During 2023 there has been a lot of fake news, especially about emotional events such as recent wars and crises. But there were also strange forgeries. DW’s fact-checking team picked out ten particularly strange forgeries.

No, this video is not Volodymyr Zelensky dancing:

Since Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February 2022, there has been a lot of fake news circulating about both countries. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself is often the target of smear campaigns. As in the case where a video purportedly shows Zelensky dancing to belly dance beats in a tight, glittering gold suit. DW research shows: The video is a deepfake in which the president’s face was superimposed on the body of a dancer.

No, Sweden has not organized sex tournaments

In July there was an outlandish claim that Sweden had declared sex a sport and was organizing a sex tournament. Many international media outlets reported on this, including the Times of India, one of India’s most respected newspapers. One report said that Sweden wanted to hold a tournament in which participants would have to sleep together for up to six hours a day to determine who was the best.

This claim is false, as DW research shows: Göteborgs-Posten, one of Sweden’s leading daily newspapers, reported that a Swedish strip club owner named Dragan Bratic had asked for sex to be classified as a sport. However, the Swedish sports association rejected this request in May, it confirmed to DW.

No, the viral photo of used condoms being cleaned and sold as new is not from Kenya:

Another photo shows dozens of photos of what appear to be used condoms. Several Facebook posts earlier this year said that six students from Kenya were arrested for cleaning used condoms and selling them as new ones.

The claim is false, as a reverse image search shows. According to a 2020 news report, almost 324,000 used condoms were actually cleaned and resold not in Kenya, but in Vietnam. They are not sold by six students in Kenya, but by a small factory in Vietnam.

No, the recordings do not show cockroaches in the abdomen:

“At a government hospital in Kenya, a patient was scanned with an MRI due to suspicion of live insects in his abdomen,” wrote various Facebook users in May 2023, posting an image of what appeared to be a large cockroach. in the belly. But the image is photoshopped, as a fact check shows. The original radiograph has been published on a radiology website – and there is not a single cockroach to be seen.

No, Joe Biden didn’t have diapers:

US President Joe Biden is 81 years old – and it is repeatedly claimed that he is too old for his job. In June 2023, a purported photo of him kneeling on the floor with a diaper sticking out of his pants was circulated in several places. But the image is manipulated, as an image study shows. Biden actually fell at a ceremony at the US Air Force Academy in June 2023 — but multiple videos and photos of the fall show he wasn’t wearing a diaper. Image material has been manipulated.

No, there is no evidence that an American plane lost in 1955 reappeared after 37 years:

A plane took off from New York in 1955, disappeared and returned 37 years later to Miami, Florida. So says a viral post on Facebook. There is no evidence for this claim, as fact-checking by Agence France-Presse shows. There is no record from US authorities that a plane took off from New York in 1955 and then went missing. Additionally, the story was originally published by an American tabloid newspaper known for publishing fictional content.

No, OceanGate was not found empty:

This tragic event went around the world: On June 18, five people with the company OceanGate set off in a mini-submarine to visit the Titanic, which sank in 1912. But a short time later, contact with the inhabitants was lost and the teams rescuers tried to find the divers. The whole world quickly reported about it, and many users also spoke on social media about it. As an alleged CNN screenshot went viral. “OceanGate found empty,” it read. But this was clearly false information, as our research showed.

The article claims to be from CNN, but the image does not have the actual design of the news channel. The mock screenshot shows the old CNN layout in red, the current design is black. Furthermore, the alleged cover photo of the fake article does not show the Titanic, but a submarine named Cyclops 1. Further information in the text of the claimed image is also incorrect.

No, Disney World did not remove Cinderella’s Castle:

Fake news about Disney has been very popular for years. In November, a website reported that the Disney World theme park in Orlando, Florida, in the United States had removed Cinderella’s famous pink castle overnight. This claim was also shared in a video on TikTok and was viewed more than a million times.

The article and video are satire, as a look at the website shows. Additionally, current photos from the amusement park show that the castle, the park’s landmark, is still standing.

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