Category: Fact Check

As founder and executive chair of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab doesn’t have the power to end private car ownership anywhere, let alone around the world. 

But a recent Instagram post suggests Schwab has that clout, claiming that he has announced “the end of car ownership.” 

A video clip shows Schwab saying: “You will use an app like Uber, but not anymore to call some driver but an automatically guided car, a self-driven car, will come to your hotel or wherever you are and will bring you to the airport. Los Angeles is one of the cities with the heaviest traffic who told me in 2030 Los Angeles will be private car driven free. And this will allow to transform highways into parks and other public spheres.”

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The clip is authentic, from a speech Schwab gave at the 2015 World Governments Summit, an event aimed at inspiring and shaping future generations of governments. 

Schwab’s address was titled,”The New Global Context and Its Impact on the Role of Government.”

But it doesn’t amount to an announcement about the end of car ownership. 

We rate that claim False.

 

Social media is flooded with out-of-context videos and images users claim are coming from Israel or Gaza. Finding the original source is key.

The war between Hamas and Israel is playing out on social media through graphic images and videos shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

But, like any conflict we’ve watched from our phone screens in the last decade, misinformation is rampant — including videos claiming to show Israeli children being held in cages and a fake BBC reporter fanning the flames of war. Fortunately, as with any breaking news event, like the ongoing war in Ukraine, some journalistic thinking and media literacy techniques can help you avoid sharing misinformation.

As director of the Poynter Institute’s digital media literacy initiative MediaWise, I recommend first asking three questions developed by the Stanford History Education Group in its study of how fact-checkers navigate the internet:

• Who’s behind the information?
• What’s the evidence?
• What do other sources say?

To answer the first question, leave the page you’re on, open a few tabs, and use keywords to find out more about a user or news outlet from a post. This is called lateral reading.

There are a lot of self-proclaimed experts in Middle Eastern geopolitics on social media right now. To sift through the noise, search for their name, the organization with which they’re affiliated, the university on their LinkedIn page and their username and scan results to gauge their expertise. Don’t click the first result you see — look for a link from a familiar source or fact-checking outlet — this technique is called click restraint.

Most of the falsehoods stemming from the conflict are in the form of old videos or photos, or visuals with misleading captions. Your best tool against these fakes: reverse image search.

Download the photo, or grab a screenshot of a notable section of the video you’re checking out, and drop it into Google Lens or TinEye to find the original source. Consider this false post claiming to show a high-ranking Israeli general detained by Hamas. With a screenshot, I tracked down a Russian news site that posted the same video — about an arrest in Azerbaijan from a week ago.

While I remain concerned about generative artificial intelligence supercharging the creation of disinformation, I’ve yet to see any significant AI images or videos. Still, it’s worth remaining on guard, and checking images for watermarks, warped features, too many fingers or other inconsistencies.

Of course, the best advice for avoiding misinformation is to simply avoid social media. If you, like me, are addicted to X, then the second-best advice is to follow a curated list of experts about what’s happening. David Clinch, a veteran journalist and media expert, created a useful list here, which includes journalists from Al-Jazeera English to Haaretz.

The war between Israel and Hamas has accelerated the spread of misinformation and broadened its reach due to graphic and emotional visuals, a deeply political conflict whose repercussions are felt around the world and a wealth of unreliable sources. It’s important to remember that you don’t have to share anything about the conflict on social media.

After Hamas launched attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, social media users circulated a document they said showed the U.S. immediately coming to Israel’s aid.

“The U.S. is sending $8B worth of military aid to Israel,” read the text in an Oct. 7 TikTok video. 

The video showed a screenshot of a supposed White House memorandum dated Oct. 7, titled, “Memorandum on the Delegation of Authority Under Section 506(a)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.” 

The screenshot read:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 621 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA), I hereby delegate to the Secretary of State the authority under section 506(a)(1) of the FAA to direct the drawdown of up to $8 billion in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Israel and to make the determinations required under such section to direct such a drawdown.

(Screengrab from TikTok)

This claim was amplified in other social media posts, including an Oct. 8 Instagram post that misspelled Israel and read,  “US reportedly plans to give Isarel 8 billion dollars in military aid.” 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

This is an altered photo. A memo with the same title and nearly identical text was published on the White House website, but it was dated July 25, and it authorized the drawdown of up to $400 million to aid Ukraine, not $8 billion to aid Israel.

The White House did not immediately respond to PolitiFact’s query about the social media claims. 

President Joe Biden issued a statement Oct. 7 condemning Hamas’ attacks in Israel, saying he made clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “We stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the Government and people of Israel.”

An Oct. 8 readout of a call between Biden and Netanyahu says that Biden told Netanyahu that additional assistance for the Israeli Defense Forces is “now on its way to Israel with more to follow over the coming days.” 

The U.S. is sending multiple military ships and aircraft closer to Israel and will supply the Israel Defense Forces with munitions, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. An Oct. 10 readout of another call between Biden and Netanyahu showed Biden said U.S. support is being sent in “ammunition, Iron Dome interceptors, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, and other defense materiel.”

Additional U.S. aid requires congressional approval, which could hit obstacles as the House seeks to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as speaker.

But the memorandum authorizing the drawdown of $8 billion to Israel is fake. We rate this claim False.

RELATED: Fact-checking Tim Scott on Biden administration’s early response to Hamas attacks in Israel

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have starred in many Hollywood movies and television shows over the years, and now social media posts are claiming the couple’s latest venture is hawking free spending cards from the government.

An Oct. 10 Facebook video opens with a clip of Pinkett Smith sitting on a couch and addressing the camera.

“Guys, is everyone ready for another round of stimulus checks? All right then, pay attention before Will starts crying again about me filling you in on this secret. Right now, the gov is paying out Americans by the thousands with these $5,600 health spending cards that get reloaded each and every month,” Pinkett Smith supposedly says in the video, abbreviating government as “gov.”

The video urges people to act now by “clicking the link below,” claiming this offer is only available “until the end of the week.”

(Screengrab from Facebook)

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Don’t get too excited — this is a scam.

It’s not Pinkett Smith’s voice in the video. The audio has been edited to make it look as if she is promoting this health spending card. The video clip of Pinkett Smith was taken from her TikTok account.

The video also includes clips of Will Smith crying during the 2020 “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” reunion and slapping comedian Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony.

Another video made a similar claim about health spending cards and used clips of Smith with edited audio.

Flexible spending accounts are a legitimate benefit offered by some health insurance plans that consumers can use to cover health care expenses. But the government doesn’t give out free cash for these accounts; the money is typically contributed from someone’s paycheck before taxes.

The website linked in the post does not mention this offer of a “$5,600 health spending card.” Rather, it advertises free or low-cost health insurance and “premium tax credits” through the Affordable Care Act.

The website is not affiliated with the federal government. The official government website for the Affordable Care Act is HealthCare.gov.

The Federal Trade Commission warns people to beware of health insurance scams. Don’t provide personal information online or over the phone to unverified sources.

We rate the claim that a video shows Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith advertising “$5,600 health spending cards” False.

Just as it was misused to purport claims about the war in Ukraine, video game footage is being framed on social media as showing violence between Israel and Hamas. 

“I.s.r.a.e.l- H.a.m.a.s launches rocket attack on The City,” reads a video’s description in an Oct. 10 Facebook post.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

But watching the video makes clear that this isn’t an authentic recording of a rocket attack. It’s animated, although some of the post’s comments suggest there’s still confusion over whether it’s real. 

The account sharing the video describes itself as a “gaming video creator.” 

We rate claims this is real footage from the Middle East False.

 

Israel’s Iron Dome is a defense system that detects incoming rockets and fires missiles to intercept them before they can land in inhabited areas. 

But amid ongoing violence since Hamas attacked Israel Oct. 7, some people have shared old footage of the Iron Dome intercepting rockets and mischaracterized it as showing recent warfare. 

“#BREAKING,” an Oct. 8 X post said. “Iron Dome active at this moment.”

“H@m@s rockets being intercepted,” an Oct. 10 Instagram post said. 

It was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

This footage has been online since May 2021. 

Israel Defense Forces, the country’s military, posted it on X and Facebook that year, writing that “4,000 rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel in the last 10 days.”

