Truth or Fake
Channel Details
Truth or Fake
Truth or Fake is a fact-checking rendez-vous in association with the FRANCE 24 Observers. Our content focuses on false images circulating online and how to identify them. Monday to Thursday at 8:45pm and 10:20pm Paris time.
Recent Episodes
112 episodes
Social media abuzz with viral rumours of Benjamin Netanyahu's death
Social media has recently been abuzz with false rumours claiming that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was killed in an Iranian missile strik...
Iran trolls Trump with AI-generated Lego propaganda video
The war in Iran is not only being fought on the battlefield – it is also playing out online. Iran’s state media recently took a leaf out of the White...
US Energy Secretary deletes post that Navy escorted tanker through Strait of Hormuz
A brief social media post by the US energy secretary prompted a major U-turn from the Trump administration. Within 30 minutes, Chris Wright had posted...
Video shows US Tomahawk missile strike next to bombed Iranian school
A newly released video by Iran’s Mehr News Agency – verified and geolocated by fact-checking experts – shows an American Tomahawk cruise missile strik...
Dubai influencers post near-identical videos praising city’s ‘safety’
Influencers in Dubai have taken to social media to post near-identical videos praising the city’s safety and glorifying its leadership, using the same...
No, Iranian footballer Mehdi Taremi is not going to fight for the Iranian regime
The claim spread like wildfire on social media earlier this week after the US and Israel began striking Iran: Iranian footballer Mehdi Taremi was cons...
After US attacks, is Iran's navy on the brink?
On Wednesday, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that a US submarine sank an Iranian warship in international waters. The Pentagon says one o...
What we know about the deadly strike on a primary school in Iran
Iran held a mass funeral this Tuesday for at least 165 schoolgirls killed in an air strike on the southern town of Minab on Saturday. But online, some...
Disinformation exaggerates Iran's military successes against the U.S. and Israel
After US-Israeli strikes on Iran, pro-Tehran accounts circulated fake footage claiming to show the aftermath of missile strikes on the USS Abraham Lin...
State of the Union: Trump makes false, misleading claims about immigration, economy
During his State of the Union speech, US President Donald Trump made a slew of false or misleading claims including about the US economy, immigration...
How Russia has finetuned its disinformation campaign in 4 years of Ukraine war
Four years into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has redoubled its efforts in disinformation warfare. Its methods have evolved, with mo...
No, American Special Forces didn't lead the Mexican operation against El Mencho
Following Mexico’s military operation against the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which killed drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias "El Mencho",...
Did the Epstein Files prove the Pizzagate conspiracy theory right?
The US Department of Justice’s massive release of Epstein case files has turned some internet users into self-appointed digital sleuths. They have bee...
How the killing of a French far-right activist sparked an online manhunt
The killing of 23-year-old French nationalist Quentin Deranque, on the sidelines of a protest in Lyon, has heightened tensions between far-right and f...
Transgender community targeted with false allegations after Tumbler Ridge shooting
In the wake of last week's mass shooting in the remote Canadian community of Tumbler Ridge, some online have been claiming that transgender people are...
Milano Cortina 2026: Ukranian athletes targeted by disinformation
In recent weeks, Ukrainian athletes and visitors at this year's Winter Olympics have been targeted by a string of false accusations. These fake news r...
No, the UN's Francesca Albanese did not call Israel 'the common enemy of humanity'
Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, has long been highly critical of Israel. Last weekend, she was accused...
Ukraine war: Why is a teenager accused of burying his father 'eight times'?
Multiple social media users – many of them pro-Russian accounts – have shared a photomontage of a teenage boy carrying portraits at multiple funerals,...
AI photos fuel conspiracy theories Jeffrey Epstein is alive in Israel
Following the latest file dump by the US Department of Justice, social media is flooded with discourse about Jeffrey Epstein. It's triggered scores of...
