Latest news with #FullFact
The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
Fact check: AI-generated Israel-Iran posts and inflation confusion
This roundup of claims has been compiled by Full Fact, the UK's largest fact checking charity working to find, expose and counter the harms of bad information. AI-generated and miscaptioned footage and images have been going viral on social media as the Israel-Iran conflict continues. In the last few days Full Fact has seen at least a dozen examples of such posts circulating widely. Both countries have launched multiple strikes against each other following Israel's attack on Iranian nuclear and military sites last Friday. We increasingly see AI-generated content shared online in the wake of major breaking news events. And while we can't always definitively say where a video or image comes from, several which we've fact checked in connection with the current conflict were almost certainly created with AI. For example, one video of a bombed city has been shared with claims it shows 'doomsday in Tel Aviv' in Israel. However, the same footage was previously shared on May 28, before the recent strikes between Israel and Iran. And there are clear signs suggesting that it was made using AI – for example, two cars approaching each other at a T-junction in the top left corner appear to merge into one, while other vehicles in the video also become glitchy and blurry as they move. An image of destroyed planes has been shared with claims it shows damage caused by Iranian strikes on Tel Aviv's airport. But, using reverse image search tools, Full Fact traced the image to a (since deleted) video which appeared to have been generated using AI tools. There are visual glitches in the rendering of the plane at the forefront of the image, with portholes along the cabin appearing in a gap where a section of the plane is missing. If you're wondering if a video clip is AI, one tip that's worth noting is that some social media posts share versions of footage that are much more grainy and blurry than the original, making it difficult to identify signs of AI. So it's always worth looking for clearer versions by searching key frames of footage using tools such as TinEye or Google Lens. When there's a lot of interest in a global news story it's also very common for us to see old or unrelated video or photos passed off as something they're not – and again, Full Fact has seen multiple examples of this in recent days. Footage of what appears to be a drone causing an explosion in a built-up area has been shared with claims it shows an Iranian drone strike on Tel Aviv. However, it actually shows drone attacks on Kyiv in Ukraine in October 2022. The version being shared recently appears to have been horizontally flipped, which is something we often see when mislabelled images and videos are circulated. A video being shared with claims it shows recent protests against the regime in Iran is also old. It's actually footage from protests in Iran back in December 2017. And a picture shared on social media doesn't show, as claimed, an Israeli female pilot who has been captured in Iran. It's actually a photo from several years ago of a Chilean naval aviator. Misleading information can spread quickly during breaking news events, especially during periods of crisis and conflict. So before sharing content that you see online, it's important to consider whether it comes from a trustworthy and verifiable source. Full Fact has a toolkit with practical tips anyone can use to identify bad information, as well as specific guides on how to spot misleading images online, how to fact check misleading videos and how a fact checker spots if something is AI. Did inflation drop last month? New data published on Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that inflation stood at 3.4% in the 12 months to May 2025. But different media outlets reported this figure in different ways – some claimed inflation had 'held' at 3.4%, while others said 'inflation falls slightly' or referred to a 'fall' on the previous month's figures. The confusion is due to an error with April's inflation figures. Last month, the ONS initially reported that the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) had risen from 2.6% in the 12 months to March 2025 to 3.5% in the 12 months to April 2025. However, earlier this month it revealed that incorrect road tax data provided by the Department for Transport had had 'the effect of overstating' April's figure by 0.1 percentage point. In other words, the true CPI figure for the 12 months to April 2025 should have been 3.4%, which would mean that the figure published for May is unchanged on the previous month, not a fall. So why did some media outlets nonetheless report May's figure as a drop? Well, despite the ONS acknowledging this mistake, the figures on its website won't be updated. So the official figure for inflation in the year to April remains 3.5%, as noted in the ONS' data release on Wednesday, even though it's known to be an overestimate and based on incorrect data. When we asked the ONS about this, it told us that its policy was that CPI figures 'may only be revised in exceptional circumstances', adding: 'We have incorporated the correctly weighted data from [the] May figures, meaning no further statistics will be affected.'
