boloña. It says the mast, disguised with leaves to resemble a tree, had been installed without permission and was removed after causing concern among nearby residents. The municipality described it as a radio-transmission antenna, not a 5G mast. The timeline also rules out the claimed link to coronavirus symptoms: the antenna was removed in November 2019, while the review says the virus was first discovered in China in December 2019.

dpaTechnology & AI

Elon Musk ontslaat een topmedewerker van Twitter live in een radio-uitzending.

Publisher’s rating: De video is bewerkt. Twee aparte video's uit 2018 en 2019 werden samengevoegd. De vrouw in de video kreeg wel degelijk haar ontslag, maar niet in een live podcast.

The claim concerns a video presented as showing Elon Musk firing a senior Twitter employee during a live podcast. The review identifies the woman as Vijaya Gadde, who had headed Twitter’s legal department, and distinguishes the real-world dismissal from the scene shown in the circulating video: Gadde was dismissed on 28 October 2022, the day Musk took control of Twitter, but the video does not document that dismissal happening on air. The review describes the clip as edited from separate recordings made in 2018 and 2019. (S1) The review traces the two parts to separate appearances on Joe Rogan’s program. Gadde’s footage came from her appearance on 5 March 2019; the review says her exact statement can be seen from about 26:29 and that Musk was not present. Musk’s footage came from his appearance on 7 September 2018. The review points to his recognizable black “occupy” T-shirt as a clue identifying that older segment. (S1) The review also reports that the compilation carried the watermark “@damonimani” and was available on that account’s Instagram page with a “parody” caption. Its evidence therefore separates three things that the claim conflates: Gadde’s actual dismissal, her earlier podcast appearance, and Musk’s appearance on the program months before hers. The video combines the latter two, rather than showing Musk dismissing her during a live podcast. (S1)

FACTLYTechnology & AI

Video showing Elon Musk firing Twitter’s former policy head Vijaya Gadde during a live broadcast session

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The video was presented as footage of Elon Musk firing Twitter policy head Vijaya Gadde during a live broadcast. The review concludes that the apparent firing was staged through editing: it identifies the video as a parody made by Denmark-based content producer Damon Imani, not a recording of the two appearing together in that setting. The review distinguishes the video’s premise from the separate fact that Musk did fire Gadde after acquiring Twitter: it says he did not fire her during a live broadcast. To trace the footage, the review compared the video with earlier interviews. It reports that Gadde’s reactions came from her March 2019 appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, which also included Jack Dorsey and Tim Pool; Musk was not in that interview. It separately traces Musk’s clips to his 2018 Rogan interview, where, the review says, he did not say “penalty” or fire an employee. These separate origins undermine the impression that the clips show one live event. The review also reports seeing the watermark “@damonimani” on the video and finding the same video on Imani’s Instagram, where its description labeled it a parody. Taken together, the separate interview sources, watermark, and creator’s description support the review’s conclusion that the video was edited parody footage rather than a live broadcast of Gadde’s firing.

dpaTechnology & AI

Deze nieuwe smart-winkelwagens bepalen wat je mag kopen op basis van je CO2-credits.

Publisher’s rating: In het filmpje zijn Dash Carts uit de Amazon Fresh winkels te zien. Deze winkelwagens scannen de artikelen direct, en rekenen automatisch met je creditcard af. Er is geen sprake van een CO2-budget dat bijgehouden wordt.

The claim concerns a circulating video said to show a shopping cart tracking the carbon emissions of a customer’s purchases and determining what they are allowed to buy. The review identifies the carts in the video as Amazon Fresh Dash Carts, not as a system enforcing personal carbon allowances. It explains that the carts scan items and charge the credit card linked to the customer’s Amazon account; the account says the purpose is to make checkout quicker, not to restrict purchases. The review says the original video came from the TikTok account @melgracee and was posted on 21 October 2020. It reports that a longer version showed the footage was filmed in an Amazon Fresh store in Southern California. Amazon introduced Dash Carts in its Fresh supermarkets in summer 2020. The review describes the carts as scanning and weighing products placed inside, so shoppers need not queue at a checkout. It also says the cart does not track the CO2 emissions generated by a shopper’s groceries and that the review found no evidence that Amazon intended to monitor or limit customers’ purchases. The carbon-budget issue was a separate public debate. The review traces the connection to economist Barbara Baarsma’s public proposal in early August 2022 for personal CO2 allowances that could be traded. It says the proposal prompted discussion and online anger but had no concrete consequences. At the time covered by the review, it reports that emissions trading applied to large companies, not individual Dutch shoppers. The video therefore shows a checkout technology being presented as evidence of a carbon-control system that the review says it does not operate.

FACTLYTechnology & AI

Sriram Krishnan will be the new CEO of Twitter

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY examined a post claiming that Sriram Krishnan would be appointed Twitter’s new CEO after Elon Musk acquired the company and dismissed senior executives. Its review distinguishes Krishnan’s temporary assistance to Musk from an appointment to lead Twitter: it says Krishnan was helping Musk “temporarily with some other people” and reports that there were no reports suggesting he would become CEO. The decisive evidence cited is that, after completing the acquisition in October 2022, Musk was identified in securities filings as Twitter’s sole director and CEO. The review also cites a Reuters report dated 1 November 2022 saying Musk would serve as CEO. This evidence supports the conclusion that Musk—not Krishnan—was the CEO at the time covered by the review, while the review found no evidence of the predicted appointment. The article describes its basis as media reports and security filings, and gives a separate explanation for why Krishnan was associated with Twitter: he had held managerial roles there and tweeted on 31 October that he was temporarily helping Musk. That involvement is not presented as evidence that he had been named, or would be named, CEO. The review therefore rates the claim false.

Factcrescendo Sri LankaTechnology & AI

Footage Of Elon Musk Sacking Vijaya Gadde From Twitter!!

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The claim concerns a video presented as footage of Elon Musk dismissing Twitter executive Vijaya Gadde during a live talk show. The review says that after acquiring Twitter, Musk did remove Gadde and other executives, but that the viral clip was not a recording of him firing her on air. Instead, it combined footage from separate appearances on the Joe Rogan Experience. To investigate, the publisher examined frames from the viral clip with InVID-WeVerify and used reverse image searches. Those searches led to a 2019 episode featuring Gadde, Jack Dorsey and Tim Pool. In that episode, Gadde discusses Twitter’s failures around explaining policy violations and being transparent about its policies. The review says Musk does not appear in that episode, which it describes as lasting three and a half hours. The publisher separately traced Musk’s appearance in the viral edit to a Joe Rogan interview published in 2018. It concluded that the clip was assembled from those separate podcasts, rather than showing Musk firing Gadde during a live discussion. The review also reports that the clip’s creator had titled it as a parody. Its key distinction is that Gadde was fired after Musk took over Twitter, but the purported on-air firing shown in the video did not happen as presented.

FACTLYTechnology & AI

Former President of the United States Donald Trump’s suspended Twitter account is reinstated

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review investigated a social-media post claiming that Donald Trump was back on Twitter after Elon Musk acquired the platform. The post showed a purported Trump tweet thanking Musk and saying it felt good to be back. The review’s finding was that, as of 30 October 2022, Trump’s suspended official account had not been restored; the screenshot did not show a post from that account. To check the post, FACTLY says it ran an internet keyword search and found the tweet shown in the viral image. It traced that tweet to @TheUltGmr, rather than Trump’s official handle, @realDonaldTrump. The review describes @TheUltGmr as a parody account and cites its bio, which says “this is a parody.” That account provenance is the decisive evidence that the screenshot was not proof that Trump had returned to Twitter. The review also states that Twitter had permanently suspended @realDonaldTrump on 8 January 2021 and that it remained suspended when the fact-check was written. The article’s later update changes the subsequent chronology: it says Trump’s account was reinstated on 20 November 2022, after Musk announced the decision following an online poll. Thus, the review’s FALSE finding applies to the claim’s status at the time of its original assessment, not to the later status reported in the update.