Video of Greta Thunberg where she promotes “vegan wars” is doctored

False claim: A clip from a supposed Greta Thunberg interview posted last weekend garnered millions of views on X, in which the Swedish climate activist called for the creation of “sustainable tanks and weaponry,” including “vegan grenades.” She went on to say that these recommendations are spelled out more fully in her upcoming book titled “Vegan Wars.”

Truth:

  • Before being reposted on X, the clip originally appeared on Youtube and Instagram, and in both instances was clearly labeled as “satire”. The videos were made by a German comedy/meme account called Snicklink. Snicklink’s Shopify page, where T-shirts with altered logos (“Burger Krieg”) are on sale, declares on its banner “We are useless flesh shells with smartphones.”



  • The video does show typical signs of being manipulated, as Thunberg’s lips do not always line up correctly with the audio. Her voice is convincing, and likely the product of AI tools trained on her voice. Indeed, Snicklink offers a link to the “original audio” in the Instagram post for the video, as if to show off his work. The account’s largely German-speaking audience is clearly aware of Slicknick’s manipulation for the sake of satire, with many encouraging him in the comments: “You’re getting better every day!”



  • The original video is taken from a BBC interview with Greta Thunberg in November of 2022, where she promoted her new book, The Climate Book. There is no book by Greta Thunberg called “Vegan Wars.”

Photos of burned bodies in Israel were not declared “fake” by France 24

False Claim: A video posted on X, purporting to be from the French newspaper Le Figaro, claimed that a team from the news channel France 24 had reviewed images shared by the Israeli government and found them to be deceptive.

The video garnered nearly fifty thousand views and over a thousand shares before being taken down.

Truth:

  • One major sign that the video is not authentic is the fact that it never originated from any of Le Figaro’s social feeds or its website. The video was first posted from a suspicious X account that was created within the last month, using an automatically generated handle and no profile picture. The video is also the only post from the account.



  • Figaro journalist Jean-Baptiste Semerdjian answered in the comments under the video: “Hello, this is a fake video. On social networks, only trust videos, texts, images and articles initially published by our certified accounts. THANKS!” France 24 was in a similar situation, as its journalists had never done the analysis or reached the conclusions attributed to them in the video, so they set the record straight through their broadcast.

The Guardian did not publish an opinion piece claiming that a free Gaza would be a “LGBTQIA2S+ Mecca”

False Claim: A screenshot posted on X with nearly half a million views purports to show an opinion piece by Owen Jones with the title “Without Israeli oppression Gaza can become a LGBTQIA2S+ Mecca.” Jones is a columnist at The Guardian and the page design of the screenshotted article suggests that it was published on that site.

Truth:

  • While the page layout of the article makes the screenshot convincing at first glance, the name of the publication on the top right – “The Grauniad” – makes it clear that this is satire. The similar spelling and spot-on design make the change easy to overlook, leaving many in the comments asking whether the article was real or not, or believing it completely.



  • Marc Owen Jones (no apparent relation) provided a debunk of the tweet on X, noting that the “Grauniad” was a satirical name used for The Guardian by humor publications like Private Eye News. Jones has been vocal in his stance against Israel’s bombing of Gaza, and the article appears to ironically highlight the harsh treatment of LGBTQ people in Palestine.

Photo of Joe Biden lounging by the beach “with Middle East, Congress in chaos” is misleading

False Claim: On October 22, rapper 50 Cent shared a picture of Joe Biden lounging on the beach next to his wife, with the caption “Biden hits the beach with Middle East, Congress in chaos.” As of now, the picture has nearly 220k likes.

The truth:

  • The Bidens were indeed at their Delaware beach house when 50 Cent posted the picture, as shown by the President’s publicly available schedule, which states that he was there from October 20 to the 23. However, the picture he used was taken over the summer. Pictures from the Bidens’ more recent trip show them in long sleeves and pants going for a walk on the beach, rather than sunbathing.



  • A Daily Mail article also misleadingly published the same picture from August when reporting the President’s more recent trip back there, leaving the information that it was from another trip buried in the caption.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED