AFP Fact Check 🔎
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These two juxtaposed photos were retweeted over 35,000 times with the caption “perspective matters”. Perspective matters, and so do dates and places… because these two photos were taken on two different days in two different places, in Paris 🔍
1/8
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❌ This image of Mark Zuckerberg saying 9/11 “never happened” in the metaverse is altered.
In the original Facebook post, the Meta CEO promoted the company’s virtual reality platform but did not mention the terrorist attacks
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⚠️ This photo spreading on social media doesn't show Afghan women in the '70s
We traced the image to an Iranian history book, where it's captioned 'Tehran university students in 1971'
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There is no evidence to support this claim.
“Voting by mail has been a secure part of our election system for many years,” Brennan Center election expert Max Feldman told us
Mail-In Voting, unless changed by the courts, will lead to the most CORRUPT ELECTION in our Nation’s History!
#RIGGEDELECTION
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🇺🇸 Kamala Harris was born in the United States, making her constitutionally eligible to be both vice president and president
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Pakistan's new PM Shehbaz Sharif has been hit by a video that purportedly shows a singer serenading him in his office
Critics say the clip shows the 'dummy PM' ignoring his duties, but the video was filmed at Sharif's home last year before he took office
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There is no evidence to support this claim.
Five US states -- Oregon, Washington, Utah, Hawaii and Colorado -- have implemented statewide mail-in ballot systems, and voter fraud is extremely rare
RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!
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This video apparently showing 'Taliban soldiers' dancing after 'taking over a local club' has been viewed more than 3.5 million times on Facebook
We traced the video to posts from March about a wedding in Pakistan
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🗳️ Did King Charles III proclaim Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 US presidential election?
No, that is false -- this image shows the monarch signing an oath to uphold the security of the Church of Scotland
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🇳🇬 A Nigerian presidential candidate has understated the country’s exports.
Official data shows annual exports from the west African country have exceeded $30 billion for well over a decade
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⚠️🇰🇪 As Kenyans await the outcome of Tuesday’s presidential election, disinformation linked to the results has cluttered multiple social media platforms.
Read more:
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🇮🇳 Doctored photo of
@Rihanna
with Pakistani flag circulates online after singer tweeted support for Indian farmers' protests
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🇭🇰 Image (L) shows Hong Kong schoolgirl waving 'free HIV test flag'?
No, this image has been doctored from a photo (R) of a Hong Kong schoolgirl holding a pro-democracy flag
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🇹🇷🇮🇩 Did Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declare his support for Indonesian presidential candidate pair Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno?
No, the photo of Erdogan is doctored from an original of Uno on a plane
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🇭🇰 Photo shows Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow pointing a gun?
False ❌ this image shows an actress in a Japanese television show
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Trying to verfiy when and where a photo was taken? Check out this short video on how to conduct a reverse image search.
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Is this a photo of Japan's ambassador staying to fight in Ukraine?
No, this is Ukraine's ambassador to Japan posing prior to Russia's invasion of his country
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⚠️ An old video of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II throwing food to poor children? ❌
This clip is actually from a short film by the Lumière brothers that was filmed in Vietnam and released in 1901 – years before the birth of the late queen
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This photo collage depicts celebrity reactions at the 2017
#Oscars
when the wrong film was announced as the Best Picture winner.
It has been falsely shared with the claim it shows reactions to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock during the 2022 ceremony
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🇺🇸 🗳️ 📫 In the age of
#COVID19
, will voting by mail lead to voting fraud?
@FEC
Commissioner
@EllenLWeintraub
said: “There's simply no basis for the conspiracy theory that voting by mail causes fraud. None.”
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🇵🇰 Pakistani journalist crying on camera, moved by the enthusiasm of ousted PM Imran Khan supporters? ❌
The video shows the journalist crying after she was harassed by Khan's supporters during a 2014 rally, years before he came to power.
