AFP Sri Lanka

The dance performance was staged by a group of employees at a private factory for a TV show -- not at an event organised by Sri Lanka’s ruling party

Published on 20 August 2019 at 11:00

A video has been viewed tens of thousands of times in Facebook that claim it shows a dance performance at a political rally for Sri Lanka’s ruling party. The claim is false; the footage actually shows a group of employees at a private company who staged the performance for a popular local TV show.

This video promoted a hoax -- police and local officials denied a Sinhala youth was attacked in Colombo

Published on 14 August 2019 at 09:30

A video has been viewed tens of thousands of times in multiple posts on Facebook and YouTube which claim a Sinhala youth was attacked by a group of Muslims in suburban Sri Lanka and is in intensive care. The claim is false; local police and officials told AFP no such crime had been reported in the area; the hospital the youth was purportedly taken to does not exist.

This ‘Citizenship Renunciation Certificate’ is forged – it has been doctored from one available on Wikipedia

Published on 2 August 2019 at 10:45

An image of a purported official US consular document has circulated widely in WhatsApp messages, Facebook posts and media reports in Sri Lanka, which claim it shows a local politician has given up his American citizenship so he can run for president in upcoming elections. But the certificate is doctored from a sample document posted on Wikipedia; the politician’s team told AFP the purported certificate was "forged".

Police said this video shows a domestic violence incident in India, not poisoned people

Published on 23 July 2019 at 11:00

A video has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in multiple Tamil-language posts on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube which claim it shows people poisoned by soft drinks. The claim is false; the video has circulated online since August 2018 in local media reports about a domestic violence incident in southern India; police told AFP the video shows a case of domestic violence involving a now-suspended police officer in Telangana, a state in southern India.

The photo actually shows an installation by Cuban artists at Art Basel 2012 in Switzerland

Published on 19 July 2019 at 07:15

A photo has been shared hundreds of times in multiple Facebook posts which claim it shows the clothes of victims of the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter Sunday bombings laid out at the church where they were attacked. The claim is false; the photo actually shows an art installation by Cuban artist collective Los Carpinteros on display at Art Basel 2012 in Switzerland.

Languages