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Video does not show China recently airdropping aid to Gaza
What was claimed: A video shows China dropping aid on 17 May 2025. Our verdict: This isn't wholly accurate. While the video does depict an aid drop in Gaza, it has been circulating online since at least September 2024. And there's no evidence that China has recently delivered aid to Gaza by air. A video which has been shared over 8,000 times with claims it depicts an air aid drop by China is misleading. The clip, which is circulating on Facebook, was shared on 17 May with the caption: 'This is not Saudi Arabia's 600 Billion This is not Qatar's 1.2 Trillion This is not UAE's 1.4 Trillion This is china dropping air aids today [sic].' In the video, large parachutes can be seen falling from the sky attached to crates, while a large number of people on the ground run to retrieve them. Although neither the caption nor the overlaid text specifies where aid is being dropped, many accounts in the comments reference Gaza or Palestinians. The parachutes seem to be identical to those seen in other videos of humanitarian aid being airdropped into Gaza. The same video was also shared on X (formerly Twitter) on 17 May with claims it showed China dropping food and medical supplies into Gaza. However, this footage does not show China delivering aid through air drops last month. The same clip has been circulating online since at least September 2024, when it was shared on TikTok with a description stating that it showed the 'situation in northern Gaza in obtaining aid'. Full Fact has not been able to verify when or where exactly the video was taken. As we have previously written, we have found no credible reports that China has been delivering aid by air during the 11-week Israeli blockade, which was recently eased to allow a limited amount of food and aid into Gaza. Aid distribution centres in Gaza run by Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a controversial US and Israel-backed aid network, were closed on 4 June, following a number of shootings on the roads to the sites, and only two centres were reportedly operating on Thursday, 5 June. Air aid drops from other countries, including the US, UK, Jordan, France, Germany, Indonesia, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, did take place between March and May 2024, but we've not found any reports of these having involved China. China announced in February earlier this year—before the blockade began on 2 March—that it would deliver 60,000 food parcels through Jordan, which according to Chinese media reports, was to be transported over land borders and not by air. We have previously fact checked other videos of aid being air dropped via similar parachutes as well as aeroplanes in flight which have been shared with misleading claims that China was responsible. And similar claims about other images or videos supposedly showing China airdropping aid have been debunked by other fact checkers. Before sharing content like this that you see gaining traction on social media, first consider whether it comes from a trustworthy and reliable source and really depicts what it is claimed to show. Our guide to spotting misleading videos can help you do this. This week (1-7 June) Full Fact is the subject of the BBC Radio 4 Appeal. Listen today to broadcaster and journalist Martha Kearney tell Charlotte's story—all donations mean Full Fact can do more to help people like Charlotte.
The Independent
03-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Fact check: Reform UK migrants claim and minister's inflation mix-up
This round-up of claims has been compiled by Full Fact, the UK's largest fact checking charity. This week (1-7 June) Full Fact is the subject of a nationwide radio appeal – listen today to broadcaster and journalist Martha Kearney explain how Full Fact works to find, expose and counter the harms of bad information. Has Labour 'allowed the biggest influx of migrants in British history'? Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice MP claimed in a newspaper column a few weeks ago that 'the statistics show without a doubt that this Labour government has allowed the biggest influx of migrants in British history'. It's not clear which figures Mr Tice was basing this claim on – we've asked him and Reform UK, and haven't had a response. But the statistics we've been able to check – both those available at the time Mr Tice made his claim, and those published since – don't appear to support it. And when we asked Oxford University's Migration Observatory about Mr Tice's claim, it told us: 'We cannot identify any data that support the assertion that the current government has been responsible for the biggest influx of migrants in British history, and we are unclear how Mr Tice came to this conclusion.' Mr Tice referred only to 'migrants' and did not specify that he was talking about any particular group of migrants, but some on social media have suggested he intended to refer solely to Channel crossings, which have been at record levels this year and hit the headlines again this weekend after almost 1,200 migrants were recorded as arriving via small boat on Saturday. Between January 1 2025 and April 27 2025 (the day Mr Tice's article was published), government statistics show 9,885 migrants were detected crossing the English Channel in small boats, and between January 1 and May 31 this figure was 14,812. Both these figures are higher than for equivalent periods in other years going back to 2018, when statistics for this measure began. But they don't support the claim Mr Tice made – firstly because they only refer to a small proportion of all migrants, and secondly because they don't cover Labour's full time in office. In the time between Labour forming a government on July 5 2024 and April 27 2025, 33,127 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel on small boats, according to government statistics. This isn't a record – the equivalent total between July 5 2022 and April 27 2023 was 38,600. In terms of overall migrant numbers, there are various different sets of data, but one of the most commonly cited is the estimate of long-term international migration published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The most recent such figures cover the year to December 2024, when 948,000 people are estimated to have moved to the UK. (Over the same period 517,000 people left, so total net migration that year is estimated to have been 431,000.) These figures can't tell us exactly how many have arrived under Labour, as they cover roughly six months of the last Conservative government and the first six months of Labour. The next set of figures, which will cover the year ending June 2025 and are expected to be published in the autumn, will more reliably tell us about the change under Labour. But overall the figures for 2024 were significantly down on the year before. In the year ending December 2023 around 1,326,000 people were estimated to have moved to the UK – a record high. (And 466,000 people left, so net migration that year was an estimated 860,000.) Net migration is estimated to have reached a record high of 906,000 in the year ending June 2023, when 1,320,000 people moved to the UK and 414,000 people left. So while the ONS migration estimates can't tell us specifically what the change in the number of immigrants coming to the UK has been under Labour, they appear to suggest that the 'biggest influx' of migrants on record so far took place under the previous Conservative government. The Migration Observatory believes this is the case, telling us: 'Data clearly show that the 'biggest influx of migrants in British history' took place under the previous administration.' School standards minister mixes up inflation and interest rates Speaking about the cost of living in an interview on Friday, school standards minister Catherine McKinnell MP claimed 'we've seen inflation coming down'. That's not what the latest inflation figures show, however, and the Department for Education has since told us she'd intended to refer to interest rates. While the Bank Rate – which is set by the Bank of England to influence the interest rates charged by banks – is currently one percentage point lower than it was when Labour came into government on July 5 2024, inflation (the change in prices for goods and services over time, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, or CPI) is higher than it was when Labour entered government. In the 12 months to June 2024 – the last full month of the previous Conservative government – inflation stood at 2%, while in the 12 months to July 2024 – the month Labour formed a government – it was 2.2%. As of April 2025, annual CPI inflation was 3.5%, 0.9 percentage points higher than the previous month's figure. Other commonly used measures of inflation show similar trends. This isn't the first time we've seen government ministers confuse interest rate and inflation figures. Earlier this year we fact checked the Prime Minister and Home Office minister Seema Malhotra MP after they both wrongly claimed interest rates had been at 11% under the previous government. As Ms Malhotra later made clear in an edited post, the 11% figure actually referred to the peak rate of CPI inflation in 2022.
