The U.S elections have kept the whole world waiting since Tuesday, November 3. But as always, when a political shift is about to happen, Fake News takes control over the internet sphere as well as in the media. Blasting News’ editorial team spots the most popular hoaxes and misleading information every week to help you discern truth from falsehood during this unique political time. Here are the most shared claims of this week, of which none are legit.

USA

Claim: Donald Trump addressed the nation, claiming that he was being robbed of a second term

Facts: On Thursday November 5, Donald Trump held a press conference at The White House claiming: “We were winning in all the key locations, by a lot actually, and then our numbers started miraculously getting whittled away in secret.” He accused the “illegal votes” and the “mail-in voting” saying, “it destroyed our system.

It’s a corrupt system and it makes people corrupt even if they aren’t, by nature. But they become corrupt. It’s too easy.”

Truth: AP described Trump’s claim as a “torrent of fabricated accusations in an audacious attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the U.S election.” AFP Fact check reports that the U.S president’s claims were shared “without evidence.”

Concerning the “mail-in voting” being “corrupted”, US officials and international observers have said no fraud could have possibly taken place: “There’s simply no basis for the conspiracy theory that voting by mail causes fraud,” said Ellen Weintraub of the US Federal Election Commission (FEC), reports AFP.

The New York Times described The White House press conference as a “torrent of falsehoods”, and said that “most of the television networks cut away from the statement on the grounds that what Mr.

Trump was saying was not true.”

USA

Claim: Residents of Queens Village, New York have received pre-filled-out ballots for Joe Biden

Facts: Several social media users shared a screenshot of a tweet published by Jake Novak, who identifies himself as a freelance editorial columnist at CNBC, as Reuters reports. The post shows a picture of a ballot with Joe Biden’s name selected.

The caption reads: “Several Queens Village (NY) residents are receiving pre-filled out ballots for Joe Biden and being told to just send them back to the Board of Elections. This is blatantly ILLEGAL.”

Truth: The New York City Board of Elections’ official Twitter account replied to this tweet by saying: “Actually it looks like it was filled out by hand and we have previously stated we have have [sic] not received any reports of this happening!” They later completed their reply: “We have communicated directly with the voter in question, who received a BLANK absentee ballot.

This is simply untrue!”As Reuters reports, New York election officials contacted the voter who reported having received a blank ballot, then filled it in himself but mistakenly sent it to his old address in Queens. Twitter reported the post adding a banner on the tweet saying: “This claim about election fraud is disputed”.

USA

Claim: Virginian election officers took ballots home with them on Election Night

Facts: Several posts have been shared on Twitter the morning after the November 3 General Election saying: “The Virginia vote counters have decided to call it a night and...

GET THIS... They took the uncounted ballots HOME WITH THEM.” The claim was said to be sourced from the cable news television channel One America News Network (OANN).

Truth: This claim has been debunked by Andrea Gaines, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Elections, reports Reuters. She sent an email to the fact-checking agency saying: “Officers of Election do not take ballots home” but rather maintain them in a secure location. As Reuters adds, “no claim on OANN’s website or social media accounts” has been found.

USA

Claim: Video shows Trump ballots being burned

Facts: A video shared thousands of times on Twitter shows a man allegedly burning a bag of ballots in Virginia Beach. In the video the man claims that the bag contains “around 80” ballots for Trump.

The video was even shared by one of Trump's sons, Eric.

Truth: According to Reuters, Virginia Beach officials said the claim is false and that the papers that appear in the video are sample ballots, not the official ones used in the election.

USA

Claim: Arizona poll workers provided Trump voters with felt-tip pens which invalidate ballots

Facts: Posts shared on social media claim that Arizona poll workers had provided Trump voters with felt-tip pens to mark their ballots, which would invalidate the ballots by making them unreadable to voting machines. This claim was also shared by Eric Trump.

Truth: According to The New York Times, Arizona officials said the claim is false and that votes recorded with sharpies would still be counted.

France

Claim: Trump has won Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania and therefore almost won the presidential election

Facts: On Friday November 6, the Trump France Committee shared an electoral map on Facebook showing that the results shared in the press were “obviously false”. The map noted Trump as having won Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, while Wisconsin is still undecided. The post says that Donald Trump received 264 votes and would be therefore one step away from re-election.

Truth: As Le Monde reports, the votes were still being counted on Friday, November 6 in Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, meaning that no candidate had yet officially secured victory.

As for Wisconsin, Joe Biden has won it but Donald Trump said he wants to file an appeal, says Le Monde.

BRAZIL

Claim: Wisconsin has more ballots than registered voters

Facts: Posts shared on Facebook and Twitter claim that Wisconsin has 3,129,000 registered voters and 3,239,920 ballots counted. The posts suggest that the count is rigged for the benefit of Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

Truth: The Wisconsin Elections Commission reported on its official Twitter that, as of November 1, the state had 3,684,726 registered voters.

LATIN AMERICA

Claim: Kamala Harris said she will fund Israel's enemies

Facts: A website called Bibliatodo Noticias published an article earlier this month claiming that during a recent interview with The Arab American News, Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris announced her intentions to “create a Palestinian state within Israel's borders while freezing the number of Jews authorized to live in Judea and Samaria.”

Truth: Kamala Harris did give an interview to The Arab American News, but his statement was different from the one shared by Bibliatodo Noticias. “Joe and I also believe in the worth and value of every Palestinian and every Israeli and we will work to ensure that Palestinians and Israelis enjoy equal measures of freedom, security, prosperity and democracy.

We are committed to a two-state solution, and we will oppose any unilateral steps that undermine that goal. We will also oppose annexation and settlement expansion. And we will take immediate steps to restore economic and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, address the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, reopen the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem and work to reopen the PLO mission in Washington,” said the Democrat.

ITALY

Claim: Voter born in 1823 had ballot counted in Detroit

Facts: Posts shared on Facebook show a screenshot of FOX 2 statingthat in Detroit, Michigan, where Joe Biden currently leads, there are clear signs of fraud, including counting the ballot of a voter who was born in 1823.

Truth: FOX 2 debunked the claim by publishing an article with the title “Photo alleging Detroit voter born in 1823 is from 2019 lawsuit that’s been cleared up.” “Don't believe everything you see on social media. It may be old, misleading, or a flat’out lie. This one is old, the issues have been corrected, and is now being used to spread disinformation,” wrote FOX 2 at the end of the text.