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 are some of the most shared false claims of this week, of which none are legit.

Please send us 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.

Police have not released names of any suspects in the Kansas City Super Bowl parade shooting

False claim: Social media users in the United States have shared a claim that a 44-year-old immigrant named Sahil Omar have been identified by the police as one of the suspects in the shooting that broke out at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade on Wednesday, February 14, leaving one person dead and 22 injured.

Truth:

  • During a press conference on Thursday, February 15, Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves reported that preliminary investigations indicate that the incident is not related to “terrorism or violent extremism”, and that everything indicates that it was “a dispute between several people that ended in gunfire.”
  • According to Graves, two people have been arrested so far, both “juveniles”, suspected of involvement in the shooting. Police have not released any details about the detainees.
  • In recent months, social media users have linked the name Sahil Omar to other episodes of violence in the US, such as the explosion of a hotel in January in Fort Worth, Texas, a shooting in December at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a fake bomb threat in the same month at Fort Lauderdale airport in Florida.

Video of soldiers in front of the US Capitol is old

False claim: A video showing military personnel standing in front of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

has been shared on social media, accompanied by claims that the heavy military presence seen in the clip is a sign that President Joe Biden's administration is preparing for an alleged “civil war.” The posts started to circulate amid a growing tension in recent weeks between the US federal government and Texas authorities over the migration issue on the border with Mexico.

Truth:

  • A reverse image search shows that the same video shared on the social media was published on X on January 19, 2021 by an account called @journalistWH.
  • On January 14, 2021 the YouTube channel of MSNBC published a video with the same images of soldiers positioned in front of the Capitol.
  • “There are more U.S. troops in Washington than in Afghanistan and Iraq combined with new threats of extremist violence ahead of the inauguration,” reads the caption of the post.
  • Following the storming of the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 more than 6,000 National Guard troops from six states and the District of Columbia were deployed to protect the Capitol and the White House in the days leading up to Biden's inauguration on January 20 of that year.

Ukraine did not put Tucker Carlson on “kill list” over Putin interview

False claim: After former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson announced on February 6 that he was in Moscow to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin, social media users began to share the claim that Carlson was included on an alleged “kill list” supported by the Ukrainian government.

Some of the posts are accompanied by a screenshot of the presenter's purported profile on the list.

Truth:

  • An analysis of the screenshot shared in the social media posts indicates that Carlson's profile was originally published on a Ukrainian website called Myrotvorets (“Peacemaker” in English).
  • In its “About Us” section, Myrotvorets defines itself as “an independent non-governmental organization created by a group of scientists, journalists and specialists in the study of signs of crimes against the national security of Ukraine, peace, the security of mankind and the international legal order.”
  • Carlson's profile, in which he is described as a “helper of Russian invaders and terrorists” and an “anti-Ukrainian propagandist,” was added to the site in July 2023, months before the interview with Putin.
  • Myrotvorets defines its mission as to “record and securely store information in relation to those objects of research, in whose actions there are signs of crimes against the national security of Ukraine, human life and health, peace, human security and the international legal order.” At no point does the website mention a “kill list.”
  • In a 2022 report on human rights practices in Ukraine, the US State Department states that Myrotvorets “reportedly maintains close ties to the country’s [Ukraine] security services,” without specifying what those ties might be.

Video does not show mosque being destroyed by Chinese government

False claim: Social media users have shared a video of a mosque minaret being demolished, accompanied by the claim that the clip was recorded in China and shows an action carried out on the orders of the Beijing government.

Truth:

  • The claim comes amid reports that thousands of mosques have been destroyed or modified in recent years across China, particularly in Xinjiang province, in an alleged effort by the Beijing government to suppress Islamic culture in the country.
  • A reverse image search, however, shows that a video of the demolition of the same minaret, recorded from a different angle, was posted by a TikTok user on February 23, 2023. The description of the post indicates that the images show the Gökoğlu mosque in Turkey.
  • Articles published by the Turkish press on February 23, 2023 indicate that the minaret of the Gökoğlu mosque in Seyhan, in the province of Adana, had to be demolished after a series of earthquakes that hit southeastern Turkey earlier that month damaged its structure.

Video of alleged Muslim urinating on meat in supermarket is staged

False claim: Social media users around the world have shared a video in which a man allegedly appears to urinate on the fresh meat section of a supermarket.

According to the posts, the images were recorded in the Netherlands and show a “Muslim immigrant” protesting against the consumption of pork.

Truth:

  • A reverse image search shows that the video shared on social media was originally published on December 14, 2023 by a TikTok and Instagram user called Buurtwachtt.
  • The same user has a YouTube account, on which a video was published on December 21, 2023 explaining how the viral footage was staged, using a sound effect to pretend that the person filmed was urinating.
  • Speaking to AFP, 22-year-old Danny Derix, responsible for the Buurtwachtt profiles, said that the viral clip was made by him and a friend on December 13, 2023 at an Albert Heijn supermarket store in Zaandam, near Amsterdam.
  • In the video published on YouTube, Derix says that the viral clip was made in order to show “that anything can be fake on the internet.” “We want to make it clear to people how easy it is to spread Fake News or a fake video,” he says.
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