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A heartbreaking photo of an elderly man clutching his cat is doing the rounds in Facebook posts that claim he was fleeing Russian shelling in Ukraine
The picture actually shows 83-year-old Ali Mese after a fire at his home in Turkey in 2018
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⛸️ Social media posts shared tens of thousands of times claim the International Skating Union 'recognised' Yuzuru Hanyu's quadruple axel jump attempt at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
But
@ISU_Figure
told us this is false ❌
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🇭🇰 This is a doctored photo of Hong Kong activist
@chowtingagnes
(L) holding a piece of paper which 'seeks protection from foreign armies'.
She was in fact holding an election document (R)
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🇵🇭 Marcos heir wins Philippine election misinformation race.
Faith Brown reports from Manila for
@afp
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Photos of Filipino students appearing to criticise 'communist' food pantries for the poor are circulating on social media
The photos have been doctored. The students were actually supporting the initiative
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🇺🇸 The $1.9 trillion relief plan includes everything from checks to individual tax payers to money for vaccinations, but it does not include bonus payments for members of the US House of Representatives, no matter what you saw on Facebook
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Fun fact on globalized disinformation: this information was first verified by our journalist in Mexico for
@AfpFactual
because it was flagged by a Chilean who had seen the image in circulation.
@GuillaumeDaudin
contributed to this verification from Paris for
@AfpFactuel
8/8
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🇺🇦 Facebook posts accuse Ukraine of hypocrisy over a picture that appears to show a Ukrainian tank in Iraq ❌
But the image has been doctored to add a Ukrainian flag to the tank, while the photo resembles images of US troops during the Gulf War
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🇭🇰 Hong Kong police officer burned after protesters threw petrol bombs?
No, this photo has circulated in 🇲🇾 Malaysian media reports since 2018
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⚠️ Beware of imposter accounts posing as international news brands to share content about Ukraine on social media
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Disinformation is spreading about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Check out our quick guide to reverse image searches -- the tools are easily accessible and free of charge
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Video shows US military entering Taiwan? ❌
The video was filmed in the United States and shows a Second World War memorial event held in 2018.
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Criticism of media coverage is legitimate, but this isn't the best example of it. These photos were taken on 2 different days in 2 separate places… and AFP did not find a single photo combining a scooter on fire and the Arc de Triomphe in the background
2/8
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Mouldy bags and shoes found at a department store in Shanghai following lockdown? ❌
These photos were taken at a shop in Malaysia in 2020 as it prepared to reopen after a Covid-related closure
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⚠️ Seen these photos apparently showing Afghans leaving the country on a US military plane? ❌
Both pictures have circulated online since November 2013, when US forces evacuated people in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan
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🛦This video (left) does not show 'Russian jets over Ukraine'.
It has circulated in posts (right) since 2020 about a Russian air show rehearsal
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⚠️ Stop and check before you share pictures said to show what is happening in Ukraine.
Here's our quick guide to reverse image searches -- the tools are easily accessible and free of charge
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Social media posts mocking Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha claim he was the only politician who didn't wave in this photo because he 'didn't understand' English instructions
The picture has been cropped to cut out other leaders who also didn't wave
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In the Philippines, activists, politicians and journalists are regularly targeted by false accusations of communist ties
This doctored photo purports to show local mayors with the Communist Party leader ❌ They were actually posing with a businessman
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We're seeing more misinformation about the Taliban on social media
This manipulated photo shared hundreds of times appears to show a Taliban official holding a Chairman Mao book
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🇮🇹 Photo shows medics in Italy who died of COVID-19?
❌ False: This photo is from the US medical TV drama Grey’s Anatomy
#CoronavirusFacts
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⚠️ If you are not sure that a photo is actually from Ukraine, please don't share it
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A video appearing to show Bill Gates with breast implants has been viewed nearly a million times online
The doctored footage appeared to fool social media users, who asked if the billionaire was 'transgender'
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🇺🇸 Election misinformation is spreading on TikTok ahead of the US midterms despite the company's policies -- and watchdogs are concerned about its effect on young voters
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⚠️ Seen this video apparently showing a protester crashing a Ukrainian TV broadcast with an anti-Zelensky poster? It didn't happen ❌
The clip was made by a TikTok creator using a green screen
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Does this clip show Ukrainian soldiers surrendering to the Russian army?
