We are monitoring social media, national and international media, and fact-checking websites in order to share the Fake News making the rounds each week. Don't be fooled!

The world of news is complex – and false stories and images are often widely shared on social media. Blasting News’s editorial team spots the most popular hoaxes and misleading information every week to help you discern truth from falsehood. Here is some of the most popular fake news of the week from around the world.

Please send us fake news tips or claims to check at this email: factcheck@blastingnews.com or at this X/Twitter account @BNFactCheck. Read this page to better understand our submission guidelines.

1. April 8 solar eclipse will not cause three days of darkness in North America

False claim: With the looming eclipse set for April 8th, social media platforms have become inundated with unfounded claims suggesting that the world will experience a prolonged period of darkness for three consecutive days. A TikTok video shared on March 18th claims that we will have “3 to 5 days of darkness” and “there will be no sunlight nor moonlight on the Earth's surface.”

Truth:

  • The claim is baseless. Scientists have calculated that the complete darkness will involve just those located in the narrow path of totality. The longest duration will be 4 minutes and 28 seconds near Torreón, in Mexico. “Most places along the centerline (path of totality) will see a totality duration between 3.5 and 4 minutes,” according to NASA.



  • Katie Mack, a theoretical astrophysicist at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, told USA Today that “Nothing in this video is even adjacent to reality.”



  • According to NASA, eclipses follow a predictable path and occur “due to the special coincidence of the Moon and the Sun being the same angular size. The Sun is approximately 400 times wider than the Moon, but it is also approximately 400 times farther away, so they appear to be the same size in our sky. This is what allows the Moon to completely block the Sun during total solar eclipses.”

2. Old videos and photos falsely linked to recent Taiwan earthquake

False Claim: In the wake of the recent earthquake in Taiwan, several old videos and photos have been circulating on social media, falsely claimed to depict the aftermath of the current seismic event.

These misleading visuals have been fueling misinformation about the extent of the damage caused by the earthquake.

Truth:

Multiple fact-checking organisations, including AFP Fact Check, Factly, Maldita, and Newtral, have confirmed that the videos and images are not related to the recent earthquake in Taiwan. Instead, they originate from past seismic events - for example the one that affected Japan in 2011 - or unrelated incidents.

  • According to AFP Fact Check, one of the videos circulated widely on social media showing a collapsing building is not from the recent earthquake in Taiwan. The footage dates back to a previous earthquake event in Japan in 2011.
  • A Blasting News Fact Check reverse searches of images and keywords revealed identical footage, mirrored horizontally, and disseminated online as far back as March 2011, coinciding with the tsunami that struck Japan.

3. Portugal has not called up its reservists to fight in Ukraine with NATO

False Claim: Recent claims circulated on social media suggest Portugal's call-up of reservists to participate in the conflict in Ukraine alongside NATO.



Truth:

  • In the small town of Montalegre around 40 false letters were mailed to ex-military asking them to be ready to fight in Ukraine with NATO. The letters were falsely signed by the Portuguese Army asking to former soldiers to present themself on a Sunday at the local town hall otherwise they will be fined with €500.



  • The president of the local government, João da Silva Araújo, called this letter a “joke of very bad taste.”

4. Japan has not banned mRNA COVID-19 vaccines

False Claim: Several posts viewed more than 2 million times on X and widely shared on Facebook claimed- linking to the conspiratorial website prepareforchange.net - that Japan has banned mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

The article reads that “an official government study tied the injections to the nation’s soaring sudden deaths.”

Truth:

  • Starting in April, Japan's health ministry has announced that COVID-19 vaccinations will cease to be provided free of charge. Japan's government maintains its recommendation for people to take the vaccine, emphasising that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the associated risks.



  • The ministry stated that the increase in excess deaths in Japan commenced before the rollout of COVID vaccinations, and there is no evidence to suggest that the shots were responsible for this trend.



  • The paper cited by the website - that was not peer-reviewed - raises concerns regarding the potential harm of blood donations from recipients of mRNA vaccines and individuals suffering from long COVID. Additionally, it proposes the implementation of regulations in response to these concerns.

5. It is not true that the Earth is warming because of the changing distance of the Sun

False claim: Recent misinformation circulating online suggests that Earth's warming is attributable to fluctuations in the sun's distance from our planet.

A post shared on Facebook on March 19th shows a screenshot of a post on X published by Robin Monoti, an Italian architect and film producer that fought against COVID-19 restrictions during the pandemic. "Finally the truth! ... Climate change is cyclical and it’s because of our Sun [...] The idea that CO2 causes climate change is another laughable myth,” adding that global warming is a "historical con by the oligarchic class" to increase taxes.

Truth:

  • A thorough fact-check by Politifact has debunked this claim, affirming that there is no scientific basis to support the notion that variations in the sun's distance are responsible for Earth's warming.
  • Experts have long established that human activities, particularly the emission of greenhouse gases, are the primary drivers of climate change and global warming.



  • While the distance between Earth and the sun may impact the planet's long-term climate, climate scientists are in consensus that the sun does not substantially alter the modern trend toward escalating temperatures on Earth.

AI and Elections

The Biden campaign did not use AI to alter a clip of Donald Trump calling migrants “animals”

False claim: Harris Faulkner of Fox News asserted that Donald Trump's comments "didn't occur as the Democrats portray," falsely insinuating that President Joe Biden's re-election campaign employed artificial intelligence to manipulate a clip of his opponent.

Truth:

  • Contrary to claims circulating on social media and certain news outlets, including Fox News, there is no evidence to support the assertion that the Biden campaign employed artificial intelligence to alter a video clip featuring Donald Trump's remarks about migrants.



  • An analyst run by Blasting News Fact Check confirms the verity of the videos shared online after a speech in Michigan the 2nd of April, where Trump claims that migrants in the United States illegally are "animals" and "not human.”
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