Doctored emails online claim Jeffrey Epstein invented Bitcoin
Social media users have falsely claimed that emails from the latest Epstein file dump prove that the disgraced sex offender was in fact Satoshi Nakamo...
Epstein emails claim Bill Gates contracted STD, had sex with Russian girls
The latest Jeffrey Epstein file dump by the US Department of Justice saw a number of high-profile individuals named, one of them being Microsoft co-fo...
Police raid Paris offices of Musk's X over child sexual deepfakes
The Paris prosecutor's cybercrime unit raided the French offices of Elon Musk's social media platform X on Tuesday morning, as part of a probe into al...
Epstein files: AI photos circulate of Zohran Mamdani’s mother at party
The fallout continues after the US Department of Justice released over 3 million documents pertaining to disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. New Y...
AI influencers: this viral monk selling wellness content isn't real
A Buddhist monk influencer has amassed millions of followers on social media, sharing spiritual guidance videos and selling e-books on healing. The ca...
American TikTok users claim app is censoring 'Epstein' and ICE criticism
TikTok recently changed hands in the US, giving a consortium of mainly American investors – run by Trump ally Larry Ellison – control of its US operat...
FBI's Patel falsely claims Americans 'cannot bring firearms' to protests
FBI Director Kash Patel has been accused of not knowing the law, after falsely claiming protesters cannot carry firearms to demonstrations following t...
Video evidence of Alex Pretti’s killing contradicts Trump administration’s account
Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was shot and killed in Minneapolis on Saturday, just weeks after Renée Good's fatal shooting in the same US city...
ICE arrests in the US: What's true, what's fake
Across the United States, arrests by ICE agents – and protests against them – continue. As President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown has intensif...
Greenland: Trump falsely claims the US 'gave back' territory to Denmark
In his lengthy speech at Davos, US President Donald Trump falsely claimed the US "gave back" Greenland to Denmark after World War II. In reality, Gree...
One year of Trump 2.0: how he's weaponised AI as political propaganda
As Donald Trump marks one year back in the White House, FRANCE 24's Vedika Bahl takes a closer look at how he has weaponised artificial intelligence i...
Iran protests: What we know about the varying death tolls
What is the death toll from the protests in Iran? Since demonstrations broke out against the country's theocratic regime in late December, the number...
Death of Renee Good: How AI was used to falsely identify the ICE agent who shot her
In the aftermath of Renee Good's death during an immigration raid in Minnesota, an internet manhunt began to identify the ICE agent who fatally shot h...
Iran protests: AI and dated photos mislead about pro-regime rallies
Amid nationwide protests in Iran against the country's theocracy, this week has also seen rallies take place in support of the government. But online,...
X replaces Iran’s flag emoji to historic Lion and Sun flag in support of protests
Elon Musk's social media platform X has changed its Iranian flag emoji from the current Islamic Republic flag – featuring a red emblem – to the histor...
Iran protests: Fact-checking claims of AI manipulation, low turnout
For around two weeks – and despite an internet blackout – thousands of Iranians have been mobilising in large protests that threaten the future of the...
Yes, Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot is 'digitally undressing' women and children
Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok has been fiercely criticised in recent days, after it began generating sexualised images of women and girls, flooding the...
Netflix movie scene falsely shared as real Venezuela torture footage
A viral social media clip with over 17 million views claims to show torture at the hands of Nicolas Maduro's regime in Venezuela, thus justifying US i...
‘Thank you, Trump’: video of crying Venezuelans thanking the US is AI-generated
A video showing emotional Venezuelans celebrating the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro – and thanking US President Donald Trump – has been...
AI photos fuel fake news about Nicolas Maduro’s capture
After US President Donald Trump announced Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s capture in a social media post, AI-generated images claiming to show the...
Viral videos question Morocco's AFCON stadiums after deadly floods
At least 37 people have been killed in Morocco after flash floods swept through the city of Safi. Officials say it's the country's deadliest flooding...