No -- it depicts a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Wagner mercenaries in late May 2023
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As events develop in Ukraine, be careful not to share old footage 💻
Chinese-language posts claim one dramatic video shows buildings in Ukraine destroyed by Russian air strikes.
🇱🇧 In fact, it shows a deadly blast that ripped through Beirut in 2020:
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⚠️ Beware of unverified accounts announcing the death of Queen Elizabeth II. This account is not affiliated with
@AFP
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A video of Pakistan's foreign minister has been shared by politicians falsely claiming it shows him calling to make the rich richer
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was in fact criticising the idea that everyone benefits from policies that boost the wealthy
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🇭🇺 A photo shared hundreds of times appears to show police in Hungary using pigs to stop Muslims crossing the border - but it's been doctored
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🚀 A picture that purportedly shows a Ukrainian farmer towing away a Russian rocket is the latest in a wave of manipulated images circulating around the conflict
The photo actually shows a rocket transported by train in Kazakhstan in 2018
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⚠️ People are sharing old photos in posts about the Ukraine crisis
These pictures were taken as anti-government protests swept the capital Kyiv in 2014, not after the Russian invasion last month
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🇺🇦🐱 Ukraine's army is not using cats to spot Russian snipers.
The tweet about the "Panther of Kharkiv" was meant to be a joke
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⚠️ This is not an authentic screenshot of a CNN broadcast.
The picture of the explosion is from 2022 and was released by the Ukrainian president's office on February 24
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Gargling antiseptic does not prevent coronavirus, health experts warn
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⚠️ This photo doesn't show real blood
The picture was shared online after last month's deadly blast at Kabul airport, but it actually shows red dye poured into a river in 2017 at a protest against the Afghan conflict
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THREAD: Shortly after Israel launched deadly air strikes on the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu posted a video that he said showed “conclusive evidence” of Hamas firing rockets at residential areas
This is false ❌ (1/5)
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Online articles and social media posts claim US-funded labs in Ukraine are developing biological warfare weapons.
But former US officials and non-proliferation experts say the labs are working to detect and prevent the spread of bioweapons
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The two photos aren’t of the same place. The Hans Lucas photo was taken exactly on the other side of the Arc de Triomphe, on Foch Avenue. This is verifiable by looking at:
1) this lamp post
2) this stoplight
3) this fence and the beginning of Traktir Street on the right
7/8
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🇲🇽🇬🇹 Memes being shared on Facebook and Twitter claim to show heavily fortified fences on the Mexico-Guatemala border. Mexico has no such border wall with Guatemala
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Hong Kong Police Force ranked "sixth most reliable in world"? 🇭🇰
Misleading: This report used 2017 data and the report’s author says Hong Kong police's score will likely “decline greatly” in future studies.
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🇭🇰 Hong Kong activist looking gaunt from drug addiction?
No, this photo was doctored to make activist Lester Shum appear emaciated
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Photo shows large crowd in Washington DC after
@realDonaldTrump
promotes 'Save American' rally?
False: This photo shows a protest against gun violence in 2018, not a pro-Trump rally in 2021 🇺🇸
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❌ This supposed image of Pope Francis is not authentic -- it has classic signs of AI manipulation, and Vatican experts say the coat does not conform with papal wear
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In Spanish, the juxtapositions were framed as, "Here is how photographers covering a demonstration in Paris turn a small fire into hell." This website flatly accuses AFP of deception… even though AFP did not take either of the frames
3/8
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🇭🇰 Hong Kong hospital denies saying that pro-democracy activist Jimmy Sham faked injury after attack
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⚽ Hoax report circulates that footballer Cristiano Ronaldo will convert his hotels into coronavirus hospitals
#coronavirusfacts
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The first image was taken on December 1, by Katerine Pierre, a photographer for Hans Lucas agency. It can be found here: (number 35)
4/8
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This video is from Chuguev, Ukraine in 2022.
Posts claiming the building was damaged in a gas explosion in Russia are incorrect
#UkraineFacts
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🇮🇩 Indonesian graft buster fakes his damaged eye?