Another Facebook user sharing the video that year said the scene showed the Iron Dome, which has been operating since 2011, intercepting rockets above the Israeli city of Ashdod.

Multiple news outlets, including The New York Times, reported on a barrage of rocketfire in Ashdod that month — “the worst violence in years” between the Israeli military and Hamas, the Times said then. 

We rate claims that this video shows recent violence between Hamas and Israel False.

 

World Economic Forum Chair Klaus Schwab’s detractors may have cheered upon reading remarks recently attributed to Russian President Vladmir Putin. 

“Putin warns ‘global terrorist’ #KlausSchwab his ‘days are numbered’ as people all over the world wake up to the strange cult leader who has groomed young people using guile and corruption and inveigled them into power,” reads a screenshot of an X post. “World Economic Forum is losing.”

An Instagram post sharing the screenshot was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The Oct. 6 X post is authentic and links to an Oct. 5 blog post headlined: “Putin warns ‘global terrorist’ Klaus Schwab his ‘days are numbered.”

The blog post said,”World Economic Forum (WEF) founder Klaus Schwab is a ‘globalist terrorist’ who is holding humanity ransom,’ according to Russian President Vladimir Putin who warned the elite that their New World Order has failed and their ‘days are numbered.’” 

The post attributed Putin’s remarks to a speech he delivered Oct. 5 at the plenary session of the 20th meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia. 

Putin “emphasized the tectonic and irreversible shifts taking place in the global order,” the post said. “According to Putin, globalists including Schwab and his close advisors are ‘legitimate military targets’ because they have been actively attempting to seize power illegally via a globalist coup d’etat.”

Putin did deliver a keynote speech at an Oct. 5 Valdai Discussion Club meeting in Sochi, discussing the war in Ukraine, nuclear weapons and Russia’s relationship with China. 

But he didn’t mention Schwab or threaten him, according to an English translation of Putin’s remarks, which the club published.

We found no credible evidence that Putin made these comments elsewhere. 

We rate this post False.

 

Un video de un ataque aéreo israelí en el norte de la Franja de Gaza circula en las redes sociales como la respuesta actual al ataque de Hamas a Israel.

“Última hora. Fuerza aérea de Israel ataca Gaza operación ‘Espada de Hierro’ inició. Los terroristas de Hamas pagarán un alto precio. Las fuerzas de defensa de Israel ya comenzaron atacando Gaza”, dice una publicación en Facebook del 7 de octubre que comparte el vídeo. 

Pero este video es de mayo, cinco meses antes de la violencia reciente que empezó el 7 de octubre.

La publicación fue marcada como parte del esfuerzo de Meta para combatir las noticias falsas y la desinformación en su plataforma. (Lea más sobre nuestra colaboración con Meta, propietaria de Facebook e Instagram).

Las imágenes fueron publicadas en Internet el 13 de mayo por The Associated Press. El pie de foto del video en YouTube dice, “humo y arena saliendo de una explosión tras un ataque aéreo israelí contra una casa en el norte de la Franja de Gaza”. 

 Captura de pantalla del video que muestra la fuerza aérea de Israel atacando a Gaza en mayo de 2023 y no en octubre.

El ataque aéreo se produjo tras varios días de ataques entre Israel y militantes palestinos, según The Associated Press.

Calificamos como falsas las afirmaciones de que estas imágenes muestran la respuesta al ataque de Hamas del 7 de octubre.

Una versión de este artículo originalmente fue escrita en inglés y traducida por Marta Campabadal.

Lea más reportes de PolitiFact en Español aquí.

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Debido a limitaciones técnicas, partes de nuestra página web aparecen en inglés. Estamos trabajando en mejorar la presentación.

In the early hours of Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, former President Donald Trump released a statement critical of the Biden administration.

“These Hamas attacks are a disgrace and Israel has every right to defend itself with overwhelming force,” Trump said in a statement released on X, formerly Twitter. “Sadly, American taxpayer dollars helped fund these attacks, which many reports are saying came from the Biden Administration.”

The Biden administration and its critics have engaged in robust debate over whether any of the administration’s policies may have made the attacks more likely. But Trump went a step further by saying U.S. taxpayer money was involved. That’s not the case.

The biggest issue in the debate has been whether $6 billion in Iranian money made its way to Hamas after the U.S. unfroze it in a hostage-release deal.

Trump referenced this sum in a subsequent Truth Social post, saying in part, “Crooked Joe Biden must take back and freeze the 6 billion dollars right now, before it is too late.”

We reached out to the Trump campaign to see whether it was standing by its characterization that taxpayer funds were involved in the attack but did not hear back.

Where does the $6 billion figure come from?

In August, the U.S. announced an agreement with Iran to secure freedom for five U.S. citizens who’d been detained in the country, in exchange for allowing Iran to access $6 billion of its own funds that had been frozen in South Korean banks. But where did that $6 billion come from?

As president in 2018, Trump pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that had been reached under former President Barack Obama. The deal restricted Iran’s nuclear development in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. 

Trump’s exit from the agreement meant that prior sanctions against Iran snapped back in place, and this left open to punishment any country continuing to do business with Iran. However, the Trump administration gave waivers to a handful of countries that relied on Iran for imported oil, notably South Korea. Under the Trump-era rule, these countries could keep buying Iranian oil as long as they showed that they were working to reduce dependence.

A few months later, the Trump administration decided not to renew the waivers. This meant that countries caught conducting business with Iran found themselves vulnerable to sanctions.

At the time, about $6 billion in Iranian oil sale proceeds were being transferred from South Korea to Iran. But the renewed fear of sanctions prompted banks involved in those transfers to freeze the transactions.

The Biden administration’s August 2023 agreement allowed Iran to access the $6 billion in exchange for freeing five Americans detained in Iran. The agreement included a key restriction on how the money could be withdrawn: Iran could use this money only to pay for humanitarian items, such as medicine and food. 

Did any of that $6 billion go to Hamas?

In a literal sense, none of the $6 billion could have gone to Hamas in time to aid the attacks on Israel. 

Even before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the hostage agreement was politically divisive, with Biden supporters praising the return of the hostages and critics saying the payment amounted to a ransom that would encourage future hostage-taking. After Hamas’ attack on Israel, rhetoric about the deal intensified.

The Biden administration countered its critics by saying Iran had not withdrawn any of the money prior to Hamas’ attacks, so the United States’ actions couldn’t have played any role. When the freed Americans arrived mid-September in the U.S., the Iranian money was deposited into a restricted Qatari bank account. Qatar’s central bank is overseeing the funds, and Iran has not accessed the money, U.S. officials said.

But Hamas could indirectly benefit from money that Iran will eventually be able to secure from the hostage deal, Biden’s critics argue. The money is fungible. 

“The safeguards in place are surely good enough to make sure only legitimate goods are purchased using those funds,” said Matthew Levitt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank focused on the Middle East. “But nobody can say what’s then done with those goods.”

Foreign policy analysts told PolitiFact that fungibility is a legitimate concern in this case.

“If you had a large end-of-year bonus payment coming your way, might you start spending more money in the meantime? Of course,” said Matthew Kroenig, a Georgetown University professor of government and foreign service.

This is especially true in a country with a highly centralized economy and government, Levitt said. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an influential military branch within Iran, “controls so much of the Iranian economy, there’s no way to have comfort (that) the goods aren’t sold and some funds go to underwrite militancy.”

Despite the possible risks of future fungibility, none of this supports the notion that the $6 billion came from U.S. taxpayers.

A final note: $6 billion is a fraction of the annual amount of oil sales by Iran. 

In 2022, the last full year for which data is available, Iran took in $54 billion in revenue from oil sales, meaning that other countries’ purchases are providing lots of cash to the Iranian government every year.

Our ruling

Trump said, “Sadly, American taxpayer dollars helped fund these attacks, which many reports are saying came from the Biden administration.”

It appears Trump was referring to $6 billion in Iranian money unfrozen as part of a hostage deal struck between the Biden administration and Iran. 

One school of thought says that this money could one day allow Iran to spend money on other things, including aid to Hamas. But this much is clear: No U.S. taxpayer dollars made up that $6 billion. It was entirely money that South Korea paid to Iran. Amid sanctions, the money became frozen in banks on the way to Iranian coffers.

We rate the claim False.