by AFP | 10.Oct 2023 | Fact check
Nearly five years after Bulgaria reported the European Union’s first-ever outbreak of sheep and goat plague — also known as peste des petits ruminants (PPR) — hundreds of social media users shared the false claim that EU official François Gabriel, who is married to Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel, was the executive director of CIRAD when the French organisation was testing samples from the outbreak. However, public records and statements from Gabriel and CIRAD show that this is not true.
by AFP | 03.Oct 2023 | Fact check
Several member countries of the European Union, led by Poland and Germany, have welcomed thousands of Ukrainian refugees after Russia’s attack on their country launched on February 22, 2022. More than 84,000 Ukrainian citizens have arrived in Ireland. Against that background, social media users claimed that the Irish government had — at Kyiv’s request — sent extradition notices to Ukrainian nationals living on its territory. The posts were shared in several languages and included a photo of the alleged letter, which claimed that the Ukrainians had evaded military service. Yet Ireland is a signatory to a European convention which does not allow for such extraditions. The letter shared on social media is fake. Ireland’s justice department told AFP it had sent no such letter and experts in European law said its contents lacked legal credibility.
by AFP | 26.Sep 2023 | Fact check
On September 19, 2019, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning manifestations of “totalitarian ideologies, such as Nazism and Stalinism” in the European Union. Since then, social media posts have cited the text to suggest Spain had been required to remove communist symbols and tributes from public spaces. The claim has been published more than 500 times since August 21, 2023. Yet, the European Parliament’s press service told AFP that the resolution was not “binding”. Instead, it is a “political declaration”. The social media claim is thus false.
by AFP | 19.Sep 2023 | Fact check
In response to the record high temperatures in Europe and elsewhere around the world this summer, social media users accused the European Space Agency (ESA) of having modified its measurement methods to achieve the striking results. They claimed that the agency was now measuring the land surface temperature, which is higher than air temperature. However, this is a misinterpretation of an ESA article about the heatwave. The institution has not made changes to its methodology and had in fact already published land surface temperature data in the past. What’s more, the ESA is not responsible for validating temperature records. That is the role of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which uses other measurements that it receives from weather stations.
by AFP | 12.Sep 2023 | Fact check
The European Union is taking steps to encourage the sustainable production of paper, but it is not proposing to ban toilet paper. False claims circulated in Polish in August 2023 that the EU is planning to phase out toilet paper, first by replacing it with a product made from straw, and then by banning it altogether. However, a European Commission spokesperson confirmed to AFP that the EU has “no intention of banning toilet paper”. AFP could find no such announcement of any ban and paper industry representatives said they were not aware of any such move. While toilet paper made from straw instead of wood pulp is now on the market, there is no move to force EU countries to use it or ban other types.
by AFP | 05.Sep 2023 | Fact check
A photomontage claiming to be a recruitment poster for the Polish army has been circulating on social media in several languages, including in Polish. It says that “Poland is the shield of Europe” and uses an image of Yevgeny Prigozhin — the late leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner — to invite Poles to “protect Europe from Russia’s folly”. But AFP was able to locate the original photo, which in fact shows a bank advertisement on a tram stop in the southern Polish city of Krakow. Poland’s defence ministry, the city’s public transportation authority and the advertising company involved all denied the existence of a Prigozhin recruitment poster.