No, the image on the left has been reversed to make it appear that he can change which eye seems to be damaged
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The second photo was taken on December 8 on Friedland avenue in Paris, by a staff photographer at French magazine
@LePoint
, who posted it on Twitter
5/8
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A video that has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times claims to show an airstrike by Indian fighter jets in Pakistan.
The footage is actually from a military simulation video game
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😷Wearing a face mask does not compromise your immune system, health experts say
#CoronavirusFacts
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🇺🇦 Austrian climate change protest video misused in false posts about Ukraine conflict
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🇮🇹 Did Italy revise the country's Covid-19 death toll from 130,000 people down to fewer than 4,000?
No, a report from a top Italian health institute has been misrepresented on social media
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This is a manipulated image from a French parody website of George Soros with Greta Thunberg (L)
The original image shows Greta Thunberg with Al Gore
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🇨🇦 Global News confirmed that it did not publish this story.
💉 It is also inaccurate to claim Pfizer's clinical trial found its Covid-19 vaccine is only 12% effective. In fact, the shot is 95% effective
#CoronavirusFacts
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❌❌ This video does not show missiles over Ukraine after Russian forces invaded on February 24
The old footage shows digital animation from the video game War Thunder
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🏴☠️ Photo of Chinese pirate queen Ching Shih? ❌
This photo shows a woman from the indigenous Ainu ethnic group in northern Japan.
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This is a 2014 photo of people participating in an art project in Frankfurt, Germany 🇩🇪
False social media posts in Indonesia and the Philippines claimed it shows people who died from the new coronavirus in China 🇨🇳
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🇲🇲 Photo shows Myanmar baby during Covid-19 third wave? ❌
🇹🇭 This photo has been shared in a misleading context: it was taken in Chiang Rai, Thailand in 2019
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After a 7.8-magnitude earthquake devastated Turkey and neighboring Syria this week, misinformation about the disaster spread across social media in multiple countries and languages.
Here are some of the misrepresented visuals our global team has fact-checked 🧵
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⚠️ This footage doing the rounds on social media does not show Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fleeing as Taliban fighters entered Kabul
He was in fact travelling to a conference in Uzbekistan in July
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🇯🇵 No, this photo does not show a Japanese medical team in Wuhan to aid coronavirus response.
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This week's key fact-checks:
Was a Hong Kong schoolgirl waving a "free HIV tests" flag?
No, the real image shows her holding a Hong Kong pro-democracy flag with the message: "Liberate Hong Kong / Free Hong Kong, revolution now / Revolution of our times"
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🧵In June, a video surfaced of an execution in a remote forest. Social media users claimed it was filmed in May 2023 at a monastery in northern Ethiopia.
But thanks to exclusive footage, AFP Fact Check confirmed the incident occurred elsewhere
➡️ 1/8
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🇺🇸 Will the $1.9 trillion package for Covid-19 pandemic relief cost each US citizen $5,750?
No. Economists say the cost of the plan cannot be attributed to every American in this way
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The juxtaposition of two photos from two different weekends is a clever move: by positioning oneself on the spot where the burning scooter was photographed, on Friedland avenue in Paris, the perspective of the Arc de Triomphe is the same
6/8
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AI-generated images can fool people. Here are tips to identify them
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🇫🇷 This AFP photo shows crowds of people celebrating after France won the World Cup in 2018, not a protest in the streets of Paris against the new health pass
#CoronavirusFacts
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Irish dancers celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's death? No, this video was first published on TikTok in January 2022
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🇰🇪 Careful: An old video has been altered to falsely show Raila Odinga conceding defeat to Kenyan president-elect William Ruto.
In fact, the video is from 2013 and shows Odinga conceding defeat to Uhuru Kenyatta at the time:
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Elon Musk did not reinstate Donald Trump on Twitter
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was hit by false accusations he wore a T-shirt with a Nazi symbol at a virtual meeting with US Congress last week
The emblem represents the Ukrainian military, not the Iron Cross used by Adolf Hitler
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An analysis of months of Elon Musk's Twitter replies shows he repeatedly used his account to amplify false claims
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