Powys County Times
03-06-2025
- Business
- Powys County Times
Fact check: Reform UK migrants claim and minister's inflation mix-up
This round-up of claims has been compiled by Full Fact, the UK's largest fact checking charity. This week (1-7 June) Full Fact is the subject of a nationwide radio appeal – listen today to broadcaster and journalist Martha Kearney explain how Full Fact works to find, expose and counter the harms of bad information. Has Labour 'allowed the biggest influx of migrants in British history'? Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice MP claimed in a newspaper column a few weeks ago that 'the statistics show without a doubt that this Labour government has allowed the biggest influx of migrants in British history'. It's not clear which figures Mr Tice was basing this claim on – we've asked him and Reform UK, and haven't had a response. But the statistics we've been able to check – both those available at the time Mr Tice made his claim, and those published since – don't appear to support it. And when we asked Oxford University's Migration Observatory about Mr Tice's claim, it told us: 'We cannot identify any data that support the assertion that the current government has been responsible for the biggest influx of migrants in British history, and we are unclear how Mr Tice came to this conclusion.' Mr Tice referred only to 'migrants' and did not specify that he was talking about any particular group of migrants, but some on social media have suggested he intended to refer solely to Channel crossings, which have been at record levels this year and hit the headlines again this weekend after almost 1,200 migrants were recorded as arriving via small boat on Saturday. Between January 1 2025 and April 27 2025 (the day Mr Tice's article was published), government statistics show 9,885 migrants were detected crossing the English Channel in small boats, and between January 1 and May 31 this figure was 14,812. Both these figures are higher than for equivalent periods in other years going back to 2018, when statistics for this measure began. But they don't support the claim Mr Tice made – firstly because they only refer to a small proportion of all migrants, and secondly because they don't cover Labour's full time in office. In the time between Labour forming a government on July 5 2024 and April 27 2025, 33,127 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel on small boats, according to government statistics. This isn't a record – the equivalent total between July 5 2022 and April 27 2023 was 38,600. In terms of overall migrant numbers, there are various different sets of data, but one of the most commonly cited is the estimate of long-term international migration published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The most recent such figures cover the year to December 2024, when 948,000 people are estimated to have moved to the UK. (Over the same period 517,000 people left, so total net migration that year is estimated to have been 431,000.) These figures can't tell us exactly how many have arrived under Labour, as they cover roughly six months of the last Conservative government and the first six months of Labour. The next set of figures, which will cover the year ending June 2025 and are expected to be published in the autumn, will more reliably tell us about the change under Labour. But overall the figures for 2024 were significantly down on the year before. In the year ending December 2023 around 1,326,000 people were estimated to have moved to the UK – a record high. (And 466,000 people left, so net migration that year was an estimated 860,000.) Net migration is estimated to have reached a record high of 906,000 in the year ending June 2023, when 1,320,000 people moved to the UK and 414,000 people left. So while the ONS migration estimates can't tell us specifically what the change in the number of immigrants coming to the UK has been under Labour, they appear to suggest that the 'biggest influx' of migrants on record so far took place under the previous Conservative government. The Migration Observatory believes this is the case, telling us: 'Data clearly show that the 'biggest influx of migrants in British history' took place under the previous administration.' School standards minister mixes up inflation and interest rates Speaking about the cost of living in an interview on Friday, school standards minister Catherine McKinnell MP claimed 'we've seen inflation coming down'. That's not what the latest inflation figures show, however, and the Department for Education has since told us she'd intended to refer to interest rates. While the Bank Rate – which is set by the Bank of England to influence the interest rates charged by banks – is currently one percentage point lower than it was when Labour came into government on July 5 2024, inflation (the change in prices for goods and services over time, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, or CPI) is higher than it was when Labour entered government. In the 12 months to June 2024 – the last full month of the previous Conservative government – inflation stood at 2%, while in the 12 months to July 2024 – the month Labour formed a government – it was 2.2%. As of April 2025, annual CPI inflation was 3.5%, 0.9 percentage points higher than the previous month's figure. Other commonly used measures of inflation show similar trends. This isn't the first time we've seen government ministers confuse interest rate and inflation figures. Earlier this year we fact checked the Prime Minister and Home Office minister Seema Malhotra MP after they both wrongly claimed interest rates had been at 11% under the previous government. As Ms Malhotra later made clear in an edited post, the 11% figure actually referred to the peak rate of CPI inflation in 2022.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Fact check: Reform UK migrants claim and minister's inflation mix-up
