On the morning of January 19th, David Sassoli tweeted about a booster shot for his daughter’s upcoming soccer game. After getting the injection at school, he had a seizure and subsequently died in hospital hours later. This is an unfortunate case study in how lack of regulation can lead to tragedy among athletes.
The news industry is complicated, and fake articles and photographs are often disseminated on social media. Every week, the editorial staff at Blasting News identifies the most common hoaxes and incorrect information to help you distinguish truth from untruth. Here are some of the most widely circulated misleading statements this week, none of which are true.
World
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not state that PCR testing are unreliable for identifying COVID-19.
False claim: Social media posts allege that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revoked emergency use authorisation for Coronavirus tests that employ the RT-PCR technology. According to the postings, the FDA made the decision after discovering that these tests are unable to distinguish between SARS-CoV-2 and influenza.
Truth:
- The misleading assertion is based on a misreading of a statement issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in July 2021.
- At the time, the CDC recommended that laboratories in the United States replace a specific test (2019-nCoV), which had been in use since the start of the pandemic and could only detect the novel coronavirus, with a new one, the CDC Influenza SARS-CoV-2 (Flu SC2) Multiplex Assay, which could detect both influenza and COVID-19 at the same time.
- According to the CDC, the decision to request that 2019-nCoV be removed from the list of tests with emergency use permission was taken to save time and costs, not because of the test’s purported ineffectiveness.
The CDC is discontinuing the COVID PCR Test (as of 12/31/21), yet the mainstream media isn’t covering it? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has now recognized that the PCR test can’t tell the difference between SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses.
December 29, 2021 — Trevor Lee (@trevorblee)
World
David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament, did not die after receiving the third dosage of the Covid vaccination.
False claim: Following the death of European Parliament President David Sassoli earlier this week, social media postings began to suggest that the 65-year-old Italian politician died as a result of an adverse response to the COVID-19 vaccine’s third dosage.
Truth:
- Sassoli has been in a hospital in Aviano, Italy, since December 26, 2021, according to his spokesman, Roberto Cuillo, following a “severe complication linked to an immune system failure.”
- Sassoli spent weeks in the hospital in September after contracting pneumonia, which prompted him to postpone his activities until November.
- Sassoli received a bone marrow transplant ten years ago after being diagnosed with myeloma, a malignancy of the plasma cells that left him with a compromised immune system.
- There is no solid evidence that COVID-19 vaccinations cause immune system malfunction.
USA
McDonald’s did not issue a statement stating that employees who have traded cryptocurrencies would not be hired.
False claim: Twitter users have published an apparent McDonald’s official account tweet claiming that the fast-food giant “would not recruit any persons who have owned, traded, or sold cryptocurrency.”
Truth:
- According to a check on Twitter, the official McDonald’s account did not publish the message that has been circulating online. The photograph uploaded on social media was doctored to seem like it came from a fast-food chain’s magazine.
- McDonald’s started taking Bitcoin payments at its El Salvador outlets in September 2021, after El Salvador became the first country in the world to embrace the cryptocurrency as legal cash.
Spain
Pedro Sánchez has refused to confess that he was “blackmailed” into allowing kid vaccinations in Spain.
False claim: Users on social media have published a supposed front page of the Spanish newspaper Heraldo de Aragón on December 28, 2021, with the heading “Incredible claims by Sánchez on the pandemic.” According to the tweets, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez openly stated that he was “blackmailed” by Europe and pharmaceutical firms into allowing children to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in Spain.
On Eunomia, you may discuss this news.
Truth:
- A check of Heraldo de Aragón’s official Twitter account, which posts the daily cover of the newspaper’s print version, reveals that the front page from December 28, 2021 does not match the material released on social media.
- “We affirm that this front page is not genuine,” the Heraldo de Aragón’s press office claimed in a statement to AFP. Pedro Sánchez has not said what is circulating on social media, according to the Spanish press.
- The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) published a statement on December 1, 2021, advocating immunization for children aged 5 to 11.
Brazil
The monarch of Bahrain does not have a robot bodyguard.
False claim: A video was circulated on Facebook in Brazil, with the allegation that it showed Bahrain’s monarch with his bodyguard robot.
“The King of Bahrain comes in Dubai with his bodyguard, a robot that can save him from adversaries and knows six languages. It has the ability to physically fight, pursue, and shoot. An electric teaser, a 360-degree video system with infrared cameras, three hidden machine guns with enough ammo to combat 1,500 soldiers, and a laser-guided machine gun are among the weapons on board. It also transports medical supplies and water. $7.4 million was spent on the project. Is this the end of the world?” reads some of the captions on the postings
Truth:
- A reverse image search shows that the video shared on social media was recorded in February 2019, during the 14th edition of the International Defence Exhibition & Conference (IDEX) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
- Titan, a 2.40-meter tall entertainment robot built by British firm Cyberstein Robots that can be leased for events, replaces the bodyguard robot in the video.
- The guy standing next to Titan in the video is not Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
Australia
The tsunami that slammed Australia is not seen in the video.
False claim: Following a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, social media users released a video with many sights of damage, coupled with the claim that a tsunami had reached the shore of Darwin, Australia’s Northern Territory’s capital.
Truth:
- According to the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre, no tsunami advisories have been issued in recent weeks for Darwin or anyplace along Australia’s northern coast.
- The bogus allegation was made after local media claimed on December 30 that inhabitants of Darwin had experienced vibrations as a result of a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in the Banda Sea near Indonesia.
- The segments in the film published on social media were circulating on the web before December 2021, according to a reverse image search. There are pictures from Alaska from July 2020, Tokomaru Bay on New Zealand’s east coast from March 2021, Indonesia from September 2018, and the Bahamas from September 2019.
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