This round-up of claims has been compiled by Full Fact, the UK's largest fact checking charity. This week (1-7 June) Full Fact is the subject of a nationwide radio appeal – listen today to broadcaster and journalist Martha Kearney explain how Full Fact works to find, expose and counter the harms of bad information. Has Labour 'allowed the biggest influx of migrants in British history'? Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice MP claimed in a newspaper column a few weeks ago that 'the statistics show without a doubt that this Labour government has allowed the biggest influx of migrants in British history'. It's not clear which figures Mr Tice was basing this claim on – we've asked him and Reform UK, and haven't had a response. But the statistics we've been able to check – both those available at the time Mr Tice made his claim, and those published since – don't appear to support it. And when we asked Oxford University's Migration Observatory about Mr Tice's claim, it told us: 'We cannot identify any data that support the assertion that the current government has been responsible for the biggest influx of migrants in British history, and we are unclear how Mr Tice came to this conclusion.' Mr Tice referred only to 'migrants' and did not specify that he was talking about any particular group of migrants, but some on social media have suggested he intended to refer solely to Channel crossings, which have been at record levels this year and hit the headlines again this weekend after almost 1,200 migrants were recorded as arriving via small boat on Saturday. Between January 1 2025 and April 27 2025 (the day Mr Tice's article was published), government statistics show 9,885 migrants were detected crossing the English Channel in small boats, and between January 1 and May 31 this figure was 14,812. Both these figures are higher than for equivalent periods in other years going back to 2018, when statistics for this measure began. But they don't support the claim Mr Tice made – firstly because they only refer to a small proportion of all migrants, and secondly because they don't cover Labour's full time in office. In the time between Labour forming a government on July 5 2024 and April 27 2025, 33,127 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel on small boats, according to government statistics. This isn't a record – the equivalent total between July 5 2022 and April 27 2023 was 38,600. In terms of overall migrant numbers, there are various different sets of data, but one of the most commonly cited is the estimate of long-term international migration published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The most recent such figures cover the year to December 2024, when 948,000 people are estimated to have moved to the UK. (Over the same period 517,000 people left, so total net migration that year is estimated to have been 431,000.) These figures can't tell us exactly how many have arrived under Labour, as they cover roughly six months of the last Conservative government and the first six months of Labour. The next set of figures, which will cover the year ending June 2025 and are expected to be published in the autumn, will more reliably tell us about the change under Labour. But overall the figures for 2024 were significantly down on the year before. In the year ending December 2023 around 1,326,000 people were estimated to have moved to the UK – a record high. (And 466,000 people left, so net migration that year was an estimated 860,000.) Net migration is estimated to have reached a record high of 906,000 in the year ending June 2023, when 1,320,000 people moved to the UK and 414,000 people left. So while the ONS migration estimates can't tell us specifically what the change in the number of immigrants coming to the UK has been under Labour, they appear to suggest that the 'biggest influx' of migrants on record so far took place under the previous Conservative government. The Migration Observatory believes this is the case, telling us: 'Data clearly show that the 'biggest influx of migrants in British history' took place under the previous administration.' School standards minister mixes up inflation and interest rates Speaking about the cost of living in an interview on Friday, school standards minister Catherine McKinnell MP claimed 'we've seen inflation coming down'. That's not what the latest inflation figures show, however, and the Department for Education has since told us she'd intended to refer to interest rates. While the Bank Rate – which is set by the Bank of England to influence the interest rates charged by banks – is currently one percentage point lower than it was when Labour came into government on July 5 2024, inflation (the change in prices for goods and services over time, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, or CPI) is higher than it was when Labour entered government. In the 12 months to June 2024 – the last full month of the previous Conservative government – inflation stood at 2%, while in the 12 months to July 2024 – the month Labour formed a government – it was 2.2%. As of April 2025, annual CPI inflation was 3.5%, 0.9 percentage points higher than the previous month's figure. Other commonly used measures of inflation show similar trends. This isn't the first time we've seen government ministers confuse interest rate and inflation figures. Earlier this year we fact checked the Prime Minister and Home Office minister Seema Malhotra MP after they both wrongly claimed interest rates had been at 11% under the previous government. As Ms Malhotra later made clear in an edited post, the 11% figure actually referred to the peak rate of CPI inflation in 2022.
